The Last Indian War

I thought I would be sharing this book title long ago.  It is one of those I was blessed with as a result of encountering it in a bookstore somewhere along the road during our Excellent Trip this summer.  I found The Last Indian War (E. West) right up there with the best historical accounts on any topic I have read over the years.  If you read, and the subject sparks at all, this is highly recommended.  In hindsight, I wish I had read it before our trip, but doubt I would have appreciated it as much.  And I was not aware of it.  I guess we just need to go back and repeat some vacation variation!

West does a terrific job of filling in the backstory for the "last war," clarifying the inherent conflict between the anglo-american conceit of single leader-organization and the more amorphous Native American approach to things.

While we have been led to think of this episode as one led by Chief Joseph (actually Joseph junior), the reality is that it was never the case that the Nez Perce had a single dominant leader. Throughout most of the "war," involving an astonishing travel/travail of native americans, Joseph was rarely a major figure.  He was certainly important from the standpoint of being a leader of one of the NP bands not inculcated into the reservation at Lapwai.  These non-reservation groups were at the heart of this unfortunate (to put it lightly) conflict between the long-term occupants of this portion of the Pacific Northwest and the authoritarian military.  And, when it came down to it, he stood up and made a statement that will resonate forever.  I find it all heart-breaking.

There's a lot to learn from this book.  It certainly worked me over and continues to do so.