An American Betrayal:Cherokee Patriots and the Trail of Tears
An American Betrayal: Cherokee
Patriots and the Trail of Tears, by Daniel Blake Smith.
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.;(November 8, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0805089551
“The story of the Cherokee Nation is a study in suffering, displacement, and the determination of a people to carry on despite brutal government policies that culminated in the ‘Trail of Tears,' President Andrew Jackson's 1834 policy of ‘removal' that saw nearly 4,000 of the 16,000 Cherokees die on their forced migration from North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama to the Oklahoma Territory. Smith opens his thoughtful, concise and detailed study of this brutal chapter in the age of Jackson with a stirring account of the assassination of three Cherokee leaders--Elias Boudinot, Major Ridge, and his son, John Ridge--by Cherokee political rivals…The personalities, political realities, and murderous resentments that stemmed from that treaty make for engrossing reading and a vivid evocation of how the Cherokees' options dwindled until no promising choices for this strong and cohesive people remained.” ―PW
“Is a patriot's duty to demand the absolute rights of his or her people to the end? Or is it more heroic to negotiate the best possible terms when faced with an inevitable defeat? This troubling question hangs heavy over Daniel Blake Smith's intriguing An American Betrayal, a detailed history of the Trail of Tears, the brutal forced relocation of the Cherokee people from their ancestral homeland in the southeast to the western territory that is now Oklahoma.” ―Shelf Awareness
“A vivid new history of the 19th-century Cherokee removal and the Trail of Tears. . . . The difference between Smith's account and other similar histories is the emphasis on infighting within the Cherokee leadership, who faced a difficult choice: Should they fight the forced removal by facing massive armies assembled by the American government, or negotiate the best possible terms while relocating peaceably? Neither answer was obviously correct, giving the narrative a tension that Smith develops skillfully. Cherokee leaders such as John Ross, Elias Boudinot, John Ridge and Major Ridge come alive on the page. Numerous little-known Caucasians also emerge as brave defenders of Cherokee humanitarian and land rights. . . . Well-written, well-researched.” ―Kirkus
Yet another book about Native Americans and their treatment by the Europeans that felt the land and all in should be theirs, and that the Natives should be extinguished or pushed aside.
Isn't it strange how so many of us, today, say things like, "why do I have to dial 1 for English! This is America!"... think about it. How many, that came to America learned the NATIVE LANGUAGE?.. not many.
I don't have a great memory for what I learned in school about how the Native Americans were treated.. or why. I am making up for it now. But no matter what I learn, I constantly tell myself, "this is history, and we can't change history." But, I also think... I thought we all were supposed to LEARN from history and not repeat it, and make it better. Smh. That's another thing I've learned.. very few have learned from it.. and many things never seem to change.
Amazon had good reviews of what the book is about, so I will just leave everyone with a small piece from the book....
"May 17th, 1836, the Senate approved the treaty of New Echota by 1 vote more than the 2/3rds majority required. A week later, Jackson signed it into law. Under the terms of the Treaty of New Echota, the Cherokee Nation , by May 1838, had to give up it's lands in Alabama, Georga, North Carolina and Tennessee and leave for present-day Oklahoma. The Cherokee's had 2 yrs. to leave."
All because the Europeans wanted what the Cherokee Indians had. Their land. During the actual Trail of Tears thousands of Cherokee died.
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.;(November 8, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0805089551
“The story of the Cherokee Nation is a study in suffering, displacement, and the determination of a people to carry on despite brutal government policies that culminated in the ‘Trail of Tears,' President Andrew Jackson's 1834 policy of ‘removal' that saw nearly 4,000 of the 16,000 Cherokees die on their forced migration from North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama to the Oklahoma Territory. Smith opens his thoughtful, concise and detailed study of this brutal chapter in the age of Jackson with a stirring account of the assassination of three Cherokee leaders--Elias Boudinot, Major Ridge, and his son, John Ridge--by Cherokee political rivals…The personalities, political realities, and murderous resentments that stemmed from that treaty make for engrossing reading and a vivid evocation of how the Cherokees' options dwindled until no promising choices for this strong and cohesive people remained.” ―PW
“Is a patriot's duty to demand the absolute rights of his or her people to the end? Or is it more heroic to negotiate the best possible terms when faced with an inevitable defeat? This troubling question hangs heavy over Daniel Blake Smith's intriguing An American Betrayal, a detailed history of the Trail of Tears, the brutal forced relocation of the Cherokee people from their ancestral homeland in the southeast to the western territory that is now Oklahoma.” ―Shelf Awareness
“A vivid new history of the 19th-century Cherokee removal and the Trail of Tears. . . . The difference between Smith's account and other similar histories is the emphasis on infighting within the Cherokee leadership, who faced a difficult choice: Should they fight the forced removal by facing massive armies assembled by the American government, or negotiate the best possible terms while relocating peaceably? Neither answer was obviously correct, giving the narrative a tension that Smith develops skillfully. Cherokee leaders such as John Ross, Elias Boudinot, John Ridge and Major Ridge come alive on the page. Numerous little-known Caucasians also emerge as brave defenders of Cherokee humanitarian and land rights. . . . Well-written, well-researched.” ―Kirkus
Yet another book about Native Americans and their treatment by the Europeans that felt the land and all in should be theirs, and that the Natives should be extinguished or pushed aside.
Isn't it strange how so many of us, today, say things like, "why do I have to dial 1 for English! This is America!"... think about it. How many, that came to America learned the NATIVE LANGUAGE?.. not many.
I don't have a great memory for what I learned in school about how the Native Americans were treated.. or why. I am making up for it now. But no matter what I learn, I constantly tell myself, "this is history, and we can't change history." But, I also think... I thought we all were supposed to LEARN from history and not repeat it, and make it better. Smh. That's another thing I've learned.. very few have learned from it.. and many things never seem to change.
Amazon had good reviews of what the book is about, so I will just leave everyone with a small piece from the book....
"May 17th, 1836, the Senate approved the treaty of New Echota by 1 vote more than the 2/3rds majority required. A week later, Jackson signed it into law. Under the terms of the Treaty of New Echota, the Cherokee Nation , by May 1838, had to give up it's lands in Alabama, Georga, North Carolina and Tennessee and leave for present-day Oklahoma. The Cherokee's had 2 yrs. to leave."
All because the Europeans wanted what the Cherokee Indians had. Their land. During the actual Trail of Tears thousands of Cherokee died.
posted by DesLily | 9:13 AM
1 Comments:
There's a wonderful description of The Trail of Tears in The Little House on the Prairie. Laura tells how the procession of Native Americans went past for hours, so many people. It really shocked me as I didn't know much about it before. Funny how one little children's book can teach you so much, that image has stayed with me since I read the books four or five years ago.
Post a Comment
<< Home