The Heart of Everything That Is

The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend :  Bob Dury & Tom Clavin.

Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster;(September 2, 2014)
ISBN-10: 1451654685  



Amazon Review

An acclaimed New York Times bestseller, selected by Salon as a best book of the year, the astonishing untold story of the life and times of Sioux warrior Red Cloud: “a page-turner with remarkable immediacy…and the narrative sweep of a great Western” (The Boston Globe).


Red Cloud was the only American Indian in history to defeat the United States Army in a war, forcing the government to sue for peace on his terms. At the peak of Red Cloud’s powers the Sioux could claim control of one-fifth of the contiguous United States and the loyalty of thousands of fierce fighters. But the fog of history has left Red Cloud strangely obscured. Now, thanks to the rediscovery of a lost autobiography, and painstaking research by two award-winning authors, the story of the nineteenth century’s most powerful and successful Indian warrior can finally be told.


In The Heart of Everything That Is, Bob Drury and Tom Clavin restore Red Cloud to his rightful place in American history in a sweeping and dramatic narrative based on years of primary research. As they trace the events leading to Red Cloud’s War, they provide intimate portraits of the many lives Red Cloud touched—mountain men such as Jim Bridger; US generals like William Tecumseh Sherman, who were charged with annihilating the Sioux; fearless explorers, such as the dashing John Bozeman; and the memorable warriors whom Red Cloud groomed, like the legendary Crazy Horse. And at the center of the story is Red Cloud, fighting for the very existence of the Indian way of life.


“Unabashed, unbiased, and disturbingly honest, leaving no razor-sharp arrowhead unturned, no rifle trigger unpulled....a compelling and fiery narrative” (USA TODAY), this is the definitive chronicle of the conflict between an expanding white civilization and the Plains Indians who stood in its way.

There is not a lot I can say about this book.  Red Cloud, who it is about, is a true Hero for his people, the Oglala Sioux.  Being adopted made life hard for Red Cloud.  But in the end he won. 

Many of the Indian Chiefs that I have read about can be nothing but admired.  The didn't have to be "drafted" to go to war for their families.. they were constant volunteers. 

It is so sad how the Immigrants from Europe treated the Native American, who, by the way, was willing to share a lot of land, until the realized that all the promises were lies.  I wonder how todays Americans would feel if others took everything we had away from us how we would act.  Like Animals?  Like Killers?  Like protectors of our own?..    I swear, in another life, I must have been an Indian.