A Fate Worse Than Death: Indian Captivities in the West 1830-1885

A Fate Worse Than Death: Indian Captivities in the West 1830-1885 | Gregory Michno, Susan Michno | the west was wild

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A Fate Worse Than ...

	A Fate Worse Than Death: Indian Captivities in the West 1830-1885 Gregory Michno, Susan Michno Caxton Press, 2007 - 552 pages average customer review:based on 10 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Opens a Window on a Lost Frontier

The things which made us "American" were not legacies of Anglo-Saxon folk moots or the Gothic forests of Northern Europe according to the great historian, Frederick Jackson Turner. To understand America and its unique character, you had to first understand "the meeting place between savagery and civilization," the frontier.

Gregory and Susan Michno's excellent book, A FATE WORSE THAN DEATH: INDIAN CAPTIVITIES IN THE WEST, 1830-1885, resurrects the literature of that long forgotten frontier. And, it restores the dark edge generations of politically correct teachers and bland social scientists have obscured.

No abstract theories here. These are thoroughly researched accounts from real men, women and children who were captured by Indians. This is the flesh, blood and terror of the frontier experience. Get a copy while you still can.

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the west was wild

A 5 star book. Great research and presentation.Now I know why the phrase Save the Last Bullet For yourself applied to Indian Captives. Buy it-read it and put it on the shelf next to Michnos other books.

Indian Captivities in The West

A very interesting book with lots of great stories. It's hard to imagine anything worse than how these woman and children felt after first seeing some of their loved ones tortured and killed before they were put through the harsh life their had to endure. Usually a life of forced labor, rape and themselves tortured. The Indian society sometimes used young captives both white and other enemy tribe members to make up for losses incurred by their own tribe. These captives seemed to adapt in some cases pretty well to their new life, some not wanting to return to their previous lives. To put things in the proper perspective you have to remember that Indian villages that were attacked by whites also would suffer terrible suffering and deaths of their woman and children since they would be in the midst of the combat.

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Good Research -- Antidote to Romantic Illusions

Let me recommend this quite readable and appropriately titled book to anyone who desires to become acquainted with some real, documented, quantified, substantive research about the history of trans-Mississippi Indian captivities, while simultaneously getting a much-needed injection of hardcore historical reality to counter the plethora of romantic, sentimental, and "politically correct" nonsense that burdens the shelves of contemporary bookstores.

With hardly any exceptions (aside from the extraordinary case of Cynthia Ann Parker, and perhaps a handful of others), it appears that being captured by Indians (especially if you were a female who had either approached or attained the age of puberty, and you were not otherwise too old or ugly!) amounted to a truly grim ordeal -- literally "a fate worse than death". And, most captives, who were apparently abused day and night (beaten, raped, starved, and tortured) and treated like dirty slaves, were more than eager to return to "civilization" when they had an opportunity. It all makes you suspect that the all too common notions of being taken captive and learning to cherish the wild and free life among the "noble savages" are, for the most part, romantic illusions, and that characters (such as the Caucasian woman who lived with the Souix as an adopted member of the tribe in "Dances With Wolves" -- by the way, a movie I really enjoyed) bear little resemblance to the harsh reality.

Beyond all that, the research presented in this book by the Michnos brings to light the sheer scope and scale of the Indian captivity problem that once prevailed out West. Apparently, many hundreds, and even thousands, of settlers either directly experienced or lived in fear of such an eventuality.

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Indian Captives

l really enjoyed this collection of stories, all written with considerable historical accuracy and detail based on letters and oral statements of the time. This book also has a couple of interesting charts comparing each person's length of captivity.
It sure make clear to me the brutality and suffering that surrounded these captures as well as the struggles and dangers of simple everyday life for these people. Amazing!

reviews: 1, page 2

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