+3
Impressions from the first three chapters:
I am enjoying the book so far. My favorite part is undoubtedly the account of the way that the introduction of horses so dramatically changed the power dynamics between the tribes and between the tribes and the European invaders. The author makes a really interesting point about how the image of the American Indian riding/attacking on horseback is so ingrained into pop culture, and yet most tribes got around on foot. And of the tribes that did use horses, only a scant few actually fought on horseback.
I am a little bit put off by the way that the author is sometimes careless with his language in a way that comes across as a bit, I don't know, biased might be too strong a word. But he talks about how the northern tribeland was so far from "civilization," as if the Native tribes don't count as civilizations. What he means is that they are far from land that has been decisively settled by Americans. He also uses descriptions of the Native groups in an offhand way that I don't always love, like referring to the Comanches as "dark-skinned" apropos of nothing, or referring to the Tonkawa Indians as "occassional cannibals", again apropos of nothing (and not giving the important context that (1) their cannibalism was rumored but never proven and (2) it refers to ritual cannibalism of a killed enemy).
I do appreciate that he is careful to differentiate between the tribes and explain their relationships with each other. Something that is really common is for people to refer to "Native Americans" as if they are one united people, as opposed to being more like a group of nations with distinct cultures, traits, and traditions.
The account of the attack on the Parkers is pretty harrowing.