Bury My Heart at Wounded KneeBury My Heart at Wounded Knee
What it's about
Dee Brown tells the history of the American West from 1860 to 1890 from the side of the Native Americans who lived there. Chapter by chapter, he follows the Navajo, Santee Sioux, Cheyenne, Apache, Nez Perce and other nations as treaties are broken, lands are taken and communities are destroyed, ending with the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890. Much of it is told through the words of leaders like Red Cloud, Sitting Bull and Chief Joseph.
Why it's worth reading
It spent months at #1 on the New York Times list in 1971 and changed how Americans understood the West. It's a classic of American history.
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Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, Lonesome Dove or The Fire Next Time
Good to know
It's a grim, relentless book, full of massacres. Later historians have filled in and corrected parts of it.
By the numbers
- Readers85 out of 100 · counts 40%+39
- Critics0 out of 100 · counts 14%+0
- Bestseller71 out of 100 · counts 32% (its stronger lane)+25
- Buzz0 out of 100 · counts 15%+0
Critics and Bestseller are two ways to earn a place: a book's stronger one counts more. Buzz rewards recent bestseller weeks and prizes, so older books start at zero.
#1 New York Times bestseller (24 weeks at #1). 4.26★ from 107K Goodreads ratings.
Where it ranks
- #45 of the 154 history books we rank
- #69 of the 519 classics we rank
- #185 of the 1,404 books we rank
Bestseller
- #1 New York Times bestseller (24 weeks at #1)
Reads as
True story
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