First Maria read Killing Crazy Horse by Bill O’Reilly and she told me, you have to read this book! Bill’s books are great, so it didn’t take too much convincing for me to read it and my reaction was pretty similar to hers: Why did we not learn this in history class?? We both feel we had a pretty good history education but learned virtually nothing about how the Americans pushed the Indians onto the reservations and all the conflict involved.

The book actually starts with the Americans and Andrew Jackson fighting the Creeks way before Crazy Horse’s time but it’s very important because this is where all the tension starts.

The book then moves through the years and just about all the crucial actions taken by the Indians and the U.S. that led to Custer’s Last Stand and what made Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull famous.

I will warn you that the book can be rather grisly at times and your eyes will probably widen in shock, but you’ll be fine.

After you read the book you’ll be really torn between who exactly was the good side and who was the bad side in the whole thing. Like Maria was telling me when she was reading it:

The Americans were trying to push the Indians off their land so of course the Indians were fighting back. But at the same time the Indians were just attacking innocent settlers and it’s not like the U.S. would sit back and let these people be killed right and left.

You can’t blame the Indians for being angry that the Americans were trying to take away their land, but you can’t applaud how they handled it.

It’s a sticky situation and I don’t think there’s a solid conclusion as to who was the right side and who was the wrong side.

I will say this, the Indians were screwed over in the whole reservation debacle. I believe the outcome could have been much better than it was but you gotta remember that all the fighting had been going on for nearly sixty years. The Americans were sick and tired of fighting and wanted it to end. The Indians were exhausted and wanted it to end. The Indians just got the short end of the stick. It’s not fair, but then life isn’t fair.

Read the book and be surprised at the number of facts you didn’t know.

(I heard Bill’s next book is called Killing the Mob and it’s about the Mafia. I’m pretty excited.)