Customer Reviews
A relevant history - By: M. Bhangal, 27 Dec 2008 
When I was young, I hated history. It was all about dates & eventsin the past. I couldn't see how history could be relevant to something much more interesting; the future.
I now know why history, when well told can be extremely relevant. We & our futures are defined by our past
For example take 1066. It's the date of an important British historical event, but it also defines the way we actin the here & now. The Anglo Saxons lost, & the Normans won. That's why Anglo Saxon words are used to name farm animals (cow) but we use French (beef) to define the cooked meat. Why? Because Anglo Saxons became the serf-farmer underclass & the now powerful Normans had all the banquets! Same goes for swearwords - many of out oldest swearwords were mainstream Anglo Saxon language until the Normans came along & undermined the existing language.
Selling Your Fathers Bones talks about America's version of 1066 - the early wars with the native Indians. Much like 1066, you can see much of this pastin the here & now. The approach the US is usingin the middle east is simply an echo of that past; a very similar grab for resources that has been set out as a necessary evil to maintain security.
There's also factsin this book that give a historical perspective of the sort you will never getin the mass media. For example, I always assumed that the majority of the US infantry were afro-american. After reading this book I now know that American Indians have the highest proportion of their populationin the services, & they are also the most decorated. We all know that the Indians of the wild west were a proud people, but what we don't realize is how tall they still stand.
For insights such as these, its well worth reading this book.
Excellent and informative - By: Teejay, 03 Dec 2008 I am very interestedin the history of the USA & I found this to be an informative, fascinating & well-written account of one of the nation's defining struggles.
Schofield displays great knowledge & understanding of the landscape & the Nez Perce flight, & his simple use of modern-day interviews clearly demonstrates how the differences that led to the shameful genocide of yesterday are still very much alive today.
Recommended reading.
History in the American West - By: Mrs. Alison Taylor, 27 Nov 2008 
Anyone expecting an action-packed volume will be disappointed. However, if you require an accurate, scholarly presentation covering the history of the Nez Perce nation, then there will be plenty to interest youin this book
"It's almost as if we weren't human" - By: Four Violets, 09 Nov 2008 I remain intrigued as to why Brian Schofield, who livesin East Sussex & is presumably English, became interested enoughin the history of the Native American Nez Perce tribe to have written this very in-depth documentary about their epic 1,700 mile trek towards the perceived haven of the Canadian border.
The account switches from the past to the present, & discussions with the tribes' present day spokespeople. I found that a little confusing at times. Other mild gripes might be the poor quality of the photographs, but presumably it is a bonus that any exist at all. The cover could certainly have been less dismal.
The name Nez Perce (to rhyme with fez verse) arose from the French version of their name - meaning "pierced nose" - as the tribe often pierced their noses with shells. By the time settlers from the West encountered these people around the end of the eighteenth century, they could trace their settlement back as far as 12,000 years.
The Nez Perce, like the other Indians, were confined onto reservations. In 1877, clashing with the US army, a band of 700 ran for freedom. Four months later, just 40 miles short of the Canadian border, 420 had surrendered, 120 had diedin battles, & of their 3,000 horses 1100 remained.
Essential for me were the maps, so I could place areas such as the Columbia Plateau, & the niceties of the route taken by the Nez Perce when they fled their original homelandsin Oregon, through Idaho, Wyoming & Montana; & where various segments of the tribe eventually settled.
It was probably inevitable that white settlers clashed with the "native" inhabitants. It was a fight over land & use of natural resources. Some of the statistics are horrific: by the 1950's European settlers had reduced America's wildlife by no less than four-fifths. The fur trade annihilated hundreds of thousands of animals, followed by pioneer settlers killing for food, & killing "pests" such as golden eagles, bears & cougars which were seen as rival hunters. Industrial harvest - of fish, timber & other resources - introduced the technology of extinction. Not to mention sixty million buffalo. The Chapter entitled "Poison" is searing with its truths about industrial fouling, iron, oil, steel production, & the compromised air & water of the continent. As a result of radioactive contaminants, phosphates, mercury, chloroform - an unsurprising 40% of America's lakes & rivers are considered unsafe for fishing or swimming. Chapter Six "Unequal War" about logging, has statistics & tales of cynical rape of the land for financial profit which made me shudder even more.
At 5% of its historical levels, the Columbia fish population is the victim of ruthless damming. The greatest underground aquifer on earth, the Ogallala, upon which the rural economies of Nebraska, Kansas & Texas depend, is being drained at over 8 times the rate of replenishment. It supports around 40% of America's wheat, grain & cotton imports, & will be effectively dry within a few decades if current use continues...
Nez Perce children were sent to reprogramming boarding schools & their cultural identity was belittled with catastrophic consequences. Nowadays, modern day Indians are recovering pride & numbers; but as is to be expected, remain bitter about their shabby treatment by successive governments. "Money trumped nature every time." Almost two thirds of the land the original nations had been promised,in three hundred treaties, passed into white hands.
"It's almost as if we weren't human" says a modern day Nez Perce. But another has the last word: "We will forever be Indian people, you will not make white people out of us". I hope they value this account of their history, as anyone will who takes the trouble to read it. It is about everything of enduring valuein the natural world - of value not just to the American Indian race. They show us it is we who need to re-examine our priorities.
Buried stories, bleeding pain. - By: Mr. S. O'kane, 28 Oct 2008 I have to admit this was one of the hardest books I've been asked to read under the Vine programme. I do read academic books for my ongoing BAin Humanities course at the OU but I don't make a habit of reading such booksin my free-time.
However, this was a thoroughly researched book with a point to a prove. The story of the Native Americans & how the incumbent Europeans have 'dealt' with 'them' is one that needs to be told so that 'we' never make the same mistake again. Schofield's tome is a welcome addition to the many that have so far debunked the theory that 'we tamed the savages' & is worthy of being mentionedin the same breath as 'Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee'. My only criticism is that it is perhaps a little too academic for a larger audiencein terms of reaching out to others but I suppose that may not be the point of it.
An excellent book & worth it if you have more than a passing interestin the old Wild West.
