I really liked this book for informing me a lot about the experience of the Blackfoot in the period following the expansion of whites into their traditional lands. To me it struck a vary good balance between actual history and using the fantasy aspects of it to give insight into who the Blackfoot were and their culture & beliefs.
I had never before heard anything about the
Marias River massacre, though I was familiar with the better known massacres at
Sand Creek &
Wounded Knee. In all of these events the perpetrators were not charged with any crimes, nor did they even suffer any real negative consequences. Gulp, 20 Medals of Honor were awarded to soldiers who participated in the killings at Wounded Knee. At the time these events occurred though such actions just reflected the will of the local white populations that just wanted the Native Americans gone, and by any means necessary.
Spoiler:
From the meeting of some of the Blackfoot leaders with General Scully:
Quote:
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Already the wheels were in motion for an action to punish the Blackfeet severely. This meeting could have made the action unnecessary and, an added benefit, would have enhanced Sully's reputation as a man who brought peace to the northern plains. But now he realized that that was not even true—the people of Montana Territory wanted not peace but punishment. They wanted to run these red Indians fight off the face of the map, push them into Canada or, failing that kill them like wild animals. It was an emotional issue for the people, a practical one for the politicians and bankers.
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Later in that same meeting Sully expresses surprise that small pox has broken out among the Blackfoot, but only holds out the possibility of providing medicine [small pox vaccination] if the Blackfoot acquiesce to the impossible demands placed on them Sort of a passive biological warfare. Then there is the mention of in the book of the never named white man who is killing off all the wild animals not for meat or any other uses, but just to kill them. A representation of the real history where the buffalo were driven to near extinction to force the Plains Indians to give up their lifestyle of buffalo hunting and confine them to reservations?
Looking back it is difficult to sympathize with the sense of entitlement the Americans felt at the time for the lands that had been inhabited by the Blackfoot and other tribes.
I agree with some of Issybird's criticisms about the long vision quest of Fools Crow at the end. However, the way I looked at it was that the purpose was to tell the subsequent history of the Blackfoot people in the generations to come. When they would be forced onto reservations, completely deprived of their traditional means of livelihood, and pressured to give up their culture entirely and assimilate into the American culture. What I thought was out of place was the relatively happy ending of the last two paragraphs.
I found this link that provides a short history of the Blackfoot, including where they stand today;
The Blackfoot Indians - "Real" People of Montana