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Tacitly just a history book about the Lakota tribe, this book delves deep into daily tribal life, economics and trade, diplomacy and war strategy. Pekka Hamalainen states at the beginning why the Lakota are such an interesting people to study:They emerge as superbly flexible people who went through a series of geneses from pedestrian foragers to sedentary farmers to equestrian hunters to nomadic pastoralists, each a precarious attempt to carve out a safe place in a world where European newcomers had become a permanent presence. They come to life as fiercely proud people who easily embraced outsiders, turning their domain into a vibrant ethnic jumble. Perhaps most strikingly, they emerge as supreme warriors who routinely eschewed violence, relying on diplomacy, persuasion, and sheer charm to secure what they needed—only to revert to naked force if necessary. When the overconfident Custer rode into the Bighorn Valley on that June day, they had already faced a thousand imperial challenges. They knew exactly what to do with him.And:That is where, supposedly, all the pivotal imperial rivalries over North America took place, France vying for supremacy with England on the eastern seaboard; Spaniards, Comanches, Mexicans, and Americans jostling for position in the Southwest; and Russians pushing down the Pacific Coast in search of pelts and challenging Spain’s claims to California. The interior world was a sideshow, too marginal to stir potent imperial passions, too vast and vicious for proper colonies. It was Thomas Jefferson’s imagined Louisiana whose settlement would take a thousand generations.This book is essential for understanding American history. How about the congruence of these seemingly different cultures?Neither Lakotas nor Americans compromised their core convictions about themselves and the world. Convinced of the essential rightness of their respective beliefs and principles, they created a yawning mental crevasse where two expansionist powers could fit. They valued, desired, sought, and fought for different things and often talked past one another, which, ironically, made them compatible. It was only when nature itself failed to sustain both that coexistence became impossible.Lakotas used every possible tool in their efforts to keep what they held most sacred. When dealing with the French, they could be happy to submit to a paternalistic relationship. With the relatively weak Spanish, they could take a more privileged position. And with the British, they could be violent:They killed one of the traders, cut his heart out, and ate it, and they boiled and ate Memeskia in front of his relatives. The attack was a sensation, and it sent British traders fleeing from the Ohio Country in panic, leaving behind a firmer French-Indian allianceAmazingly, the Lakota co-opted the Europeans strengths by somehow becoming great shooters and horseman (interestingly the arrival of the "magic dogs" was a million year exodus for the now domesticated horse that was made extinct during the Pleistocene). Their decentralization also allowed them to outlast smallpox long enough for the Americans to strategically offer up a vaccine. Disease comes up many times in this story. British General Cornwallis was forced to surrender at Yorktown due to his African Americans succumbing to malaria and France's New World Empire was abandoned with their troops suffering from yellow fever.The United States become the local hegemon post the War of 1812 (known by the Dakota's as “Pahinshashawacikiya,” “when the Redhead begged for Our help.”) and the signing of the Treaty of Ghent. The Lakota would go own to dominate their Paha Sapa, lush in vegetation and a desired spot for Bison herds. The US, after Eastern domination of Indian lands, would find a much tougher opponent. The successful Union generals now in power would use coercion, annuities, threats, betrayal, environmental destruction and war leading up to famously unsuccessful military campaigns ("Warriors shouted that the wašíčus should have brought more Indians to do their fighting for them). Ultimately the destruction of bison heard and the massacre at Wounded Knee (“a people’s dream died there”) were the final steps in Lakota submission.To dispel the notion of unintelligent savage, it is amazing to hear the diversity of quotes about Lakotas. All of them with a grain of truth as they used every tool they had available to them:-A German traveler was struck by the mental shift. In St. Louis he had heard the Sioux being denounced as “the treacherous enemies of all white,” but a journey upriver revealed a different image: “the more loyal of the aborigines under the care of the American government.”-Clark denounced them as “the vilest miscreants of the savage race, and must ever remain the pirates of the Missouri.”-U.S. agents denigrated Lakotas as irredeemable savages “determined to exterminate” their neighboring tribes.- Lieutenant James Gorrell wrote, “Certainly the greatest nation of Indians ever yet found.” “They can shoot the wildest and largest beasts in the woods, at seventy or one hundred yards distance,”-Red Cloud fit the bill. The New York Times heralded him as “a perfect Hercules,” “a man of brains, a good ruler, an eloquent speaker, and able general and fair diplomat,” “undoubtedly the most celebrated warrior living on the American Continent,” who commanded ten thousand people and two thousand warriors.-“A powerful and warlike people, proud, haughty, and defiant; will average six feet in height, strong muscular frames, and very good horsemen.” They were, he warned, “capable of doing much harm.”Truly a fascinating history told by a great story teller.
