[.ca] The Wild Frontier: Atrocities During the American-Indian ... (ISBN 0375758569)

Telling it like it was:
This book does what has needed to be done by presenting in stark terms the savagery of the American Indian Wars. It is gory reading much of the time, but I disagree with a previous reviewer in that I think Mr. Osborn knows exactly where he is taking his reader. His final chapters are a sound capstone to his cataloguing of the tremendous and horrendous atrocities that occurred. His theme basically deconstructs the nowadays familiar political tactic of "make whitey feel guilty". His book is a reminder that Indians committed many many horrible atrocities against innocent settlers, probably far in excess of those directly committed against the Indian. Sand Creek, the Trail of Tears, and Wounded Knee get all the attention of revisionist historians with present day agendas. These tragic incidents are dwarfed by the unspeakable atrocities endured by thousands of white settlers detailed here. This book will be disregarded by those inclined to political correctness, but as Mr. Osborn quotes of Abraham Lincoln: "History is not history unless it is the truth."

Scholarly work depicts the Indian wars as they truly were.:
I cannot put into words how great a book this is. Through extensive research by way of first hand accounts and reports it tells the true story of what the indian wars were about and in particular what the indians themselves were truly like...in all of their absolute hellish, horrific and barbaric brutality. The book may make your stomach turn at times but you should read it through to the end. The entire situation from both sides is examined to the greatest detail over a span of several hundred years. It's a very shocking book.

My strongest recommendation:
An excellent, excellent book describing a side of the American-Indian war that is frequently hinted at but never fully explored. Thorough and well-documented. The author presents a serious account rather than sentimentalizing the facts of our nation's history.

Extremely informative and well documented book:
Greatly enjoyed reading the book. For someone who's knowledge of American Indians comes mostly from seeing Western movies and reading Cowboy books this book represents a new insight into both the Indian Wars and the settling of the West. l knew Indians committed many atrocities, such as scalping, against Settlers, however, I did not appreciate that these and other atrocities were committed by "both" Indians and Settlers in perhaps equal amounts and in brutality. What is impressive about this book is that Mr. Osborn has done extensive research on this subject and has documented his findings within the book with appropriate references. These historical references make the book believable and well worth buying it and reading it. No one truly interested in learning about American history cannot afford not to read this wonderful book.

Disapointed:
I hate to write only criticism, but I was sorely disappointed. This is important history. The title sounds like an effort to sensationalize, but many of the better books I've read have misleading titles, but with today's resources I expected more. I wish it had at least sensationalized. But does the academic, or even the twisted world need another unorganized list and tally of the undocumented atrocities of U.S. History, that at this point are tasteless, if not politically and historically incorrect, and no longer even gruesome? The effort to create a large section of chapter notes appears to add little to its historic accuracy. Much of our sensationalized, written history in these times, has been in the nature of "pulp". There has often been little distinction between fact and fiction, and the fact was often garnished to the point of fiction, for money, fame, book sales, or simply a better story to tell around the campfire. This in my opinion, is hard to discern from a list of pulp. We certainly could use a more discerning analysis, a better and truthful rendition of our forefathers and the native Americans, or an attempt to divide fact from fiction, even a whopping tall tale, or an orderly listing so it can be used to better analyze, but this, it appears was a list of messed up note cards, typed in the night before the printers deadline, with little purpose. There are too many books like it, and it contributes little new that I could see. Maybe some academic deeply involved in this subject, or someone who likes to read gruesome statistics can see more, but I didn't.