[.ca] Captured by the Indians: 15 Firsthand Accounts, 1750-1870 (ISBN 0486249018)

sucks:
This book sucks, the stories suck, it is to boring and it is written poorly.

Riveting stories told by real Indian captives!:
This book is such a find! Each 'chapter' in this book is an actual real-life historical narrative of someone that was captured by Indians and returned to 'civilization' to tell their tale. It's interesting to read that quite a few of the stories paint the 'savages' in actually a sympathetic, even likeable light. Goes to show that one man's savage is another man's hero, doesn't it? At any rate, if you're a fan of historical drama, even if you don't normally read non-fiction, I still recommend picking up this book. It's a fascinating look into history.

Fascinating accounts:
Only reason it's not a five is they are a little hard to read. All stories were written in the 17 or 1800's and as the saying goes, "them there folk talks funny....." They say things like, "I would prevail upon you, kind sir, to remain silent," when what they really mean is "Shut up" . This is a good book to read in between other books because all accounts are 10 to 30 pages and each is a story unto itself, so when you finish one, the next one is like reading a whole new book, so putting it down to read something else doesn't interfere with the story.

Excellent Collection of Indian Captivity Narratives:
This is a short collection of some of the most famous Indian captivity narratives written during the late 18th and 19th centuries when warfare raged between white settlers and the native Indian inhabitants of North America. These narratives are not only interesting and entertaining as drama, but are invaluable to historians and ethnographers as they provide some of the best first-hand accounts of life among the native tribes of the United States at a time when they were being wiped out by white expansion. These narratives show what life was like as an Indian, including all the blood and horror as well as the genuine kindness and devotion inherent in any human society. You will note that many captivity accounts were in many ways positive experiences for the captives who were adopted into a tribe and treated with the love and respect they would accord any of their own people. Such is the case with men like James Smith who spent five years living with the Ohio Indians along Lake Erie. These tales were popular in their own time for providing an entertaining escape for people who were both fearful yet fascinated by the Indians and their "savage" ways. From these accounts we learn much about Indian lifeways, food, culture, and religion. We also learn of the cruel barbarities that the Indians could inflict on their enemies, as we see in the tale of Dr. John Knight who witnessed the horrific torture and death of Col. William Crawford in 1782, or the daring escape of John Slover, who had spent many years among the Shawnee and Wyandot as a captive and who later escaped and returned to wage war against his former captors, only to be retaken after the Battle of Sandusky. A slow and terrible death awaited any escaped captive who fell back into Indian hands. But what is really interesting is the number of captives who spent many years living, happily in many cases, with the Indians, showing that they were not the totally savage heathens protrayed in many boosk and movies, but a society of human beings who could love and hate as equally as any other. This is a valuble introduction to a fascinating genere of litereature and is an important part of history that should not be overlooked. To anyone interested in delving deeper into this subject I would also recommend checking out Archibald Loudon's "Indian Narratives" as well as "A History of Jonathan Alder".

A harrowing, politically incorrect view of indians.:
This book is a good antidote to the politically correct view of Indians that has been promulgated by revisionist historians, the media (e.g., movies such as "Dances with Wolves"), etc., during the last few decades. It presents 15 accounts, most of which are written by those who actually experienced the events, of the slaughter and capture of whites by Indians. Who were the whites whom the Indians attacked and what did they do to warrant such treatment? In many cases the bulk of the victims were women and children who were doing nothing more than searching for a place to call home. Must reading for liberals who've been brainwashed into swallowing the myth of "The Noble Savage".