I've read extensively on the Nez Perce war, and the conclusion I came to very quickly was that one generation's difference in white settlement would have resulted in a *very* different look for western US colonialism. Or if John McLoughlin could have convinced settlers, trappers, and Natives alike to form a country independent from Great Britain and the US. Lots of possible turning points.
Start with Lucillus McWhorter's Hear Me My Chiefs and Yellow Wolf books. McWhorter talked to survivors of the Nez Perce war and his works are where other historians such as Alvin Josephy started (read McWhorter and Josephy's assorted works if you read nothing else). If you can get your hands on Grace Bartlett's The Wallowa Country 1867-1877 that's based on Wallowa County records. Daniel Sharfstein's Thunder in the Mountains is another excellent work. Also Selling Your Father's Bones by Brian Schofield.
I find that often otherwise good general works sympathetic to the Native point of view end up being inaccurate about the Nez Perce war so I really recommend looking at McWhorter, Josephy, and Bartlett first (if you can find her work, it's a limited local publication). Those three worked closely with original sources. But Sharfstein and Schofield are excellent as well.
That book quote...arrrggh.
I've read extensively on the Nez Perce war, and the conclusion I came to very quickly was that one generation's difference in white settlement would have resulted in a *very* different look for western US colonialism. Or if John McLoughlin could have convinced settlers, trappers, and Natives alike to form a country independent from Great Britain and the US. Lots of possible turning points.
oh that's so interesting! do you have any books you'd recommend on the nez perce war? i haven't read much about it but i'd really like to
Start with Lucillus McWhorter's Hear Me My Chiefs and Yellow Wolf books. McWhorter talked to survivors of the Nez Perce war and his works are where other historians such as Alvin Josephy started (read McWhorter and Josephy's assorted works if you read nothing else). If you can get your hands on Grace Bartlett's The Wallowa Country 1867-1877 that's based on Wallowa County records. Daniel Sharfstein's Thunder in the Mountains is another excellent work. Also Selling Your Father's Bones by Brian Schofield.
I find that often otherwise good general works sympathetic to the Native point of view end up being inaccurate about the Nez Perce war so I really recommend looking at McWhorter, Josephy, and Bartlett first (if you can find her work, it's a limited local publication). Those three worked closely with original sources. But Sharfstein and Schofield are excellent as well.