| Book Review | The Western Historical Quarterly, 39.3

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| Book Review | The Western Historical Quarterly, 39.3 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

A Fate Worse Than Death: Indian Captivities in the West, 1830–1885. By Gregory and Susan Michno. (Caldwell, ID: Caxton Press, 2007. xv + 527 pp. Illustrations, maps, appendices, notes, bibliography, index. $24.95.)

The treatment of captives by the Indians of the American West has always been western history's dirty little secret, whispered in private conversation, but seldom discussed openly. Not since Carl Coke Rister's rather benign treatment of the subject in the 1940s book, Border Captives (Norman, 1940), has serious attention been given to the ordeals suffered by those early pioneers unfortunate enough to fall into the hands of the warring tribes of the Great Plains and Southwest. In the introduction to their new book, A Fate Worse Than Death, authors Gregory and Susan Michno state that their purpose for relating the horrific details of Indian captivity is to help restore balance to the scales of history; that for too long the whites have been viewed as greedy and genocidal, while the Indians have been regarded as victims wishing nothing more than to live peaceful lives in an idyllic environment.

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