Kass Fleisher
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By: State University of New York Press
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Subjects -> History -> Americas -> Native American -> General
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5
Average rating: 3.5 of 5
Should Be Required Reading 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 13 people found this review helpful.
Sometimes a little distance gives an author the ability to see a subject clearly-the historical distance, for example, necessary to see how past events predict contemporary consequences, how war is always brutal and dirties both its victims and victors no matter how many yellow ribbons we hang around it-and I couldn't help but be reminded of this while reading Fleisher's analysis of the Bear River rape and massacre at the same time that stories of American soldiers "abuse" of Iraqi prisoners were coming to light. At its heart, this book is about the making of history itself: that is, how an event generates competing explanations that clash, and are either accepted as truth, alter each other, or fall out of memory. It is about how "truth" is made. Specifically, Fleisher focuses on the massacre of one Shoshoni village by U.S. troops, or rather she focuses on the competing agendas feuding over how this one event should be remembered today. Though there is some disagreement on some details (such as the body count), there isn't much disagreement on the essential fact that on that day U.S. soldiers murdered a village of Shoshoni Native Americans, committing rapes and other atrocities in the course of wiping out survivors. Like others historians, Fleisher assembles all the historical evidence: details, for example, like the fact that the attack was planned to take place at dawn when the village would be asleep and people could be killed in their tents, during the winter when the Shoshoni would all be gathered together, while the snow was deep so women and children couldn't run away. Unlike most historians, she questions how historians themselves remember this event, examining their methods, their own political agendas, wondering for example, why some cast the massacre as a military victory instead of an act of genocide.
But what makes this book remarkable, and distinguishes it from the conservative historians who have written about the event before her, is that she portrays the event not as some dusty artifact, but as an ongoing story that involves us all. For we all are involved: how we remember this story, or not, determines "what happened" that day and will contribute to what can happen tomorrow. Like an investigative journalist she interviews living descendants of the original massacre, both Native Americans and the white ranchers who still live on the land. Most remarkably she includes herself as part of the problem/solution with this story (sort of as the voice of the common man) and shows how all of us, ordinary American citizens, have a stake in how the event is remembered. Should the park service erect a memorial commemorating the brave actions of our men in uniform in a military victory against Indian warriors? Should the rapes that were committed be erased? Should no marker be erected? Or should we remind ourselves that war is brutal? That even our side commits atrocities, especially when expediency is at stake? That is, she asks if by white-washing history we make it easy for history to repeat itself, e.g. go to war lightly, convinced we will be remembered as virtuous no matter what we do?
I had no particular interest in Native American history before reading this book. But afterwards I realized that that was equivalent to saying I had no particular interest in my own history as an American, and by implication no particular interest in why my country behaves as it does today. The Bear River Massacre and the Making of History should be required reading for everyone, but especially for anyone who thinks they are patriotic. An important book.
Editorial Review:
Explores how a pivotal event in American history-the massacre of over 300 Shoshone men, women, and children in 1863-has been constructed, contested, negotiated, and forgotten.
