Blaine Harden is a contributor to The Economist, PBS Frontline, and Foreign Policy, and has formerly served as The Washington Post's bureau chief in East Asia and Africa. He is the author of The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot; Escape from Camp 14, an international bestseller published in 27 languages; A River Lost; and Africa: Dispatches from a Fragile Continent, which won a Pen American Center citation for a first book of non-fiction.
“Terrifically readable.” —Los Angeles Times
“A richly detailed and expertly researched account of how a
concocted story [...] became a part of American legend . .
. Harden’s deeply researched book, often from the letters and
words of the principle figures themselves to rebuke lies told on
their behalf, is not history revised. Murder at the Mission is
history revealed.” —Spokesman Review
“[A] fascinating, well-written exposé . . . Harden skillfully
brings to life the collision of myth and reality. He has managed to
write a fittingly timely book that fits well into the post-Donald
Trump era of false narratives, conspiracy theories, and cries of
fake news.” —New York Journal of Books
“A well-written, fast-paced account . . . [that] succeeds in
bringing often-forgotten history front and center . . . Highly
recommended.” —Library Journal (starred review)
"Harden’s vivid reconstruction illustrates the process of Western
mythmaking, beloved of Americans when it paints them in a heroic
light; and of cultural collision, with the Whitmans almost
willfully ignoring the Cayuse worldview . . . A boon for those who
like their history unadorned by obfuscation and legend." —Kirkus
Reviews
"Harden meticulously outlines how one bitter minister crafted an
outlandish lie out of the Whitmans' deaths, promoting a narrow
vision of heroic white Christians destined to conquer the land, a
vision that persisted into the twentieth century, echoing far
beyond the Pacific Northwest." —Booklist
“[A] lively history . . . Enriched by dramatic storytelling and
candid interviews with contemporary Cayuses, this immersive account
illuminates how the tragedies of the past inform the present.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A gifted writer and a tenacious sleuth, Blaine Harden has hit the
reset button on a troubling cluster of myths that lie at the
foundation of the Anglo-American settlement of the Pacific
Northwest. Elucidating, captivating, skeptical of conventional
assumptions, and doggedly on the scent of the truth, Murder at the
Mission is narrative history at its very best.” —Hampton Sides, New
York Times bestselling author of Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the
American West
“In this remarkable history of dishonesty, greed, and
perseverance, Harden exposes the chauvinistic and fictitious
story that rests at the foundation of U.S. expansion in the Pacific
Northwest. He shows how the lionizing of missionaries and mountain
men created a triumphant, self-serving narrative that justified the
dispossession of the region’s native inhabitants. And in the book’s
indispensable conclusion, he describes how the Cayuse Indians
survived the onslaught and are now working to rebuild their
communities and restore their traditional homelands. Murder at the
Mission is a riveting investigation of both American myth-making
and the real history that lies beneath.” —Claudio Saunt, author of
Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the
Road to Indian Territory
“In crisp and engaging prose, Harden charts the birth, life, and
(one hopes) death of a big American lie, exposing along the way a
century-long list of willing collaborators: missionaries, Indian
agents, newspaper editors, politicians, historians, plain old con
men, and a university president. Murder at the Mission is narrative
history that matters, made all the more necessary because the lie’s
consequences for the Cayuse people are today as real, and raw, as
ever.” —Scott W. Berg, author of 38 Nooses: Lincoln, Little Crow,
and the Frontier's End
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