PETER COZZENS is the author or editor of seventeen acclaimed books on the American Civil War and the Indian Wars of the American West, and a member of the Advisory Council of the Lincoln Prize. In 2002 he was awarded the American Foreign Service Association's highest honor, the William R. Rivkin Award, given annually to one Foreign Service Officer for exemplary moral courage, integrity, and creative dissent.
Winner of the Gilder Lehrman Prize for Military History
Winner of the Caroline Bancroft History Prize
Shortlisted for the Military History Magazine Book of the Year
Award
Finalist for the Western Writers of America Spur Award in Best
Western Historical Nonfiction
A Smithsonian Top History Book
A Times (UK) Book of the Year
"A detailed recounting of random carnage, bodies burned, treaties
broken and treachery let loose across the land. . . . Cozzens
admirably succeeds in framing the Indian Wars with acute historical
accuracy. . . . [D]emonstrates vast knowledge of American
military history." —Douglas Brinkley, The New York Times Book
Review
"[S]ets a new standard for Western Indian Wars history. . .
. [T]he most comprehensive, insightful synthesis of the
conflict between the Western tribes and the United States
government and citizens published by a popular New York press in
decades. . . . Like William Manchester’s The Glory and the
Dream . . . [Cozzens’] brilliant thesis and detailed narrative will
sustain the reader…from the prologue to the conclusion. . .
. [S]uccinctly seeks a sharper understanding of the cause and
effects of the American government’s policies, citizen relations
with the tribes, intertribal history and warfare, and the United
States’ massive immigration into the West during and after the
Civil War." —Stuart Rosebrook, True West Magazine
“A] valuable contribution. . . . [S]weeps across 25 years of
U.S. Indian policy, gives clear accounts of battles and raids and
introduces generals and chiefs, foot soldiers and warriors. While
Cozzens doesn’t say he wrote The Earth Is Weeping to supplant [Bury
My Heart at] Wounded Knee, he does express his hope that it will
bring balance and better understanding of the Indian Wars of the
American West. In that, he succeeds.” —John B. Saul, The Seattle
Times
“[S]corching vividness. . . . [C]risp, muscular prose that
offers clear pictures of men at war. A sweeping work of narrative
history that synthesizes the work of countless historians, the book
. . . recognizes fragments of nobility and humanity amid epic
tragedy. Without implying any false equivalence, Cozzens emphasizes
history’s tangled complexity.” —Dan Cryer, The San Francisco
Chronicle
"A comprehensive look. . . . A striking and thorough explanation. .
. . The structure of the book allows the interweaving of
timelines and historical context in a way that makes the heavy
subject matter extremely readable and also thought provoking.
Cozzens . . . takes to heart his own words of warning about the
myths that pervade pop culture. . . . This is a history book,
but it is also a present-tense book, full of ironies about how
we’re not so different from 19th century Westerners." —Erin H.
Turner, Big Sky Journal
"[S]nappy prose, a strong narrative cadence, and admirable clarity.
Cozzens is a gifted writer. . . . It's one of the strengths
of the book that Cozzens lets none of his cast of
characters—Euro-Americans, Native Americans, political figures,
military officers, and all the rest—off the hook for responsibility
for what happened. Written briskly, it draws you in; its maps are
unusually numerous and clear; its comprehensiveness, making it
useful to anyone wishing to know the facts of the many, distinct
Indian wars, is unlikely to be surpassed. For those wishing to
learn the story of the Indian wars of the American West, this is
the book to turn to." —James M. Banner Jr., The Weekly Standard
"An evenhanded and smoothly written volume that is no less
ambitious in scope than Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee." —Andrew
Graybill, The American Scholar
"Cozzens does an exceptional job of examining the viewpoints of
both sides, making heavy use of previously untapped primary
sources. . . . This is a timely and thorough book, presenting
the story without hyperbole or histrionics of this controversial
chapter in American history, providing an excellent one-volume
history of America’s actual longest and most tragic war." —Jerry
Lenaburg, New York Journal of Books
"I've been waiting for an up-to-date, objective, and
well-researched book on the Indian Wars, and Peter Cozzens' The
Earth Is Weeping is all that and more—an elegantly written
narrative of one of the great sagas in American history, and better
than Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee." —James Donovan, author of A
Terrible Glory and The Blood of Heroes
"[A]magnificent single-volume account of the post-Civil War
conflicts that shaped our history and the mythology of the
frontier. . . . In examining the various Indian tribes and
subgroupings within them, Cozzens does an admirable job of
conveying their complexity and political divisions. This is a
beautifully written work of understanding and compassion that will
be a treasure for both general readers and specialists." —Jay
Freeman, Booklist (STARRED review)
"[A]dds a missing perspective on the lives of ordinary people on
both sides. Grand plans descended into confusion and cross
purposes, alliances and loyalties shifted momentarily, and soldiers
and warriors and their families spent most of that quarter-century
tired, hungry, discouraged, trying just to survive the next drought
or winter…No wonder their earth wept." —William C. Davis, author of
Three Roads to the Alamo and An Honorable Defeat
"Peter Cozzens reminds us that tragedy, not melodrama, best
characterizes the struggles for the American West. . . . The Earth
Is Weeping is the most lucid and reliable history of the Indian
Wars in recent memory." —Victor Davis Hanson, author of Carnage and
Culture
"A comprehensive assessment of the wars for control of the American
West. Highly recommended for the intertwined history of Native
Americans and the post-Civil War frontier U.S. Army." —Nathan
Bender, Library Journal
"Peter Cozzens, one of our finest working historians, has taken on
a massive chunk of Native American history and delivered it with
power, style, and insight. . . . There is much wisdom here, and
much good writing." —S.C. Gwynne, author of Empire of the Summer
Moon, and Rebel Yell
"[A] thorough history of the 1860-1890 Indian Wars." —The Week
"The uninterrupted succession of armed conflicts between the U. S.
army and Indians on the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains from the
1860s to 1890, with fatalities mounting into the thousands, were
truly America's longest and most tragic war. In sobering
detail, Peter Cozzens has chronicled this dark chapter in our
history." —James M. McPherson, author of The War That Forged a
Nation and Battle Cry of Freedom
"A valuable panoramic view… Treachery on such an epic scale
can bear many retellings, and this account stands out for its
impressive detail and scope." —Priyanka Kumar, The Washington
Post
"[S]cores of fascinating characters… [V]ivid descriptions of
ordinary people on both sides. . . . [A] sweeping, sharp and
stylish history of the Indian Wars of the second half of the 19th
century—and their tragic consequences for the native people.
Cozzens retells familiar stories . . . with panache." —Glenn C.
Altschuler, Star Tribune
"In this comprehensive, well-researched and beautifully written
book, Peter Cozzens weaves together the many particular histories
of the Indian Wars to present a multifaceted view of the era."
—Foreign Service Journal
"[V]eteran historian Cozzens brings verve and a mastery of the era
as the chronicles the personalities, politics and bloody clashes. .
. . [D]oes full justice to the complexities of this history."
—Matthew Price, Newsday
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