Great Plains Indians - (Discover the Great Plains) by David J Wishart (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

2017 Nebraska Book Awards Nonfiction: Reference

David J. Wishart's Great Plains Indians covers thirteen thousand years of fascinating, dynamic, and often tragic history.

From a hunting and gathering lifestyle to first contact with Europeans to land dispossession to claims cases, and much more, Wishart takes a wide-angle look at one of the most significant groups of people in the country. Myriad internal and external forces have profoundly shaped Indian lives on the Great Plains. Those forces--the environment, religion, tradition, guns, disease, government policy--have written their way into this history. Wishart spans the vastness of Indian time on the Great Plains, bringing the reader up to date on reservation conditions and rebounding populations in a sea of rural population decline.

Great Plains Indians is a compelling introduction to Indian life on the Great Plains from thirteen thousand years ago to the present.

Review Quotes

"Great Plains Indians by Nebraska geography professor David J. Wishart details the proud and fraught history of the original inhabitants of the plains. This broad view of the various peoples that tread the land tracks their trajectory from nomadic hunters to resolute resisters of European American expansion into their territory."--John Tolley, Big Ten Network-- (8/14/2018 12:00:00 AM)

"Great Plains Indians is an accessible and highly readable book that is undoubtedly the best overview of the Plains Indians. The use of Native American sources combined with archaeological and historical sources produces a balanced review of 13,000 years of Plains Indians history."--Mark R. Ellis, Historical Geography

"[Great Plains Indians is] packed with worthwhile information and observations on Indian life during the centuries before European settlement and up to present times."--Omaha World-Herald-- (12/24/2016 12:00:00 AM)

"[Great Plains Indians] is written in an accessible manner and is up to date. It is a great introduction for those interested in knowing more about Plains Indian history and land and provides a foundation for undergraduate classes to think through current affairs in Indian Country."--William Bauer, Kansas History

"[Great Plains Indians] will serve as an excellent, concise, and informative introduction to many facets of Plains Indian cultures, past and present, and should also serve as a conduit into additional studies. . . . A recommended volume for anyone interested in Plains Indians and the ongoing history of Native-U.S. relations that adds to the scholarship of the U.S. West and Borderlands of adjacent regions."--William C. Meadows, New Mexico Historical Review

"[Wishart's] clear and succinct overview of Plains culture and history will enlighten the casual reader."--Publishers Weekly-- (1/16/2017 12:00:00 AM)

"David Wishart has provided a welcomed and comprehensive synopsis of Great Plains Indian culture that is accessible to a wide audience and useful in the classroom."--Bruce Noble, Wyoming History Journal

"David Wishart's book is a very accessible introduction to the indigenous cultures of the North American Great Plains."--John Truden, Chronicles of Oklahoma

"These are the stories of how the United States came to be what it is today, and they should be known to all Americans."--W. Raymond Wood, Annals of Iowa

"Very informative."--Donald Raker, Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society

About the Author

David J. Wishart is a professor of geography at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. He is the author or editor of many books, including Encyclopedia of the Great Plains (Nebraska, 2004), and The Last Days of the Rainbelt (Nebraska, 2014).