William E. Unrau

While I expected this to be an informative examination about the processes by which the dispossession of the federally-recognized Indian tribes in the Trans-Mississippi West took place during the time in question, there is just a disorganized feel to this short monograph that makes me unable to really recommend it. And this is speaking as someone who has professional reasons to be reading this work. If you don't have a professional or educational reason for doing so there are probably better ways to spend your time. To cut to the chase why did Indian Country fall? Because the federal government of the time was not strong enough to stand up to the general tendencies of American society; not that Unrau chooses to posit this as his thesis.… (meer)

The Kaw or Kansa Indians moved from the lower Ohio valley to Kansas during the 16th century. Also known as the Wind People, the Kaws had more than their share of bad luck. Their land was taken from them, "bought", divided, and subdivided. They were forced to relocate so often that eventually they had almost no land to call their own. They suffered several times from diseases that drastically reduced their population. They were often at war with other nearby tribes, and finally after being forced to move to Indian Country in Oklahoma, they suffered from conflicts within their own tribe. In the end, they lost most of their land to the Kaw Reservoir and ended up with only a few hundred acres to call their own. As a side note, the last full-blood Kaw passed away in 2002. William Unrau gives us a good, if somewhat brief history of the Kaw people in this book.… (meer)