10 Unflinching Tales of the West Like American Primeval

In this National Book Award finalist and winner of the American Historical Association’s Albert J. Beveridge Award for Best Book in American History, renowned historian, cultural critic, and professor Richard Slotkin, delves into the mythology of the American West.

Regeneration Through Violence draws upon literature from the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries to explore the experiences of European settlers on the frontier struggling against the terrain and Native Americans, and the hateful, violent, and contradictory forces that drove them west. 

When this book was first published in 1970, it forced Americans to reckon with the truth of what manifest destiny really entailed. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, a #1 New York Times bestseller, played a massive role in bringing the systematic annihilation and displacement of Native Americans to the attention of the American people. 

Dee Brown gives detailed accounts of the bloody battles and massacres inflicted on Native tribes, but also gives recognition to the brave chiefs who led their people in the fight to preserve their culture and lives. 

In 1851, a treaty was signed at Horse Creek that recognized Native American ownership of over one million square miles of land in the West. This treaty, along with 370 other phony treaties, was a fraudulent act of the American government, which never intended to respect it. 

VanDevelder exposes westward expansion as a process of repeated, heartless betrayal as he destroys long-held myths and calls for culpability of all involved in the genocide of Native Americans, from cowboys to presidents. Choice writes that “this superlative work deserves close attention…Highly recommended.”

This book is a deep dive into the same setting and peoples explored in the series American Primeval. The history of the West was forever altered when Mormons settled in their new Zion, the Great Basin of the Utah Territory. 

Durham depicts the unique topographical conditions of the region as fostering new cultural exchanges and clashes between Mormons and trappers, miners, soldiers, and Native tribes. Desert Between the Mountains explores the rich history of the Great Basin, full of entertaining characters, hard fought battles, and general chaos. 

Defiant, brave, and proud, Black Hawk led a band of warriors of the Sauk Nation back into their ancestral land in 1832. This movement ignited the Black Hawk War, which would result in a massacre of the Sauks. White settlers rejoiced at the win, seeing it as a turning point in the defeat of Native Americans. 

Historian Kerry A. Trask employs the heroic figure of Black Hawk to emphasize the contradictions and dichotomies of tragedy and victory on the American frontier. Trask’s fine-tuned retelling of this story will evoke strong emotion and connection from all readers. 

In this far-reaching story of the state, Dale L. Walkers chronicles California from the time when Native Americans lived there before European intervention all the way through America winning California from Mexico. Centered around compelling characters and spotted with brutal battles, this book exhibits the effects of manifest destiny on Californian paradise. 

Masterful writing accompanies interesting history to make this a truly engaging read. 

The trek of pioneers into the vast unknown of the American West is a real-life dramatic saga as thrilling as any work of fiction. This account chronicles year by year, recounting dangers and progressions throughout the 1840s. 

Frank McLynn is able to capture the fear and excitement, the anxiety and anticipation, of the men and women who set out on this journey. With primary sources of diaries and memoirs from actual pioneers, this book will throw you into the highs and lows experienced on the path westward. 

When General George Armstrong Custer planned to attack Sioux and Cheyenne tribes on the banks of the Little Bighorn River, he never imagined the legacy he would create. Soon, the Sioux and Cheyenne were victorious, having killed Custer and over 200 of his men.

Tim Lehman explores the Battle of Little Bighorn from all angles, incorporating the experiences of soldiers, Native Americans, women, and scouts. This “fast moving and well-written survey” is perfect for  “uninitiated readers who wish to learn about the topic” (Booklist). 

In this novel, former soldier Wesley Case ventures into the vast West to start a peaceful life as a cattle rancher. He settles in Montana, where he finds himself seated at the crossroads of Canadian, American, and Native tensions. The strife of Wesley’s personal life, dealing with a budding romance and a dark past, runs parallel to the eruption of violence between the American military and Sioux warriors. Both conflicts come to a head as the American government begins its final assault. 

This thrilling tale of bravery comes from “one of North America’s best writers,” according to bestselling author Annie Proulx. 

Few know about the settlement of Gnaddenhutten, or of its bloody destruction. The village was home to Christian Native American pacifists during the American Revolution. Zane Grey referred to journals written by his ancestor Colonel Ebenezer Zane to craft this story around the true events of Gnaddenhutten and the Moravian Church missionaries within who sought to bring peace to the Ohio Valley.

Readers today will connect to this tragic and compelling historical Western as much as they did when it was first published in 1906.