These stories have the fun, lessons, and morals that make you want to memorize them for the next time you're around a campfire.

They're great, because like most tales, they can be summarized in two sentences, yet with the expansion of narrative detail you can imagine yourself in an old council ring with an elder speaking slowly, and dozens of children listening in amazement.

The stories are quite short, quick to read, and very entertaining.

I started reading this little gem while researching material for an historical fiction novel and soon discovered that I couldn't get enough of their stories. Before reading this book, I was guilty of looking back at our history never imagining the grit and humor our ancestors possessed. A great read.

This book provides useful tools for those in helping professionals who work with Ritual Abuse survivors.The content is easy to understand and well written. A must for anyone in the helping professions.

A very entertaining read. A suberb story-teller, Dee Brown takes us into the lives of 19 participants in the slaughter that was Little Big Horn. We get to meet and ride along with some of the most colorful characters that seem to have gotten lost between the pages of history. Dee Brown has used eye witness accounts, diaries, letters, and the testimonies of the civilians,and soldiers that participated in this battle.
It wasn't just Custer's undertaking, but a full Army battle group.

This is another railroad history potboiler. Bad rail barons build bridges, lay tracks, grab the the land, loot everything, corrupt politicians and oppressed everybody. They ruined American society, ruined all the western lands, and set up corporate monopolies to crush everyone forever, if one believes this book. It is another journalistic sensation story. This story is so old the author even tells the old "Railroads Grab Land for Free" story where the railroad supposely got millions of acres (he claims 10% of the entire country!) for free from the government. This tale was discredited publicly in the 1950's as 19th century political propaganda. The railroad lands were paid for by all railroads at discount rates for over a centutry but Dee Howard never mentions that. His shallow search probably never found it. Nor does he present a balance view of the western rail development. Sure there were excesses, but the west is the world's biggest bread basket. Who set that up? Airlines?

This is a rip off book. Read something by Albro Martin of Harvard, if you want something readable, detailed, balanced and acurate about railroads and U.S. history.

One should not be surprised that railroad companies in a capitalist country are run to produce profits rather than for the good of the country. There is no astonishment that railroads in the United States were seen as money machines, and the natural monopolies of railroading were exploited to the max. However, railroads were widely seen as being good for the United States--and indeed the railroads provided the United States with a heightened sense of national unity as well as great economies in transportation.

Dee Brown does an admirable job of narrating the inherit contradictions involved in the story of the transcontinental railroads--"the good of the country" and "$$ for a few". The story does not stop once the first transcontinental railroad is built, either. Dee Brown describes effects on Native Americans, immigrant populations, tourists, farmers, and others.

The book is readable--good high school students should be able to handle it. There are also lots of vintage photographs, which add to the value. I'm not a professional historian, so I can't judge some things. The book is still in print after twenty-five years, and there's a reason for that: it's good.

I'm contributing this review because I think the existing, single review on Amazon is unfair. I know nothing about the author, but I do know enough from history that he is not completely out of whack to take the view that the railroads were often in the grip of robber barons and that many in Congress had their hands out when it came to making sure the Iron Horses enjoyed lenient legislation that enabled them to cross the continent. Thus, I think the author was entitled to his strong views when it comes to assessing the political and business climate in which the railroads were built. But this book is far more than a polemic. It contains fascinating passages about the "Hell on Wheels" collapsible shanty towns that followed the rail-heads across the prairie with their accompanying cast of gamblers, con artists and prostitutes waiting to prey on the laborers who built the lines. Also, there are memorable descriptions of the hardships endured by the first adventurers to travel from coast to coast behind the Iron Horse, together with quotes from Kipling, Robert Louis Stephenson and others who made the trip. I bought this book because I wanted to know more about the history of the building of the railroads and the opening up of this country. My curiosity was fully satisfied.

Brown's narrative account of John Hunt Morgan's cavalry exploits during the Civil War is thorough and entertaining, with many interesting details of the individuals involved. Unfortunately, it is also flawed by a heavy Southern bias and lack of perspective, so read with a grain of salt. Brown gives the impression that Kentucky was heavily pro-Southern, and fails to explain that that it remained in the Union because Confederate general Polk was the first to breach its short-lived "neutrality." He also fails to explain that Bragg decided to retreat from his 1862 invasion of Kentucky largely because the male population did not rally to join him in rebellion, as expected. Perhaps his biggest lapse was his description of Antietum as "Lee's glorious victory over McLellan." I was also disappointed by the lack of a balanced analysis of Morgan's effectiveness as a cavalry raider, and the lack of comparison with contemporaries such as Nathan Bedford Forrest and Union counterpart Frank Wolford. Morgan becomes "legendary" after the first small skirmishes, and remains a perfect hero throughout, despite many opinons to the contrary, such as Bragg, Jefferson Davis, and most of the senior command! Even his disasterous raid into Indiana and Ohio is treated as a great victory.

I live in Greeneville, Tn and enjoy learning more about the civil war. General Morgan visited Greeneville often during the war and enjoyed staying at one of the nicest homes in the area known as the Williams/Dixon mansion which today has been restored to resemble the original splendor of the days when Gen. Morgan visited. Unfortunatley, Greeneville is also the town were General Morgan was killed by Federal troops that had surrounded the town after learning from an informant that Morgan was visiting. This book is much more interesting than I thought it would be. I purchased the book in Sacramento, CA on a sale rack. I lived in Greeneville in the early 80's and didn't think I would ever live here again, but I had a chance to move back about 2 yrs. ago so I am just now reading the book. This book is a good blend of technical details and human interest stories and features many short poems and songs written by the men that were under General Morgan's leadership. I highly recommend this book to all Civil War enthusiats but I feel it would be interesting reading to others as well. People involved with horses would also find this book interesting.