The Earth Is Weeping: The Epic Story of the Indian Wars for the American West

"Sets a new standard for Western Indian Wars history." —Stuart Rosebrook, True West Magazine

*Winner of the Gilder Lehrman Prize for Military History and the 2017 Caroline Bancroft History Prize

*Finalist for the Western Writers of America’s 2017 Spur Award in Best Western Historical Nonfiction

Bringing together a pageant of fascinating characters including Custer, Sherman, Grant, and a host of other military and political figures, as well as great native leaders such as Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Geronimo, and Red Cloud, The Earth is Weeping—lauded by Booklist as “a beautifully written work of understanding and compassion”—is the fullest account to date of how the West was won…and lost.
With the end of the Civil War, the nation recommenced its expansion onto traditional Indian tribal lands, setting off a wide-ranging conflict that would last more than three decades. In an exploration of the wars and negotiations that destroyed tribal ways of life even as they made possible the emergence of the modern United States, Peter Cozzens gives us both sides in comprehensive and singularly intimate detail. He illuminates the encroachment experienced by the tribes and the tribal conflicts over whether to fight or make peace, and explores the squalid lives of soldiers posted to the frontier and the ethical quandaries faced by generals who often sympathized with their native enemies.

*A Times "History Book of the Year" and A Smithsonian "Top History Book of 2016"

*Shortlisted for Military History Magazine's Book of the Year Award