Book Review: Wounded Knee by Heather Cox Richardson
This paper offers a critical review of Heather Cox Richardson's non-fiction work Wounded Knee (2010), which argues that the 1890 massacre of approximately 300 Sioux tribal members was driven primarily by the partisan politics of President Benjamin Harrison. The review evaluates Richardson's central thesis linking Harrison's economic policies, high tariffs, and Western land distribution to the federal military's ruthless actions at Wounded Knee. It highlights the book's strengths, particularly its meticulous research, comprehensive political context, and use of primary sources, while also identifying weaknesses such as the author's dramatized reenactment scenes and perceived bias in depicting the Harrison administration.
- Overview and Author Background: Introduction to Richardson's book and credentials
- Central Thesis: Partisan Politics and the Massacre: Harrison's political motives drove the Wounded Knee massacre
- Strengths of Richardson's Work: Meticulous research and comprehensive political context praised
- Weaknesses and Limitations: Repetitive dramatizations and authorial bias identified
- Conclusion: Readable but flawed account of a historical tragedy
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What makes this paper effective
- The review maintains a balanced critical stance, acknowledging both strengths and weaknesses without dismissing the book's overall value.
- It connects the book's thesis to its broader historical context, explaining how Richardson's argument about partisan politics adds a neglected dimension to the Wounded Knee narrative.
- The paper supports its evaluative claims with reference to another reviewer (McCaskey, 2010), lending credibility to its positive assessment of Richardson's research.
Key academic technique demonstrated
This review demonstrates the technique of thesis-centered evaluation: rather than simply summarizing the book, the writer identifies Richardson's central argument—that Benjamin Harrison's political motivations drove the massacre—and uses that thesis as the anchor for assessing the book's successes and failures. Every evaluative point ties back to how well the book supports or undermines that central claim.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a brief introduction to the author and work, then articulates the book's central thesis. It moves into a discussion of the work's major strengths (research depth, political analysis, primary sources) before transitioning to weaknesses (repetitive dramatizations, occasional bias in tone). A short conclusion wraps up the overall assessment. This classic book-review structure—summary, evaluation of strengths, evaluation of weaknesses, verdict—is cleanly executed throughout.
Overview and Author Background
Heather Cox Richardson covers a number of salient aspects of the Wounded Knee Massacre in her work of non-fiction, Wounded Knee (2010). Aside from detailing the events that directly led to this wanton waste of human life, the author spends a good deal of time explaining the prevailing zeitgeist at the end of the 19th century. As such, she keeps the reader fully informed of the events that substantially contributed to the deaths of approximately 300 Native Americans, many of whom were unarmed and attempting to flee for their lives. Richardson's expertise in this area is grounded in her broader scholarly output — she has written three other historical non-fiction works and serves as a professor of history.
Central Thesis: Partisan Politics and the Massacre
The principal thesis of this work is that the massacre was the result of the partisan politics of then-incumbent President Benjamin Harrison. Richardson propounds the notion that Harrison was elected largely on the strength of his ties to big business, which he had rewarded with high tariffs. However, there was a correlation between such tariffs and rising domestic prices that alienated some of his supporters — a fact which Harrison attempted to rectify by distributing land in the Western United States, and in South Dakota in particular. As such, the massive deployment of federal troops that ruthlessly killed members of the Sioux tribe at Wounded Knee were essentially looking for any reason to remove Native Americans in order to reward the president's partisan affiliates.
Strengths of Richardson's Work
The chief strength of this work lies in the author's ability to fully portray the political situation that was actually responsible for the deaths of these innocents. Other reviewers have acknowledged this fact as well (McCaskey, 2010). The book is meticulously researched and far more comprehensive than a narrow account of the massacre alone. Other significant conflicts involving Native Americans are explicated, as is the history of laissez-faire politics that contributed to the situation. The latter is particularly noteworthy, representing a long-neglected dimension of chronicles involving Native American affairs.
Richardson's sources are well chosen and include accounts from individuals who lived in the Wounded Knee area as well as those who worked there — among them the chief of police at the time of the massacre. Additional sources include newspaper accounts from the period immediately preceding the massacre. Together, these primary and contemporary sources lend the book a richness and credibility that distinguishes it from more superficial treatments of the subject.
Conclusion
Overall, Richardson's prose is readable and contains a number of salient facts that help reconstruct this particular historical epoch. The book's greatest contribution is its rigorous analysis of the political machinery that made the Wounded Knee Massacre possible — a dimension of the story too often overlooked. The only significant question one might raise is why Richardson felt the need to dramatize the killing of the Sioux twice, as the repetition adds little and somewhat undermines the work's scholarly tone.
References
McCaskey, J. (2010). Wounded Knee: Party politics and the road to an American massacre. Retrieved from http://origins.osu.edu/review/where-our-hearts-are-still-buried
Richardson, H. C. (2010). Wounded Knee. New York: Basic Books.
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