The Heart of Everything That Is
An incredible, previously unheard narrative about the American West.
Red Cloud, a brilliant Sioux warrior and politician, was the first American Indian in history to defeat the US Army in battle, compelling the government to sue for peace on his terms. The Sioux could claim possession of one-fifth of the contiguous United States and the allegiance of thousands of brave combatants during the height of Red Cloud's dominance. However, the mists of time have veiled Red Cloud in an unusual way. The narrative of our nation's most powerful and successful Indian warrior can now be revealed, due to the unearthing of a forgotten autobiography and meticulous investigation by two award-winning authors.
Red Cloud, who was born in 1821 near the Platte River in modern-day Nebraska, led an epic life of courage, wisdom, and endurance in the face of a persistent enemy—the troops and settlers who symbolized America's "manifest destiny." To flourish in Sioux society, he had to overcome various social difficulties as an orphan. Red Cloud accomplished this by becoming his fellow warriors' finest combatant, thinker, and leader. As the white man advanced further west, he seized the territory of the Indians, butchered the revered buffalo, and murdered everyone who stood up to his invasions. The United States government's frenetic flurry of fort building in the pristine Powder River Country that abutted the Sioux's sacred Black Hills—Paha Sapa to the Sioux, or "The Heart of Everything That Is"—was the final straw for Red Cloud and his warriors.
The outcome was a conglomeration of enraged tribes led by a powerful chieftain. At the council fire, Red Cloud addressed his hundreds of braves, "The white man lies and steals." "I used to have a lot of lodges, but now I just have a few." The white guy desires everything. They will have to battle for it." The murder of American cavalry forces that occurred during Red Cloud's War (1866–1868) foreshadowed the Battle of the Little Bighorn and served as a warning to Washington that the Plains Indians would fight and die for their territory and traditions. Many more American soldiers, though, would perish first.
The New York Times bestselling writers of Halsey's Typhoon and The Last Stand of Fox Company, Bob Drury and Tom Clavin, restore Red Cloud to his true position in American history in The Heart of Everything That Is, a vast and dramatic novel based on years of source research. They provide intimate portraits of the many and varied men and women whose lives Red Cloud touched—mountain men like the larger-than-life Jim Bridger; US generals like William Tecumseh Sherman who were tasked with annihilating the Sioux; fearless explorers like the dashing John Bozeman; and the warriors whom Red Cloud groomed, particularly the legendary Crazy Horse. At the center of the plot is Red Cloud, who is fighting for the survival of the Indian way of life.
This raging tale of the fight between an advancing European civilization and the Plains Indians who stood in its way is fueled by contemporaneous diaries and journals, newspaper reports, eyewitness stories, and painstaking direct sourcing. The Heart of Everything That Is not only immerses the reader in this incredible era, but also provides Red Cloud the modern-day respect he so well deserves.
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