God's Red Son: The Ghost Dance Religion and the Making of Modern America

By Louis S. Warren

Book Overview

The definitive account of the Ghost Dance religion, which led to the infamous massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890

Winner of the Bancroft Prize in American History

In 1890, on Indian reservations across the West, followers of a new religion danced in circles until they collapsed into trances. In an attempt to suppress this new faith, the US Army killed over two hundred Lakota Sioux at Wounded Knee Creek. In God's Red Son, historian Louis Warren offers a startling new view of the religion known as the Ghost Dance, from its origins in the visions of a Northern Paiute named Wovoka to the tragedy in South Dakota. To this day, the Ghost Dance remains widely mischaracterized as a primitive and failed effort by Indian militants to resist American conquest and return to traditional ways. In fact, followers of the Ghost Dance sought to thrive in modern America by working for wages, farming the land, and educating their children, tenets that helped the religion endure for decades after Wounded Knee. God's Red Son powerfully reveals how Ghost Dance teachings helped Indians retain their identity and reshape the modern world.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0465015026
• ISBN13: 9780465015023
• Release Date: April 2017
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 496 Pages
• Weight: 1.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.3" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

God's Red son in land of White

It is a dark chapter in the land of free and brave during 19th century of Manifest Destiny of Western expansion. The Native Americans lost their home, land and family and culture in settlement of reservations. Ghost Dance is their religious revival and survival t in the expression of dance. A large religion drew attention and suspicion of uprising. Louis did a good job in research details on the condition leading to the brutal and fatal Wounded Knee Massacre. The murderers even got medals for their atrocity against men, women and children of three hundred. The white settle try hard to civilize the “savages” into main stream culture, value and norm. Ghost Dance will open their eyes on multi-culture for understanding and appreciation. Reading this book review this religion leading to the burying bodies and hearts in Wounded Knee.