A Brutal Reckoning: The Creek Indians and the Epic War for the American South

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'Cozzens is a master storyteller' The Times

'Extremely well researched' Times Literary Supplement

From the devastating invasion by Spanish conquistadors in the sixteenth century to the relentless pressure from white settlers 150 years later, A Brutal Reckoning tells the story of encroachment on the vast Native American territory in the Deep South, which gave rise to the Creek War, the bloodiest in American Indian history, and propelled Andrew Jackson into national prominence, as he led the US Army in a ruthless campaign.

It was a war that involved not only white Americans and Native Americans but also the British and the Spanish, and ultimately led to the Trail of Tears, in which the government forcibly removed the entire Creek people, as well as the neighbouring Chickasaw, Choctaw and Cherokee nations, from their homelands, leaving the way open for the conquest of the West. No other single Indian conflict had such a significant impact on the fate of the country.

Wonderfully told and brilliantly detailed, A Brutal Reckoning is a sweeping history of a crucial period in the destruction of America's native tribes.

Reviews

Cozzens recounts this tale with his customary equanimity, never attempting to embroider that which is already horrifying... Sadly, this is a book that many Americans won't want to read. It will probably be banned from some schools. Cozzens nevertheless deserves praise for having the courage, in today's climate, to write it. * The Times *
A penetrating and fast-paced account...The story of the Creek War is a sorry one, but Cozzens recounts it both with fairness and with a richness of color and detail... Cozzens writes with sensitivity about the political and cultural vise in which the Creeks were crushed. * Wall Street Journal *
As has come to be expected from Cozzens's work, A Brutal Reckoning masterfully blends important cultural and biographical details with expressive and engaging military history. * Washington Post *
Cozzens' storytelling works well... An engaging, highly readable narrative. * New York Journal of Books *
Cozzens vividly describes the Creek Indians' advanced society and clashes with other tribes, giving a grand sense of their civilization... Equally well brought to life, Cozzens' dramatic, often gory descriptions of armed conflicts among the Creeks and white settlers put flesh to myth-encased events. * Booklist (starred review) *
A seasoned historical storyteller, Cozzens portrays both Jackson and his Creek adversaries without minimizing their flaws, though he is clearly appalled by Jackson's later treatment of the Indians during the Trail of Tears... An authoritative account of a disturbing chapter in the relations between the U.S. military and Indigenous peoples. * Kirkus Reviews (starred review) *
An engrossing and important book that pays homage to the complex history and heritage of the Muscogee people. Highly recommended. * Library Journal (starred review) *
A gut-wrenching account of a tragic chapter in American history. * Publishers Weekly *
Extremely well researched... taking from an array of secondary material... and quoting extensively from contemporary letters, war reports, treaty negotiations, trading statistics and the like. * TLS *

Author Bio

Peter Cozzens is the author of over eighteen books on the Civil War and the American West. He recently retired after thirty years as a Foreign Service Officer with the U. S. Department of State. His previous book, The Earth Is Weeping, was awarded the Gilder Lehrman Prize for Military History and the Caroline Bancroft History Prize. The Warrior and the Prophet was the winner of the Western Writers of America Spur Award for Best Biography.