from Texas Tech University Press.A 2013 book about another important Civil War's Indian Wars event from the same year, Ari Kelman's A Misplaced Massacre: Struggling over the Memory of Sand Creek
was recently awarded the Bancroft Prize. It's too bad the publisher never sent me a copy of that one, as, from what I can tell, it's right up my alley. I'll definitely pick up a copy at some point. For a hoot, check out the patently stupid negative "reviews" on the Amazon page.
Drew: Thanks for the "heads up" on these. Although the library on the Civil War as it relates to what we know as the "West" and the interplay with Native Americans has been expanding, there is still room for growth. As for the "reviews", Amazon continues to demonstrate how few people understand that a "review" is supposed to take into account the subject and the author's intended scope and to assess how well the author accomplishes his/her objective. Generally, the 1 and 2 star "reviews" are by people who don't like the subject/scope - in other words, useless to a reader. And then, of course, there's the ALLCAPS objection to "big words". GIGO.
ReplyDeleteThe whole concept is fatally flawed when the reader's likes and dislikes, independent of the actual book under consideration, are considered legitimate points of criticism. My favorite is when a "reviewer" claims a book is "boring", as if that declaration can have an atom of meaning to any prospective buyer.
DeleteThe rampant 5-star idiocy is just as bad.