Booknotes: The Terrible Indian Wars of the West

New Arrival:
• The Terrible Indian Wars of the West: A History from the Whitman Massacre to Wounded Knee, 1846-1890 by Jerry Keenan (McFarland, 2016).

"This history of the Indian Wars of the Trans-Mississippi begins with the earliest clashes between Native Americans and Anglo-European settlers. The author provides a comprehensive narrative of the conflict in eight parts, covering eight geographical regions—the Pacific Northwest; California and Nevada; New Mexico, the Central Plains, the Southern Plains; Iowa, Minnesota and the Northern Plains; the Intermountain West, and the Desert Southwest—with an epilogue on Wounded Knee." An oversize (7x10) volume coming in at over 500 pages of smallish print, this is a large book with encyclopedic coverage of nearly a half century of Trans-Mississippi U.S.-Indian conflicts. It looks like it has the makings of a valuable reference guide. Unfortunately, illustrations of any kind are sparse and there's only one map.