"The Indian Frontier of the American West 1846-1890" by Robert M. Utley

First published in 1984, Robert Utley's The Indian Frontier of the American West, 1846-1890, is considered a classic for both students and scholars.

The dramatic events of the final half-century of conflict between Indians and whites in the American West are presented here as a history of two peoples seemingly destined to never understand each other. Utley interprets this conflict from a dual perspective: recreating events from the Indian viewpoint while also providing an objective appraisal of why the nineteenth-century white man acted as he did. This evenhanded approach to a tragic period of American history results in a memorable study of impressive scope and penetrating insight.

"[The Indian Frontier of the American West, 1846-1890] provides an excellent synthesis of Indian-white relations in the trans-Mississippi West during the last half-century of the frontier period."--Journal of American History

"The Indian Frontier of the American West combines good writing, solid research, and penetrating interpretations. The result is a fresh and welcome study that departs from the soldier-chases-Indian approach that is all too typical of other books on the topic."--Minnesota History

"[Robert M. Utley] has carefully eschewed sensationalism and glib oversimplification in favor of critical appraisal, and his firm command of some of the best research published by others provides a solid foundation for his basic argument that Indian hostility in the half-century following the Mexican War was directed less at the white man per se than at the hated reservation system itself."--Pacific Historical Review