A groundbreaking exploration of one of the worst Indian massacres in American history illuminates the clash of American, Mexican, and tribal cul...
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Apr 04, 2009
Matthew
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Tells the story of the 1871 Camp Grant Massacre, in which 140 peaceful Apaches were killed by a mixed party of white Americans, Mexican vecinos, and O'odham Indians. Aside from the excellent research and writing, what really makes this book extraordinary is that Jacoby refuses to collapse the complexity of the story into a single narrative. Instead he tells the same story four times, once from the perspective of each group. The second half of the book is similarly organized, focusing on each gr
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Aug 01, 2011
Taking as its center the Cam Grant Massacre of 1871, Jacoby traces the complex relationships between the four peoples who collided in Aravaipa Canyon--the O'odham, the Spanish Vecinos, the Americans (and the American Army, functioning sometimes separately) and the Nnee, with special concern for what they called themselves (O'odham and Nnee rather than Pima and Apaches, for example) and recorded their histories, whether anthropologically collected religious oral traditions, calendar sticks or cor
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Jul 04, 2011
Steve
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A good deal of this book is devoted to the history of the region and of the four key groups involved in the Camp Grant Massacre on April 30, 1871, in Aravipa Canyon near Tucson, Arizona. Approximately 140 Apache Indians (mostly women and children)were killed and 27 children were taken captive. The author discusses the histories and inter-relationships of the 4 ethnic groups involved including the Apaches themselves, the Tohono O'odham Indians, the Hispanics (both Mexican and descendants of Eur
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Feb 01, 2011
Bronwyn
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Copied from a review I wrote for class:
"Karl Jacoby’s Shadows at Dawn is an attempt to make clear the events surrounding the Camp Grant massacre in Arizona in 1871. Jacoby describes the circumstances that led to the clash from the points of view of the four parties involved: the O’odham (the Papago), los Vecinos (the Mexicans), the Americans, and the Nṉēē (the Apache). Jacoby attempts to show how differences in point of view can alter how an event is portrayed and remembered More...
"Karl Jacoby’s Shadows at Dawn is an attempt to make clear the events surrounding the Camp Grant massacre in Arizona in 1871. Jacoby describes the circumstances that led to the clash from the points of view of the four parties involved: the O’odham (the Papago), los Vecinos (the Mexicans), the Americans, and the Nṉēē (the Apache). Jacoby attempts to show how differences in point of view can alter how an event is portrayed and remembered More...
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Mar 30, 2011
J. Allen
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Shadows at Dawn brings one of American histories darkest moments into the light. It is an expose of yet another attempted genocide extermination of american indigenous peoples. The targeted tribe in this text is the Apache. The author shares the perspectives of four different cultures all centralized around the main event of the Camp Grant Massacre in Arizona on April 30, 1871. The perspectives are consisted of pre and post accounts of the main event as well. The represented cultures are those
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Apr 20, 2011
Bob
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My son Matt gave me this very interesting book. Karl Jacoby is a professor at Brown. He tells the story of a massacre of Apache Indians in Arizona in 1870 from the points of view of all the participants: Mexican-Americans, European Americans, Apache and Pima Indians. He gives the historical background of the area from the arrival of Indians, Spanish and then Americans. He then tells each groups story of the massacre sequentially. Not only is this a very detailed description of the area and the
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Jun 21, 2010
Lenore
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Written about the Camp Grant massacre of Apaches in Arizona in 1870's. Tells of the different factions of people involved and their history...without neatly wrapping it all up. History is messy and complex. Excellent book about a profound part of our history that needs to be acknowledged.
Feb 10, 2010
Anne
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As an Arizona native who never heard of the Camp Grant Massacre, I was fascinated by how Jacoby wove Tohono O'odham, Mexican, American and Apache perspectives of this seminal event. The facts: in 1871, a group of Tohono O'odham, Mexican and American men attacked a sleeping Apache village and murdered 144 people, mostly women and children. Twenty-seven Apache children were taken away, mostly to be sold as slaves. In its time, this incident was controversial like the Battle of Wounded Knee or My L
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Jun 02, 2010
Thomas
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This is a well-documented history of the Camp Grant Massacre that portrays the Sonora-Tucson area in a multifaceted, detailed, and scholarly perspective. Defining an atrocity's place in history as Jacoby does is a demanding task and he excels in this narrative.
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Dec 28, 2009
Wes
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The writing is cumbersome. Too bad academics can't write even when they have a good topic. Yet, for people who are not aware of the slave trade and warfare among Spanish/Mexicans and various Indian tribes, the book will be informative.
Nov 21, 2011
KFed
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I read this for a seminar, where we were able to spend three hours with the author in person, picking his brain over the how's, what's, why's of this book. I'd sort of feel like cheating if I actually reviewed it. Suffice it to say: it's good. More later!
Jan 17, 2011
Pete
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really impressed with this thus far -- takes a single incident (the slaughter of some 150 apaches in the Arizona desert in 1871) and retells/reexamines from four different perspectives (anglo, hispanic, apache, and tohono o'odham tribe).
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