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 never to understand each other. Utley interprets this conflict from a dual perspective: re-creating events from the Indian viewpoint while also providing an objective appraisal of why the nineteenth-century white man acted as he did. This even-handed approach to a tragic period of American history results in a memorable study of impressive scope and penetrating insight.