Includes index.

First contact : wars of resistance -- Culture clash : empires at war -- Indian combat : tribes at war -- Manifest destiny and nation building : wars of conquest -- Fighting out of the cauldron : wars for survival.

From Lakota warrior Crazy Horse to legendary Geronimo of the Apache Wars, this sweeping history of the American West tells the story of those who defended Native American lands?and the Native American way of life?from the 1850s through the end of the nineteenth century. This majestic narrative reveals little-known tales of Native American history, setting each event in the larger historical context of the transformation of the West. In elegant National Geographic style, hundreds of illustrations, maps, photographs, and artwork lay bare the bloody conflicts between Native Americans and European encroachment.