Helen Hunt Jackson's famous exposé chronicles the oppression and murder the Native American peoples suffered throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.

This book was published in 1885, at a time when the final conflicts between the United States and the Native American populations were being fought. The concept of allotted reservations as a means of settling land disputes had by then been underway for decades. At this point in time, the colonial settlers from Europe had spent over a century driving back the native inhabitants of North America.

Jackson casts her examination over the preceding century, cataloging the systematic process through which the Native American populace was suppressed, killed and robbed of their lands and heritage. Each separate tribe is considered, such as the Cherokees, Sioux and the Delawares: for each we are given a cultural profile, before Jackson details the interactions - peaceful and hostile - each respective tribe had with the incipient European settlers.