Where today are the Pequot? Where are the Narragansett, the Mohican, the Pokanoket, and many other once powerful tribes of our people? They have vanished before the avarice and the oppression of the White Man, as snow before a summer sun.

—TECUMSEH OF THE SHAWNEES 

In honor of Native American Heritage Month, we're featuring an excerpt from Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Dee Brown's powerful and unforgettable classic that awakened the world to the nineteenth-century decimation of American Indian tribes.

First published in 1970, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee generated shockwaves with its frank and heartbreaking depiction of the systematic annihilation of American Indian tribes across the western frontier. In this nonfiction account, Dee Brown focuses on the betrayals, battles, and massacres suffered by American Indians between 1860 and 1890. He tells of the many tribes and their renowned chiefs—from Geronimo to Red Cloud, Sitting... Bull to Crazy Horse—who struggled to combat the destruction of their people and culture.

Hailed by The New York Times as "original, remarkable, and finally heartbreaking," Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee inspired a generation to take a second look at how the West was won.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown (Excerpt)

Dorris Alexander “Dee” Brown (1908–2002) was a celebrated author of both fiction and nonfiction, whose classic study Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is widely credited with exposing the systematic destruction of American Indian tribes to a world audience. Brown was born in Louisiana and grew up in Arkansas. He worked as a reporter and a printer before enrolling at Arkansas State Teachers College, where he met his future wife, Sally Stroud. He later earned two degrees in library science, and worked as a librarian while beginning his career as a writer. He went on to research and write more than thirty books, often centered on frontier history or overlooked moments of the Civil War. Brown continued writing until his death in 2002.   

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No one has taken the classic advice “write what you know” quite like David Corbett. He worked for fifteen years as a private investigator, covering cases you’ve seen in the headlines, including the Coronado Company marijuana indictments, the Cotton Club murder case, and the first Michael Jackson child molestation case, as well as countless other drug, murder, and fraud cases. After years on this beat, Corbett turned to writing crime fiction.

Which leads us to another common writing anthem, which Corbett took equally to heart: “What is the difference between fiction and nonfiction? Nothing.”

During his time as a detective, Corbett compiled stories, characters, places, crimes, motives, and weapons begging to be recorded and remembered. He was intimately connected to the clients and the criminals, since he closely observed them, studied their personalities, and uncovered their secrets. Often, he found, people on both sides were in desperate situations, searching for a way out of... poverty or finding justice for their loved ones. When he started writing fiction, he drew on these experiences.

The result is magnificent. Corbett’s novels have been nominated for several awards, including the Edgar and the New York Times Notable Book list. His fiction resonates just as strongly with crime and mystery fans.

Open Road is pleased to add two Corbett novels, Blood of Paradise and Do They Know I’m Running?, to our ebook collection. Publishers Weekly called Do They Know I’m Running? a “rich, hard-hitting epic that illuminates the violent and surreal landscapes of Central America and Mexico.” Blood of Paradise tells the story of a young man who flees to El Salvador to escape a troubled past.

To celebrate the ebook release of these two excellent titles, we introduce an exciting new video, in which Corbett speaks about how his work as a private investigator inspired his writing.

You can read more about David Corbett at his author profile.

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