“A comprehensive analysis that places the complex event in the midst of such broader historical constructs as the persistence of violence in antebellum America, the liabilities of the militia tradition, and the nature of mass killings in general. . . . The narrative is haunting, tense, and compelling. . . . The scholarship is impeccable.”
“A vivid, gripping narrative of one of the most notorious mass murders in all American history, and a model for how historians should do their work. This account of a long-controversial horror is scrupulously researched, enriched with contemporary illustrations, and informed by the lessons of more recent atrocities.”
— Daniel Walker Howe , Pulitzer Prize-winning author of What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848