December 2, 2018, 2018 Book #27: ‘Shadows at Dawn: An Apache Massacre and the Violence of History’ by Karl Jacoby. A very interesting take on the Camp Grant Massacre, which with the number of books written about it can no longer be called an obscure event. The author divides the book into two parts told from four different perspectives: the lead up to massacre and then the aftermath, told from the perspectives of the four groups involved: the O’odham (then identified as Pimas or Papagos), los vecinos (Mexican-Americans (those residing in the area of the Gadsden Purchase when it was made), whites (Americans) and Nnee (Apaches). The depth of research is impressive and the overall effect, very successful, in viewing history from various perspectives, stepping into the shoes of those involved – the three perpetrating groups, the O’odham, Vecinos and Whites of the Tuscon area, trying to understand their motivations, as well as the victims, the Arivaipa Apache (a subset of the Western Apache). This is an excellent history of the borderlands clash of cultures and violence endemic in the settling of the Old West.
rwb historically speaking 