US History to 1877
Trail of Tears: Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation by John Ehle

Having little knowledge of the Cherokee removal and the history that took place in this moment in America’s past, the book Trail of Tears: Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation by John Ehle, offers an insight to the politics, social dynamics and class struggles the Cherokee Nation faced in the late 1830s. The book was very comprehensive and the scope of the book covers nearly 100 years of Native American History. Ehle captures the history of the Native American people by showing the readers what led to the events infamously known as the Trail of Tears. The author uses real military orders, journals, and letters which aid in creating a book that keeps …show more content…

By employing this macro level view and the micro view, the book illustrates important events and how they are intertwined in an effective way.
This book has much strength that made it a worthwhile read. At face value, when I heard about the Trail of Tears, I assumed that it was a difficult struggle just about the movement of an Indian nation, but through this book I came to understand there was so much more than that. For example, the issues about assimilation, choosing to accept the white way or the class struggles made a strong case for the study of the Cherokee people in our history. Clearly the strength in this book is that it shows the reader there is much more to history than meets the eye.
One weakness that I found was biased in regards to John Ross and what the author thought of him. The author was in favor of the Cherokees adopting the white way, while Ross opposed it and from the reading it seemed like the author made Ross a bad guy. Whether he deserved it or not, after reading the book I think that the Cherokees made the best of what they could given their situation. There was no perfect solution for what was going to happen to them, they faced many struggles and I do not think that any leader would be prepared for what happened to their people.
Overall, the book is effective; it can immerse the reader in a forgotten history that can offer an insight to what people and government are capable of doing, whether good or bad. As far as