Hell with the Fire Out: A History of the Modoc War

by Arthur Quinn

Book Overview

The Modoc War, pivotal in American history, pitted the peace policies of President Ulysses S. Grant and Quaker activist Lucretia Mott against William Tecumseh Sherman - the destroyer of Georgia - and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0571199038
• ISBN13: 9780571199037
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Literature

Stayed up until 4am reading this for the third time. Amazed that this hasn't been made into a movie. The nuances, the subjectivity, the history of this region is turned into art by Arthur Quinn. No clue why this book wasn't a Pulitzer Prize winner. Its engaging, witty, ultimately sad. I grew up in Modoc County and there were great grandsons and daughters of many of the people mentioned. To this day, Captain Jack or general Canby can cause an argument in a restaurant or a fight in a bar.This part of California is really NOT the california we've grown up with on tv...this is another world, more rural, bucolic, forbidden, scathing and sublime. There is no place like Modoc County in all of America.

Really Good

This book is very, very good for anybody interested in 1870 era American Indian conflicts, especially in Northern California. Story easy to follow, no unecessary words, facts etc., unless they're relevant to the story.Reads as if it were a movie, but is all true, as judged on what I know of California frontier history.Book is worth getting.

Well written and concise

During the height of the Indian conflicts on the plains a smaller,but no less deadly campaign was being waged against the Modocs of the Northwest. Like the Cheyenne after them, the Modocs were a small band whose numbers had already been reduced by warfare and desease. They were willing to live peacefully, only they wanted to live in their own homeland. And as with the Cheyenne, the military wasted much time money, and worst of all lives in order to bring these people to their knees. This is a concise and well-written account of that war.Quinn is one of those historians who makes broad use of dialogue in his work. While many scholars take a scant view of this method, I think it works well, if done carefully. Certainly we can question how Quinn could possibly know exactly what was said, when there was no one there to record it. However, memoirs and journals often paraphrase, and if the writer has researched the characters and the times well enough, I think it is fair to allow him to make certain assumptions, especially as it brings such dimension to the characters.Quinn's depiction of events is very exciting without crossing over into sensationalism. And though any story of Americans' treatment of the Indians invites a certain amount of moralizing, he does not go overboard, nor does he portray the Modocs as saints. He also does an excellent job of incorprating the landscape into the story. Quinn's depiction of the lava beds the Modocs called home makes it even more wondrous that the Americans found it so important for them to leave.This was definitely a story that deserved to be told, and Quinn does a very good job of it.

Objective and balanced account of a tragedy

Arthur Quinn treats with respect both perspcetives of one the Modoc War. The extreme brutality of both the American Government and the Modoc Warriors is reflected in a suprisingly unbiased manner.

A realistic and balanced depiction of the Modoc War

While not a traditional history text, this book deals very plainly with the people and events of the Modoc War. Graphic depictions of the causes leading to the conflict and the battles themselves lead you to to able to imagine yourself as being there.