Nonetheless, the bland style is somewhat mitigated by the sad historical story.Ī must read if you visit this area or have interest in this period of US history. The style is very stilted and the tone constantly varies from historical to anecdotal, reading like an amateur paper. On a negative note, the book does not read easily. The land grabs surrounding the Southern Appalachian area are no different. All empires and powers are founded in some respect on the persecution, subjugation and deprivation of minority races or people. Western names, the Irish influence and the politics of the time and area. I had no idea of the nature of Cherokee culture and many aspects surprised me. It relates the history and culture of the Cherokee nation including the atrocity of the Trail of Tears.It is far from my Hollywood misconceptions In view of my interest, after finishing the trek, I was gifted this book by an American friend. Being English I imagined Indian history with horseback braves sweeping across plains a la Hollywood. Continuing on the trek, I couldn’t help thinking of the forests in a new light, populated by the Cherokee nation. Whilst vacillating on this dilemma over a beer, I fell into conversation with a Cherokee lady who entranced me with a brief history of nearby Cherokee and the tragic history of The Trail of Tears. As an Englishman alone, I was spoilt for choice between the Dollyworld theme park and the World of Magnets emporium. In the summer of 2008 I found myself dirty and exhausted in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, taking a day off whilst re-supplying on a thru hike of the Appalachian Trail. Regardless what you call yourself, we are all human and we all have them. But lets me honest those skeletons don't just belong on one side of the fence.
The book takes us far beyond the journey itself and begins early on during the colonization of America by the whites, so we are given the big picture of the overall history that led up to the cruel exodus that took the Cherokee's land as well as many of their lives.Īs our nation ages and grows more humble and open, I am appreciative of truth that is revealed, of skeletons that are let out of the closet. Trail of Tears is a well documented story of the relocation of the Cherokee Nation from their ancestral lands in the east, to new lands further west. As is the case most of the time, what I thought I knew based on hear-say and Hollywood romanticizing, is much shallower than the facts of the actual event. But what it lacked in personality, it delivered in information. This book was not written in a voice that delivers a dramatic or emotional punch so I felt it lacked a personal touch, a personal touch that would have affected the Cherokee side of me a little deeper. Considering I am part Cherokee, I have been curious about the details of this event for a long time.
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