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In 1877, the US Army forced the Nez Perce tribe to a smaller unfamiliar reservation thereby destroying forever a life of bucolic calm. In this process, the pastoral chief, Joseph, was forced to break a promise he'd made at his dying father's bedside: "Never sell the bones of your father or your mother." As his punishment, years later, Joseph died of a broken heart. The Nez Perce tribe thus travelled 1700 miles across America's most dramatic, inhospitable wilderness and fought six battles and countless skirmishes against a chasing US Army to recover peace and freedom.
Using this legendary part of American history as a starting point, Brian Schofield's Selling Your Father's Bones is a stunning account of the author's travels through this wilderness encompassing the Rocky Mountain States of the USA through to Wyoming and the Great Plains.
Yet, not only will it be a Bill Bryson esque reflection on the people of this land and the wild and beautiful terrain that he encounters (there will be inevitable stops off in Idaho where membership of a Baptist church, a gun club, a combat ready survivalist militia are all de rigueur) but a serious and probing look at what the author calls 'the victory of Manifest Destiny over native, natural stewardship', environmental degradation on such a massive scale, it is a wonder the government will ever be able to recover. Schofield follows the route originally taken by the Nez Perce tribe uncovering huge areas denied environmental protection, the building of a 51,000 well gas mine in the Powder River Basin and the fact that America had already destroyed 80% of its indigenous animals by 1950. By doing so, he demonstrates an innate faith and a resolute belief (that has cursed the Western world as a whole for generations) that nature exists to serve man.
Selling Your Father's Bones is a fascinating journey of self discovery set against a thrilling historical drama that results in a contemporary polemic work of vim and impact.
Unfortunately this item is either out of print or no longer available from our regular suppliers, we can no longer obtain stock of this item, and have sold out of stock in our stores. You may be interested in our similar titles below. | ISBN 13: | 9780007242924 |
| ISBN 10: | 0007242921 |
| Binding: | Hardcover |
| Pages: | 411 |
| Dimensions: | 153 x 234 mm |
| Released: | 01/11/2009 |
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