Sharp KnifeAlthough Americans are prone to refer to Jackson as "Old Hickory" or, in his day, as "the Hero", the Indian tribes of his day gave him the nickname of "Sharp Knife". This nickname was based upon Jackson's unrelenting warfare against the Creek Indians, particularly at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814. The distinguished American historian, Robert Remini, shows in this careful and thorough study of Jackson and the Indians that the sobriquet was indeed well deserved. His book is a tho...

Robert Remini’s goal for his work Andrew Jackson and His Indian Wars are stated simply, “to explain what happened and why.” He prefaces this however, by saying, “that it is not my intention to excuse or exonerate Andrew Jackson for the role he played in the removal of Native Americans west of the Mississippi River.” He goes on to note that it is important for Americans to view history through the eyes of those living through it. It is easy to make judgements about motivation through a modern len...

I'm very glad I read this book. I learned a great deal of history, all of which made me quite sad. The evils of white supremacy and the violations of human rights because of it should be learned and never forgotten. There are many things in this book I should have learned in school and when I visited the Hermitage.

Although it is fashionable to pooh-pooh the founders, this account presents the man as a product of his time and place. Highly effective book.

An excellent job of portraying Andrew Jackson as a complex individual and explaining what led him to implement his Indian Removal Act of 1830. A fascinating, if at times disturbing, read.

This is an excellent chronicle of Jackson and his obsessive efforts to rid lands of the U.S. of indians. The book would've been even better if author Remini wasn't being P.C. and acting as apologist to the sensitive readers far too often throughout the book. So, again, comes the trouble of recent books as authors weaken the writing with apologies. Of all books histories should have no apologies from the writer. History is history. The bulk of the book is very well constructed with dates that are...

As one might expect, a dismal read. As anyone with the most passing acquaintance with Jackson's history knows, the chief architect of the Trail of Tears has much to answer for. Remini jumps head first into the issue. I complained that his Jackson trilogy let Old Hickory off too easily. To some extent, that is remedied here. The first lines of the book insist that his purpose is not to excuse Jackson, but to explain him. That explanation, at least as it pertains to Jackson's Indian policy, is lar...

Very good read. Although Remini clearly doesn't want to portray Jackson in too negative a light, his storytelling prowess is brilliant. Read for American History.

At the beginning of this book, the author states that he doesn't want to write another book about Andrew Jackson.  I can certainly sympathize with his issue, for this is the third book by the author that touches on the career of Andrew Jackson and like the proverbial advice to a bride on her wedding day, this book has something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.  There are definitely some areas where this book echoes and perhaps even copies the author's previous writings...

Spends a sizeable amount of the book castigating Jackson for not have the sensibilities and beliefs of a modern man, despite the trivial barrier of Jackson having been born 250 years ago. If you're okay with page after page of hectoring and sermonizing in the face of a logical impossibility, read on. But if not, don't bother. It grows old very fast. You already know what YOU think about Jackson and the Indians. You don't need an author to tell you what you're already thinking. What you need is a...

I feel it was a good overview of Jackson and his interaction with Native Americans. The author does a good job conveying the fact that what we consider racist today, just was not the same back then.As a Choctaw, this story was painful to listen to. As an American, this story is disgusting in the way progression destroyed a culture and brought pain and misery to millions. Finally, the book does a great job of identifying that regardless of Jackson, the outcome to the Native peoples would have hap...

Remini clearly brings a breadth of research to his subject matter in this book. From a narrative standpoint, some chapters were slow going, but overall a fair, but critical, analysis of Jackson's complicated relationships with Indian tribes.

This book is filled with tens of thousands of facts. So many facts that I felt like I was trying to memorize 1000 facts per page. It’s a lot to take in. The author does a great job at telling what happened and not being biased to Jackson nor to the Native Americans. I learned a lot as it is filled with information that is not always covered in schools or universities. Read this book if you want to be educated and informed of the Indian Wars during Jackson’s time.

I like books that challenge common thought. This certainly did. I learned in school that Jackson was a rabid Indian hater. The whole country was way more hateful than Jackson. That was the norm of the day. Jackson wanted the Indians gone just like everybody else. He tried to work with the Indians as best he could...by today's standards would be deemed unlawful and repugnant. But the 1840's aren't today.I wonder if Patton has ever been compared to Jackson?

Detailed and scholarly, for people who want more than the basic info

A thorough and even treatment of Jackson and his dealings with Indians.