The Bitter Waters of Medicine Creek Audiobook By Richard Kluger cover art

The Bitter Waters of Medicine Creek

A Tragic Clash Between White and Native America

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Bitter Waters of Medicine Creek

By: Richard Kluger
Narrated by: Alan Sklar
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $20.25

Buy for $20.25

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

The riveting story of a dramatic confrontation between Native Americans and White settlers, a compelling conflict that unfolded in the newly created Washington Territory from 1853 to 1857.

When appointed Washington’s first governor, Isaac Ingalls Stevens, an ambitious military man turned politician, had one goal: To persuade (peacefully if possible) the Indians of the Puget Sound region to turn over their ancestral lands to the Federal Government. In return, they were to be consigned to reservations unsuitable for hunting, fishing, or grazing, their traditional means of sustaining life. The result was an outbreak of violence and rebellion, a tragic episode of frontier oppression and injustice.

With his trademark empathy and scholarly acuity, Pulitzer Prize-winner Richard Kluger recounts the impact of Stevens’s program on the Nisqually tribe, whose chief, Leschi, sparked the native resistance movement. Stevens was determined to succeed at any cost: His hasty treaty negotiations with the Indians, marked by deceit, threat, and misrepresentation, inflamed his opponents. Leschi, resolved to save more than a few patches of his people’s lush homelands, unwittingly turned his tribe - and himself most of all - into victims of the governor’s relentless wrath. The conflict between these two complicated and driven men - and their supporters - explosively and enormously at odds with each other, was to have echoes far into the future.

Closely considered and eloquently written, The Bitter Waters of Medicine Creek is a bold and long-overdue clarification of the historical record of an American tragedy, presenting, through the experiences of one tribe, the history of Native American suffering and injustice.

©2011 Richard Kluger (P)2011 Random House
Indigenous Peoples State & Local United States Western America
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about The Bitter Waters of Medicine Creek

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    17
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    16
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    20
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brutal, essential history

A very important account of the dirty dealing that has come to represent this particular part of American history. While it doesn't have the grand scale of The Trail of Tears or the bigger than life accounts of the battles of of the likes of Crazy Horse, it has a more subdued, sinister quality. It's more about the machinations of a government hell-bent on having its way, and not caring what decks it has to stack to get it, or whom has to be crushed. It's important American history, and sadly not all that unique.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

buy it

I know there are many books about this subject. this is a great book. as with the cover you see it threw different eyes.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Captivating

This was a fabulous account of the history of the Nisqually tribe, told through the prism of Leschi. The history was sensitive, complicated, and a great story. The narrator has a low, soothing, gravelly voice - A+ for early mornings or falling asleep to. Highly recommended to all, and basically required reading for Washingtonians.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

excellent account

This is the first time I learned about medicine creek. very good book. I hope things better in the future for all indigenous peoples.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Required reading for future lawyers

I am glad this is required reading for us students, it is an important history tip absorb. The narrator gets some pronunciations wrong, but overall good!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful