Autobiography of Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak, or Black Hawk

This book is an interesting look into the thoughts of a Sauk leader during the colonisation of the united states. The most eye-opening aspect was just how ruthless and two-faced the american and british leaders, soldiers, and civilians were in their communications with the native american tribes.

It’s not a long book but it’s pretty depressing. Black Hawk generally has a positive outlook on life, but his trust that the americans will adhere to his own standards of loyalty and honour mean that things go badly for him over and over again.

An interesting aspect was that he seems to be opposed to black people just as much as the white americans, and lays out a plan for how the president could successful remove all black people from america. It feels strange to me, when he is also part of an ethnic group which throughout the book the white americans have expressed would rather not exist, but his almost unwavering belief that the leader of such a powerful group of people would have honour seems for the most part to blind him to this.

It’s a short book, i definitely recommend it.