Shortly before reading this book, I spent a beautiful night in the Marcus Whitman Hotel. Still the tallest building in Walla Walla, Washington, it's long been THE place to stay for people coming to the small town. We went for our anniversary to drink wine in the gorgeous vineyards. Everywhere you go, there are reminders of the Whitmans and their mission.
In this book lies the real history of their legacy.
I've known for a long time that the stories we grew up learning about Native Americans in the West were problematic. This book lays all of them bare. The Whitmans were just the start in many ways. And we still have a long way to go before the horrors committed against tribes in this region are recognized.
This book focuses primarily on Marcus and Narcissus Whitman, who came to the Walla Walla area from the east coast at a time where missionaries were in high demand. Their very marriage, in fact, was formed so that they would come west. They set up their mission near what is now the town of Walla Walla, but early writings show the relationship they had with the Cayuse Indians was not at all a harmonious one.
The way we often hear the story is that the missionaries brought disease to the tribes, so the tribes murdered them. On the surface, that is true. But the intricacies of the relationship leading up to the Whitman murders cannot be ignored. There were others pulling strings, there was resentment and more.. And when the Whitmans were murdered, it set off a chain of events that is still being felt today.
This book is rich in history and, towards the end, felt more like a textbook than it did at the start. However, as someone who lives in this region of the country where so much racial reckoning is underway, it's an important read to remind us there is still so much for which to atone.
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