Cries from the Earth by Terry C. Johnston

My wife’s family is from the Camas Prairie, a beautiful region in North Central Idaho that includes communities like Grangeville, Cottonwood, and Winchester. That same area is the setting for Terry C. Johnston’s Cries from the Earth: The Outbreak of the Nez Perce War and the Battle of White Bird Canyon June 17, 1877. I purchased Johnston’s fictionalized account of the beginning of the Nez Perce war mostly because of its setting, and I hoped the history would come alive because of my familiarity with the area.

Unfortunately, the book was a big disappointment for me. I admire Johnston’s effort to be as historically accurate as possible, but that effort detracted from the narrative. With all the different names and places to fit in, the main thread of the story seemed chopped up into little events with dozens of different characters. There were so many characters that it was difficult for me to identify with any of them, and the story felt more like series of vignettes than a coherent narrative.

I have no doubt that the events took place as Johnston described them, and he worked very hard to show all sides of the conflict, but the people and events were too hard for me to keep track of. It could have used a more streamlined plot and a tighter focus for my taste. Cries from the Earth is number fourteen in Johnston’s Plainsman series, but I don’t think I’ll give any of the other books a try.

Cries from the Earth: The Outbreak of the Nez Perce War and the Battle of White Bird Canyon June 17, 1877 by Terry C. Johnson
New York: St. Martin’s Paperbacks, 1999
Print length: 458 pages