Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce

A biography and history of the Native American chief, his people, and their forced exodus at the hands of the US government.

“Nerburn deftly records a dark chapter of forced diaspora and forgotten promises—as engrossing as a novel.” —People

“A remarkable job of research in telling the thus far untold story of Chief Joseph—the mythical hero, the real man. It is a poignant, touching tale.” —Howard Zinn, author of The People’s History of the United States

Hidden in the shadow cast by the great western expeditions of Lewis and Clark and the westward-moving pioneers lies another journey every bit as poignant and essential to understanding of who we are as a nation. Chief Joseph and the Flight of the Nez Perce is a grand saga of a pivotal time in our nation’s history. Its pages are alive with the presence of Lewis and Clark, General William Tecumseh Sherman, General George Armstrong Custer, and Sitting Bull. Its events brush against the California Gold Rush, the American Civil War, the great western pioneer migration, and the building of the telegraph and the transcontinental railroad. But at its center lies a group of men, women, and children fleeing for their lives across the vast American West, and a man Buffalo Bill Cody called the “greatest Indian America ever produced.”

“Nowhere has [this story] been portrayed with more sensitivity and understanding than in Chief Joseph and the Flight of the Nez Perce. Kent Nerburn . . . writes from the Indians’ perspective with insight and reverence.” —Columbus Dispatch

“Crisp, energetic account . . . reads like fictionalized history in the tradition of Mari Sandoz’s Crazy Horse.” —The Oregonian

“A must read for every instructor of American history who want to present balance to the vast misrepresentations and distortions of American Indian history.” —Grand Rapids Press

“Nerburn has written about a man of humility and grandeur, whose patient anguish and devotion to his people should be part of our national mythos. This is storytelling with a greatness of heart.” —Louise Erdrich, author of The Painted Drum