Includes bibliographical references (pages 213-215) and index.

Lone Dog's winter count -- Horses, guns, and smallpox -- A Pawnee vision of the future -- The life and death of Four Bears -- Counting coups and fighting for survival -- The agony and anger of the eastern Sioux -- Massacres North and South -- Talking to the Peace Commissioners: the Treaty of Medicine Lodge, 1867 -- The slaughter of the buffalo -- The battle of the Greasy Grass, 1876 -- The end of freedom -- Attending the white man's schools -- The life and death of Sitting Bull -- Killing the dream.

Introduction : how the West was lost -- 1. Lone Dog's winter count -- 2. Horses, guns, and smallpox -- How the Blackfeet got horses, guns, and smallpox ; memories of war and smallpox, 1787-1788 / Saukamappee -- Howling wolf : trading guns for horses -- "I bring death." : the Kiowas meet smallpox ; Kiowa legend -- 3. A Pawnee vision of the future ; "we are not starving yet.", 1822 / Sharitarish -- 4. The life and death of Four Bears -- Four Bears's buffalo robe -- Four Bears kills a Cheyenne chief -- The death speech of Four Bears ; speech to the Arikaras and Mandans, July 30, 1837 / Four Bears -- 5. Counting coups and fighting for survival -- Account of Three Coyote's expedition ; Three Coyotes leads a skirmish / Four Dancers -- Fighting for Crow Country ; speech on Crow Country / Arapooish -- Two Leggings's quest for power ; the dream of reality of a raid / Two Leggings -- A woman's view of war ; "like talking to Winter-Winds." / Pretty Shield -- "The only way open to us." ; on alliance with the United States / Plenty Coups -- 6. The agony and anger of the Eastern Sioux -- Big Eagle's account of the Great Sioux uprising ; a Sioux story of the wary, ca. 1894 / Jerome Big Eagle -- The complaints of Strike the Ree, Medicine Cow, and Passing Hail ; speeches to the special joint committee on the condition of the Indian Tribes, 1865 / Strike the Ree, Medicine Cow, and Passing Hail -- 7. Massacres of North and South -- Account of Sand Creek ; the Sand Creek Massacre, 1864 / Little Bear -- The massacre on the Marias (1870) ; account of the massacre on the Marias / Bear Head -- 8. Talking to the Peace Commissioners : the Treaty of Medicine Lodge, 1867 -- "When we settle down we grow pale and die." ; speech at the Treaty of Medicine Lodge / Satanta -- "I want to live and die as I was brought up." ; speech at the Treaty of Medicine Lodge / Ten Bears -- "Teach us the road to travel." ; speech at the Treaty of Medicine Lodge / Satank -- 9. The slaughter of the buffalo -- First hide hunters ; "the Plains were covered with dead bison." / Luther Standing Bear -- The end of the Buffalo Road ; on taking "the new road" / Carl Sweezy -- "War between the buffalo and the white men" ; the last buffalo herd / Old Lady Horse -- "They stared at the empty Plains, as though dreaming." ; when the buffalo went away / Pretty Shield -- 10. The battle on the Greasy Grass, 1876 -- Sioux signs and Arikara premonitions ; reading the Sioux signs / Repelling Reno ; a Cheyenne account of the battle / Wooden Leg -- Red Horse : pictorial record of the battle -- "The soldiers were all rubbed out." ; killing Custer's men / Iron Hawk -- "The women and children cried." ; a view from the village / Mrs. Spotted Horn Bull -- 11. The end of freedom -- "We are melting like snow on the hillside." ; speech to the Secretary of the Interior, 1870 / Red Cloud -- An old woman's dream ; recalling the old days / Buffalo Bird Woman -- "I just listened, said nothing, and did nothing." ; serving as judge / Wooden Leg -- Learning to like Wohaw ; learning the white man's ways / Carl Sweezy -- 12. Attending the white man's schools -- Early days at Carlisle ; life at boarding school, 1879 / Luther Standing Bear -- Wohaw in two worlds -- 13. The life and death of Sitting Bull -- Scenes from a warrior's life -- Sitting Bull's surrender song -- "It is your own doing that I am here." ; report to the Senate Committee, 1883 / Sitting Bull -- "Lieut. Bullhead fired into Sitting Bull." ; the death of Sitting Bull, 1890 / Lone Man -- 14. Killing the dream -- The messiah's letter ; message to the Cheyennes and the Arapahos, ca. 1890 / Wovoka -- "Something terrible happened." ; massacre at Wounded Knee, 1890 / Black Elk -- Epilogue -- Appendices -- Index.