Elmer Kelton's non-fiction book The Indian In Frontier News is a product of his intensive research of original newspapers and periodicals of the 1800's.
An editor wrote February 8, 1873 in the Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper this succinct observation: distance lends enchantment to the view of an Indian, and the greater the distance, the greater the enchantment.
Now we are distanced from the Indian of the 1880's by five generations of time and a world so changed and so rapidly still changing that even Americans of the 1990's feel threatened.
An early tide of this sea of change swallowed up the western Indian.
Films, paintings and novels of the west reflect our continuing enchantment with the Indian. We relish the thought of the warrior, well-mounted and driving home his arrows in the heat of the buffalo chase.
This Kelton book reflects times when the closeness of conflict put the enchantment in an impossible distance in the future. A viewpoint long-lost to the modern reader is presented in The Indian In Frontier News.
I learned much from the mass of material in the 189 page book. The Cherokee Indians were the more civilized of the many tribes, having their own alphabet and publishing their own newspaper. Gen. Sam Houston was a Cherokee chief and had lived with the tribe for some time before coming to Texas."
by Ross McSwain, San Angelo Standard Times
THE INDIAN IN FRONTIER NEWS by ELMER KELTON
Old West news stories on Indians edited by Elmer Kelton with his comments.
Hardbound, 189 pages, 13 chapters.
Price is $24.95 each (Includes Media Mail shipping for Continental USA, other shipping available at additional cost.)