I Am a Man and You Are Another
James D. Tipfer

Copyright 2002
International Standard Book Number: 1-929612-37-0
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2002093365

In telling the story of one of the most fascinating Indian chiefs east of the Mississippi River, James Tipfer has dramatized the personalities of the main players of that period—both Red and White. In such a way that the characters and their reasoning colored by their joy and tribulations bring history alive for the reader in this lavishly illustrated book.

Pontiac, Tecumseh, and Black Hawk had their own visions of a pan-Indian confederacy to stem the constant encroachment of the whites on lands that had been the Indian’s for centuries. These farsighted individuals were trying to preserve their traditions, lands and unique cultures, yea even their very lives and way of life in the face of this white onslaught.

Black Hawk and the war of 1832, named after him, foreshadowed future wars based on red/white conflicts that culminated at the Little Big Horn with Custer’s Last Stand. All Indian battles that followed were failures waged against the whites because they lacked the strategic character of Black Hawk’s campaigns. Even including the Pyrrhic victory at the Little Big Horn.

This penetrating portrayal of Black Hawk a 170 years later—his era and the War of 1832 provides a rare glimpse of the man that was both revered and feared by Indians and whites alike. The focus on this period of early American history is refreshing and significant.