Summary Of One Vast Winter Count Sparknotes

Josh Herzer
Dr. Despain
The American West
13 October 2017

Academic Book Review: Colin G. Calloway’s “One Vast Winter Count”

Calloway, Colin G, One Vast Winter Count: The Native American West before Lewis & Clark, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2003.
“One Vast Winter Count/The Native American West Before Lewis & Clark is a grand look at what goes on in the American West basically before contact is made between the Native Americans and Lewis & Clark. Colin G. Calloway, award winning author of works such as the book “First Peoples” and a renowned Dartmouth Historian focuses on the Indian life from the Appalachian Mountains to the Pacific Ocean up to the eighteenth century.
Reading Colin Calloway's “One Vast Winter Count” the book

The approach he uses that moves between Spanish, French, and several Native perspectives leads to repetition which could have been minimized in my opinion.
The book's strength is its loyalty to the oral history of indigenous peoples of their own history. Native tribal historians, writers, and elders often shape the sound of the narrative.
The book does possess some structural problems. The Lewis and Clark expedition was a major event, but the true significance would not become apparent until the nineteenth century. Many of the historical events that Calloway describes continued for decades after the famous pair had made to the Pacific shore and back. By finishing the book in 1804, Calloway is forced into endings that could have been better. Another problem I had was “One Vast Winter Count” includes the Pacific Northwest, but only near the very end of the book when the action is already winding down significantly.
However, “One Vast Winter Count” is a great insightful read. It is a solid work that captures New Western and New Indian Histories to their full grandeur. I would recommend it be on anyone’s shelf who is interested or studying this fascinating