Distant Thunder

i have tried for two days to order a single copy of this book to be sent to a family member out of state and have been told on both occasions after being jerked around for hours just to get a confirmation that the order had been received and i would get a confirmation email , still have not any idea as to whether the order has been placed. Have no available phone number for clients to call .

While I haven't actually finished the first book, I purchased this second book for my father as a Christmas gift. He has had nothing but good to say about this series, and talks about the books all the time. The part of the first book that I have read has been extremely enlightening. I can't wait to get home (I'm a college student) and finish it. As an Oregon native and an education major, I believe that these books should be mandatory reading material for the high school level. It's amazing what is left out of the history books.

It's too bad that this series is not taught in school. There are sections that are too intense for children below age 13. I am from western Oregon and so much of this history was left out of my education on the Oregon Territory. The only reason I did not give it 5 stars is the detailed documentation may be too much for some. However, the research is phenominal, what a legacy to leave for the Ontko family. What else is left out of our history books?

I have traveled much of Central and Eastern Oregon where much of the action in this book takes place. After reading this book it is especially fascinating because many of the places named after the people in this book, such as John Day who had a city and a river named after him. Peter Skeen Ogden who has historical markers all over Central and Eastern Oregon marking where he had been and let us not forget Paulina, the great war chief of the Shoshoni. Each spring and fall I travel to the Paulina Valley and watch the eagles, the deer and the antelope. Each time I travel south of Bend I see Paulina Peak keeping watch over the lakes formed by the caldera of Newberry Crater and the valley below, once the valley of the Shoshoni and all of the other tribes of this great country east of the Cascades. The author has put names and faces together making history come alive for me. I live less than a mile from the Deschutes River and Pilot Butte is only blocks from my house. The snow on the Three Sisters glows in the winter sun and I thrill to the sight of them them each day from my home in Bend. I have great difficulty in putting the book down. I tell myself that I will read only one chapter a night but one chapter leads to another. It is fascinating and a must read for any history buff and Oregonians especially.

The Shoshone Indians once occupied a territory that extended east to west from the Rocky Mountains to the Cascades; and north to south from the Columbia River to northern New Mexico, Arizona, and Indio, CA. This great nation ruled the West from the time Cortez marched north from Mexico to the Indian Wars of the late 19th Century. A vivid testimony of how the North American Indians were treated when the American West was explored, invaded, and its native peoples exterminated with incredible efficiency.

I read the 600 + pages of Vol 1 and 2 in one setting. It took about 4 days. The story flows is easy to understand, track, and comprehend. The subject matter is facinating, and if accurate will require the rewriting of many historical events in the West. I was astonished to find that gold was first discovered in Oregon by spanish explorers in the 1600's. Most facisnating was the dark side of the european settlement of the West. Compared to Bosnia, the germ warfare, murder, and population displacement practices of EuroAmerican settlers on the Native Ameicans is without a doubt the saddest story every told