A Travel Guide to the Plains Indian Wars

Generally speaking, I’ve given up on guide books. I just don’t use them any longer, and I don’t see the need to thanks to our good friend the Internet. So much information is available for free here that it doesn’t make sense to spend money on a book to give you the same information. But when I came across Stan Hoig’s A Travel Guide to the Plains Indian Wars I felt a bit different. And after giving it a read, and putting it to some use, I’m glad I thought otherwise.

A Travel Guide to the Plains Indian Wars is just what the title says. But what’s good about it, and what I like in it that I don’t find in normal guide books, is that it first gave me a little history on the wars as the whites expanded west. And it’s a good history, although brief at only about 100 pages, that helps set the stage for the guide section of the book.

The travel guide section is about another 100 pages, and it’s detailed with information on where to go, what to see, as well as maps and various illustrations of importance. This runs the full north-south length of the country, from Texas to North Dakota, and includes nine different states. And while not every spot is written about in depth, they’re at least mentioned so you know they’re there if you want to take a historical road trip to learn about what happened.

Unfortunately A Travel Guide to the Plains Indian Wars comes up a bit short in parts since areas farther west that have big historical importance, like Idaho, Utah, Arizona, and western Colorado, are not really talked about. So, my one complaint about the book would be that Hoig didn’t go nearly into enough detail. I think what is there is good, but the guide could easily be another 100 or more pages with information about other states both east and west. Instead it focuses solely on the American High Plains, when I would’ve liked it to have been more wide spread.

I do think Stan Hoig did a good job with A Travel Guide to the Plains Indian Wars and would definitely recommend it to anyone taking a trip to one of the areas included in the book. It’s great for anyone going any place in the High Plains, particularly Nebraska, South Dakota, and other surrounding states. It’s an excellent companion that can help travelers on their way to some really interesting historical sites.