As part of the Library’s “The West Where We Are” series Professor Elliott West lectures on his book, The Last Indian War: The Nez Perce Story.
Elliott West is a Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Arkansas. Professor West received his B.A. from the University of Texas (1967) and his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado (1971). He joined the University of Arkansas faculty in 1979. Two of his books, Growing Up With the Country: Childhood on the Far-Western Frontier (1989) and The Way to the West: Essays on the Central Plains (1995) received the Western Heritage Award. The Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers, and the Rush to Colorado (1998) received five awards including the Francis Parkman Prize and PEN Center Award. His most recent book is The Last Indian War: The Nez Perce Story (2009).
The Last Indian War: The Nez Perce Story is a portrait of the Nez Perce War of 1877, the last great Indian conflict in American history and is based on a rich cache of historical documents, from government and military records to contemporary interviews and newspaper reports.