The Longest War in American History was the Indian War -- a continuous, interlinked fight for the land of Native Americans stretching over multiple centuries. This fight, which started in BC times and continues in economic form today, has involved Indian tribes warring with one another, as well as whites of European backgrounds and their descendants fighting with Indians.
This book is a compendium reference of conflicts involving Native Americans, listed by date. It includes actions as small as the kidnapping of one white girl by Indians and as large as the well-known Custer’s Last Stand. Entries are arranged in chronological order, and they cover the entire continent, from Florida to Alaska, from Maine to California.
The book does not focus solely on the Great Plains Indian Wars, so popular in the public imagination, but it focuses on the entire scope of Indian-related conflicts all over the continent and in all time periods.

Harold F. Williams has spent 40 years studying Native Americans. He became fascinated with American Indians when he was a child, leading to a lifelong interest in their culture and history. While teaching on the college level, he developed and maintained an active academic interest in Indian history, reading and researching as much as he could about American tribes. Now retired, Williams lives in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Harold F. Williams has created an outstanding timeline of conflicts involving Native Americans in the United States. It will serve researchers well and will help spark much further study of American Indians by scholars and amateur historians alike.
Williams has chronicled conflicts among the various Indian tribes themselves, as well as Indians’ clashes with Mexicans, Europeans of all nationalities, and their American-born descendants. Williams’ in-depth compilation doesn’t concern itself solely with the Great Plains, but with the entire continent.
Most interesting of all is Williams’ insight into Indian wars as one long, continuous chain of fighting, not isolated flare-ups meant merely to clear some troublesome tribesmen from a particular plot of land. Williams concluded that Indian wars have played a far bigger role in American history than history books have shown. With this book, he’s doing his part to correct the record.

--Julie Williams
Samford University

suzanne.williams11@sbcglobal.net