The I Index

A Brutal Reckoning: Andrew Jackson, the Creek Indians, and the Epic War for the American South

Next in the queue

74

/100

I Index Overall Rating

Readers

60/100

Critics

88/100

Scholars

N/A

Author:

Peter Cozzens

Publisher:

Knopf

Date:

April 25, 2023

The Creek War began as an internal conflict among the Creek Indians and metastasized like a cancer. It shattered Native American control of the Deep South and led to the infamous Trail of Tears. The war also gave Andrew Jackson his first combat leadership role. In A Brutal Reckoning, Peter Cozzens tells the story of the struggle between the Creek Indians and a young United States for control over the Deep South.

What The Reviewers Say

Mark Knoblauch,
Booklist
Cozzens’ dramatic, often gory descriptions of armed conflicts among the Creeks and white settlers put flesh to myth-encased events. Battle maps are helpful, and an appendix guides readers through the names of Creeks in both their native and Anglicized versions. A valuable addition to the history of Native Americans and the early years of the American republic..
Robert S. Davis,
New York Journal of Books
Peter Cozzens’ storytelling works well. The author reclaims a lost but important chapter in American history with an engaging, highly readable narrative that doesn’t make the details overbearing..

Kirkus
Cozzens gives detailed, diligently researched descriptions of the subsequent battles.

Publishers Weekly
A fine-grained and often gruesome account of the 1813–1814 Creek War.