In 1836, Marcus Whitman and Reverend Henry Spalding were among the first white Americans to reach the Pacific Northwest, where they aimed to convert members of the Cayuse and Nez Perce tribes. Becoming a legend for his exposure of an alleged British plot to capture Oregon, Whitman and 12 others were later massacred by a group of Cayuse, and five Native Americans were executed. With deliberate dishonesty, Whitman and Spalding created a founding myth, and as Blaine Harden details here, it had disastrous consequences for the Cayuse in the decades that followed.

"Enriched by dramatic storytelling and candid interviews with contemporary Cayuses, this immersive account illuminates how the tragedies of the past inform the present."—Publishers Weekly