Reading List: Tecumseh

Tecumseh: A Life
by John Sugden

The subject of American history has always fascinated me, and I was fortunate enough growing up that in school we were taught a good deal about that other side of American history, the natives who ended up being called Indians and fought to retain their identity if not their land. Surprisingly, I don't remember hearing all that much about Tecumseh, who was after all, important enough to eventually become the middle name of Civil War general William Sherman (and doesn't that name sound weird without "Tecumseh" in it?), but now takes a back seat to any number of other important leaders from that side of history (though ideally, there would be no side). I took a variation of Tecumseh's name for a character in one of my stories, and I eventually learned that he had an important role in the War of 1812 (two hundredth anniversary! suck it, Civil War!), so it's only natural that I read a biography of him. This selection, in fact, kicks off a string of historical nonfiction on the List, capped off by a series of books inspired by the Iliad/Odyssey cycle (one side of which, to maintain a theme, has historical bearing).