• The Earth Shall Weep

  • A History of Native America
  • By: James Wilson
  • Narrated by: Nelson Runger
  • Length: 21 hrs and 46 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (117 ratings)

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The Earth Shall Weep  By  cover art

The Earth Shall Weep

By: James Wilson
Narrated by: Nelson Runger
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Publisher's summary

This carefully researched exploration of Native American culture investigates the complex, often misunderstood histories of hundreds of indigenous peoples. Author James Wilson has drawn from ethnographic and archaeological studies, historical texts, and the rich written and oral traditions of Native Americans to complete this important work.

©1998 JamesWilson (P)2002 Recorded Books, LLC
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

What listeners say about The Earth Shall Weep

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Please re-record this well written book

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I had to return "The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America." The narrator is the worst kind of 1960s-educational-film White Man, it's unlistenable. I'm so sad about this, too, because it's an extremely well written book. But the narrator mangles the content with unfeeling, forced, broad-castery tonal "highs and lows." I thought I could over come it, but I couldn't get past the first chapter. To effectively narrate this book, all that's required is to FEEL the material - it's a very intense and emotional subject. There are too many gifted voice over artists out there to allow this kind of thing to happen.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Nelson Runger?

How about Michael Horse? How about any number of great Native American actors? How about the author? How about the extremely talented Cassandra Campbell? How about any one of the many gifted v/o artists of any race or sex who would do the material justice?

Any additional comments?

James Wilson, please have your outstanding book re-recorded!

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33 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Well Researched

This was like the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich except about indigenous Americans and of course no real resolution like we had with National Socialism. My family is Native American and the real history of what happened is heartbreaking. I was already pretty well educated about the history from the termination acts onward but that is pretty modern and it's just another thing on a long line of injustice and prejudice. I highly recommend this if you're interested in learning the history of the Native American people.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Tremendous

This book is so well researched. I truly feel that the American Indians to this day are the neighbor whose suffering we are ignoring as American citizens. Reading the heartbreaking history of those who were here before us makes me realize why some people are so scared of illegal immigrants, it's because illegal immigrants came here and pushed out the natives. We must do better, we must somehow make things right. I strongly recommend this book to every citizen of the United States. It will change you, it will make you more compassionate and see American from the perspective of those who were here before the white man.

This section from the books sums up much of the problem of what the havoc the white man has brought to this land and its indigenous people.

"The white man adopted two basic approaches ... He systematically excluded blacks from all programmes, policies, social events, and economic schemes ... With the Indian the process was simply reversed ... Indians were ... subjected to the most intense pressure to become white. Laws passed by Congress had but one goal - the Anglo-Saxonization of the Indian... The white man forbade the black to enter his own social and economic system and at the same time force-fed the Indian what he was denying the black. Yet the white man demanded that the black conform to white standards and insisted that the Indian don feathers and beads periodically to perform for him."

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Gruesome

I am former military and a retired surgeon and portions of this book were gruesome. Things were done to the Indians by settlers and different governments I could not of even conceived. I had to stop the book 2/3 of the way through. I had an internal debate about this: 1) Honor people by listening to the atrocities committed against them. Paying respect to some people groups that were exterminated. 2) respect my own mental well-being. I choose the later.
The book is well researched and seemingly complete. If you listen realize you will hear things that you can’t un-hear. In a similar vein to terrorist YouTube videos the images are haunting. Before you buy make sure you are prepared for that journey.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Important Topic Mediocre Treatment

This is not a narrative that is engaging, jumps around to different time periods and doesn’t always give enough transitional information to understand why the author has moved from one place and time to another. I’m sure it made sense to the author as he wrote it, but he didn’t bring his readers along for the ride. You have to really be interested in the history of Indians to get through to the end of this book. I think 80% of readers will give up at a third of the book. But there is a lot of good information in it. It’s an eye opening read if youre not familiar with American history through the eyes of the Indians. Its an important history and portions of this book should be required reading in schools.

The audible narrative is not very good. The reader makes audible gasps at the start of each sentence. As if he’s trying to catch his breath to speak. A couple of long pauses at times made me wonder if he might have just died in mid paragraph, but no, he was just catching his breath. Really this book needs to be narrated by someone from one of the cultural groups it is about; not from an European descendant.

Almost a good book.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A bit in depth for an audiobook

Would you try another book from James Wilson and/or Nelson Runger?

probably wouldn't purchase another audiobook by them but probably would buy an ebook on the right topic. They are so in depth that I really needed to go back and reread parts and thats not a favorable option on an audiobook.

What did you like best about this story?

It went beyond the cowboys and indians story. It discusses why the story is important and what are the results of 4 centuries of indian abuses.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Mispronounced words. It was as if the reader had no access to any experts on the topic.

Did The Earth Shall Weep inspire you to do anything?

No

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful Narration

I could listen to this narrator describe cardboard for a week straight and not get bored. For a slightly older book this history was wonderfully insightful and nuanced. I loved the frequent quotes and statements from people during the periods described.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Turn the speed up just a bit

I read this book and enjoyed it. I was looking for an overview of Native American history and this fits the bill.

Here's what I liked:
-- the author has a point of view. He doesn't just narrate what happened, he gets into theorizing about motivations etc.
-- I think the pace was good. There is a lot of ground to cover, doesn't get bogged down in the details.

Responding to some of the comments I saw in other reviews:
-- The reader does have a weird way of taking a big gulping breath between sentences. I listened to the book on 1.3 speed and that was all cut out. I am guessing the same would happen if you went with 1.1 speed.
-- I did not find the structure of the book confusing. Basically it goes region by region from first European contact through the late 1800s; then covers Native Americans more as a uniform group from that point to the present. Worked fine for me.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

This book is In depth and comprehensive .

This is a in depth story of our continual mistreatment of the Native American- factual and complete.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

great book. horrible mouth noises.

I love the book.
the narrator has a great voice and does a fantastic job reading.....but all the mouth noise are hard to handle. constant wet mouth noises and lip smacking is highly disturbing.. I couldn't finish the book.

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