Enjoyable non fiction read about something which I knew little about. Stark brings the era and historical figures to life. His writing is excellent-erudite with being stuffy. This is a must for the American history buff.

This is a brilliantly written and researched book about the rivalry between territorial governor William Henry Harrison and Shawnee chief Tecumseh for the possession of the Indiana Territory and the fate of the United States. Despite the understated emotion and the clear, cogent prose, the book frequently left me shaking with rage and grief, almost unable to continue reading. Harrison's ruthlessness, duplicity, and determination to grant land to white settlers even at the cost of genocide is horrifying and sickening. Yet stories like this desperately need to be heard so that Americans can finally come to terms with our past, and move forward with compassion and dignity.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

I've always wanted to punch Thomas Jefferson. After reading Peter Stark's Gallop Toward the Sun, I want to punch William Henry Harrison, too.

Stark's book looks at the lives of American Indian leader Tecumseh and the jerk William Henry Harrison. Stark puts a bright spotlight on how Harrison was a major tool (and I mean that in two different ways) in stealing Native lands out from under them with shady deals, debt, and graft. Harrison is often remembered as the shortest serving president since he died one month after taking office. We ducked a bullet on that one, America.

While Stark is one of my favorite authors, there are some missteps in the narrative. Part I sets up the conflict between Harrison and Tecumseh leading to war. I found myself wanting to skip ahead because much of the set up doesn't directly include Harrison or Tecumseh in places. I still liked much of what Stark was writing, but the book is really about these two larger than life figures and when they disappear from the book it can be frustrating. Part II, which deals with the War of 1812 runs into the same problems. The Battle of Lake Erie is the standout and it is extremely compelling. However, Harrison and Tecumseh are once again on the sidelines for this.

This may sound like the book is unfulfilling but it is in fact still quite good. The narrative issues I mention do not ruin the book but merely take it from "great" down to "very good." Stark is too excellent a writer to ever have a bad book. This one just needed a better focus to be truly great.

(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Random House.)

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Random House Publishing Group- Random House for an advance copy of this history on the expansion of America after the Revolutionary War, with a focus on two men on opposing sides.

History, especially American history always seems to be about sides. Rebels versus Tories and Britain, North versus South, a war that never seems to be settled, the East Coast Elites and West Coast Hippies versus Middle America. People always talk about being on the right side of history. However what determines the right side? The lesser of evils. The growth of a new nation at the expense of genocide for the natives. These are questions that really have no answers, and with the way this country is going will never really be asked, taught and probably made illegal to even think about. Following the American Revolution people wanted to get away from each other and live the life that had just fought for. The only problem the land they were acquiring already had people living on it. And they were getting tired of being moved. Treaty after broken treaty, massacres on both sides, taking sides with foreign countries, and even worse a Native American who was bringing the tribes together, instead of fighting amongst themselves. A battle between two sides, that seemed doomed to happen, along with a little help from a Governor with powerful aspirations. Historian Peter Stark has in Gallop Toward the Sun: Tecumseh and William Henry Harrison's Struggle for the Destiny of a Nation written a dual biography on both these men Native American and politician, with a look at America's expansion, and the many battles these men fought for their vision of the future.

Tecumseh was born in the country that later became part of Ohio and grew up watching his people's lands disappear and the death of his father trying to stop this. Tecumseh learned the ways of war from his older brother, and through trial and error leading raids that sometimes worked, and sometimes failed. Tecumseh gradually gained stature among the Native Americans, and Tecumseh began to travel among the different tribes from the reaching as far as Florida trying to form a coalition that instead of falling to tribal politics could stand united against the treat of American incursion. This did not sit well with the many politicians involved. William Henry Harrison was the son of a successful Virginia planter and signer of the Declaration of Independence, whose life seemed pretty well settled, until death claimed his father when Harrison was just going to college. The estate was not as wealthy as expected, and college for Harrison was no longer possible. Calling on a friend of the family, George Washington, Harrison entered the army and was sent to the frontier where he was able to see the expansion of America up close, and the money and power that could come with it. As Harrison gradually gained stature, like Tecumseh, Harrison was appointed Governor of the Indiana Territory and was in control of the land that could be given to settlers. Which would inflame the people already living there. Which was what they wanted.

A very informative and yet sad history about American expansion, and the cost to others for that land. Stark is a very good writer able to tell both sides Tecumseh and Harrison well, good bad or just human. Both men had much in common, well Harrison might have had a lot more greed, but their lives were close in many ways, and it is interesting how Stark shows this. The research is very good, and well sourced, and very well written. I found both men to be fascinating characters and though my sympathies are more with one than the other, I could understand both men's motivations and their actions. Stark sets the scene well, the narrative moves smooth covering both men at almost the same time. Also Stark explains things well, why this happened, Native American life and thinking, the numerous political motivations that made the inevitable possible. A very well thought out history book.

Recommended for readers about the west, and how it got started, and for those interested in life after the American Revolution. A lot of information is covered, and covered well. This is my first book by Peter Stark and I am very interested in reading more.

This a very good presentation of the events that lead up to the final battle and death of Tecumseh. William Henry Harrison, our shortest serving president, carefully staged the events of the final battle by continually using deceptive practices to “purchase” land from the Indians of the Northwest Territory at that time while Governor of the Indiana Territory. This forced Tecumseh to team up with the British during the War of 1812, but he was also deceived by them in the end. This is well written and researched.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my nonfiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook page.