In a sweeping narrative, Peter Cozzens tells the story of the wars and negotiations that destroyed native ways of life as the American nation continued its expansion onto traditional tribal lands after the civil war.

Cozzens illuminates the encroachment experienced by the tribes and the tribal conflicts over whether to fight or make peace, and explores the squalid lives of soldiers posted to the frontier and the ethical quandaries faced by generals who often sympathized with their native enemies.

As the action moves from Kansas and Nebraska to the Southwestern desert to the Dakotas and the Pacific Northwest, we encounter a cast of fascinating characters, including Custer, Sherman, Grant, and a host of other military and political figures, as well as great native leaders such as Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Geronimo and Red Cloud. For the first time The Earth Is Weeping brings them all together in the fullest account to date of how the West was won - and lost.