“A penetrating and fast-paced account…The story of the Creek War is a sorry one, but Cozzens recounts it both with fairness and with a richness of color and detail….Cozzens writes with sensitivity about the political and cultural vise in which the Creeks were crushed.”
—Fergus M. Bordewich, The Wall Street Journal
“The Creek War…is still a largely forgotten episode in American history for the reading public….Cozzens sets out to correct that by admirably situating the conflict within early American history….As has come to be expected from Cozzens’s work, A Brutal Reckoning masterfully blends important cultural and biographical details with expressive and engaging military history.”
—Daniel N. Gullotta, The Washington Post
“Cozzens’ storytelling works well. The author reclaims a lost but important chapter in American history with an engaging, highly readable narrative that doesn’t make the details overbearing. The personal quality of this writing is reminiscent of Pierre Benton’s works on Canada in the War of 1812.”
—New York Journal of Books
“Impeccably researched….Cozzens provides an unhurried and rich exploration of Creek culture, tribal wars, and society….Fascinating….A Brutal Reckoning is an engrossing and objective study of the war that opened American expansion into the Deep South in the early 19th century and sent a proud Native American people into exile. Impressively detailed, it provides the definitive account of the Creek confederacy and its failure to overcome its own divisions in the face of a militantly expansionist white nation.”
—Peggy Kurkowski, Washington Independent Review of Books
“A seasoned historical storyteller, Cozzens portrays both Jackson and his Creek adversaries without minimizing their flaws, though he is clearly appalled by Jackson’s later treatment of the Indians during the Trail of Tears….An authoritative account of a disturbing chapter in the relations between the U.S. military and Indigenous peoples.”
—Kirkus, starred review
“Cozzens vividly describes the Creek Indians’ advanced society and clashes with other tribes, giving a grand sense of their civilization….Equally well brought to life, Cozzens’ dramatic, often gory descriptions of armed conflicts among the Creeks and white settlers put flesh to myth-encased events…. A valuable addition to the history of Native Americans and the early years of the American republic.
—Booklist, starred review
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