This is an account of America's most famous drama. By centring solely on three subjects - Native Americans, settlers and ranchers - the author recreates these groups' struggles for their place in this new landscape and illuminates the history of the old West. Beginning with the demise of the Native Americans of the Plains, Brown depicts the onrush of the burgeoning cattle trade and the wave of immigrants who ultimately settled the land. By turns heroic, tragic and even humorous, this work brings to life American tragedy and triumph in the years from 1840 to the turn of the century, and a roster of characters both great and small: Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, Geronimo, Wyatt Earp, Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill Hickock and many others.