Good evening.

Welcome to another edition of Inside the Cover.

Thank you so much for watching and supporting PBS Kansas.

If you are a fan o a regular watcher, you know that I love making connections with my reading choices.

It is amazing to me how ofte this occurs, and with complete serendipity.

It is now time to go inside the cover.

The connection here is Native Americans.

I realized at some stage that the following books all centered around or had a relationship to indigenous peoples of the United States.

The first such book was The Rediscovery of America by Doctor Ned Blackhawk.

This book was copyrighted in 2023 and I finished my copy on April 6th, 2026.

We have done a show specifically devoted to that book, and it has previously aired here on PBS Kansas.

As we noted in that show Professor Blackhawk interweaves five centuries of native and non-native histories to illustrate and forcefully demonstrat the impact of indigenous people on what has emerge as the United States of America.

Also on April 6th, I finished Robert B Parker's Stones Throw by Mike Lupica.

I recently discovered Stone's Throw in a box of to read or reread books and I decided to give it a go.

I enjoyed Lupicas writing and the story.

However and to the point of this show, I came across the following quotation.

‘And if that land did belong to the tribe, if it was just one more piece of property in Americ that had been stolen from them, well, as sure seeme as if it ought to matter too.

Isn't that just an amazing connection?

Okay, stay with me here.

On April 7th I finished The Greatest Sentence Ever Written by Walter Isaacson.

In this 2025 book, Isaacson discusses the famous second sentence of the Declaration of Independence.

‘We hold these truth to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

While noting the profundity of the sentence, Isaacson writes at page three ‘Let's hold off for the moment, addressing the question tha women, blacks, Native Americans and others might ask what do you mean, we?

Finally, on April 10th, I finished Day Without End by Sebastian Barry.

This is a very interesting book.

Following two young me through their days in the army, helping settle the West up t their service in the Civil War.

Barry probably deserves a show of his own, but let's stay in focus.

Barry discusses an immense gathering of Native Americans Shoshone, Teton and Ogallala Sioux, the Arapaho to sign a treaty, annuities and food supplies offered in exchange for letting immigrants pass through their lands.

‘Them Indian is wore out from the slaughter, and so are we, notes Corporal Thomas McNulty.

But on page 59, Barry writes.

‘Now it was inching into autumn, and those treaty Indians had to make way in their villages for that old murderer called famine.

That filthy, dark hearted, scrawny creatur that wants the ransom of lives because government food that was promised was late or never coming.

Amazing.

Four books in the stretch of a week, so powerful in their subject matter and so related, all without intent or design on my part.

The amazing magic and power of reading.

That's our show.

Im not certain of an appropriate title.

Let us just say there are many stories and many sides to history.

Good night and see you next time here on Inside the Cover.

Until then, be well and keep reading.