These two volumes of the work of Eli S. Ricker are a magnificent achievement to the oral-history sources available on the American West. This collection of Ricker's interviews provides a rich resource on the Old West for the scholar and those interested in an accurate analysis of the lives of Indians, soldiers and settlers. The interviews conducted by Ricker over a number of years discuss many pertinent events of the American West. The two volumes are form an oral history of the American West told from the perspectives of Indian, soldier and settler. The selection and detail of the interviews in both volumes provide not only a thorough collection of primary sources but also an insight into the human element of the time, place and events.

The first volume consists of an indispensable understanding of the world of the Indian in the American West. The introduction in the first volume provides the background to the life of Ricker and is a useful context for the work and the basis for both books. The first volume with its perspectives from the viewpoint of the American Indians provides a new appraisal of the Old West with their commentaries on key events in Indian history such as Wounded Knee and the Little Bighorn battle. This provides a means of historical, social and political analysis on the culture and lives of the American Indian. The second volume is an excellent contrast to the first in its use of settlers and soldiers for interviews, gaining their interpretation of events already discussed in the first volume. Ricker looks at particular incidents and events to illustrate how the American West developed and as a means of highlighting the varying experiences of settler, soldier and Indian. The information and detail of the interviews is a major factor and an advantage to both volumes and gives a representative analysis of the experiences of participants during that period.

Both of these books provide an admirable collection of oral histories, collected by Ricker in the early years of the twentieth century. The strength of the volumes is in the stories told by the interviewees, with their perspectives on key historical events from the Old West, which is equally suited to the student and the academic scholar.