Preview of Thunder Rolling in the Mountains Summary:

Man's inhumanity to man might well be the title of the theme of this novel.

Even though Joseph has tried to live in peace with the whites, and even though his people ask nothing more than to be left alone, they are driven from their homeland, deprived of their horses and cattle which represent their livelihood, and hunted like wild animals. The same settlers who are helped by the Indians, turn informers on them.

Not one of the white people, from miners to homesteaders to various military leaders ever seems to have considered the Indians as human beings. Their behavior stands in direct contrast with Chief Joseph's actions.

When the Indians capture some white women, they release them and even give them horses. When the army encounters a village of women and children, it butchers them as enemies.

There is not the least consideration given to even their...