Award Winner Peter Cozzens on Tecumseh, the Indian Wars & the American West

This week on “The Learning Curve," Cara and Gerard talk with Peter Cozzens, the award-winning author of The Earth Is Weeping: The Epic Story of the Indian Wars for the American West. As National Native American Heritage Month winds down, Mr. Cozzens reviews what our schoolchildren should know about Native Peoples’ innumerable contributions and heart-wrenching experiences. He discusses the life and importance of Tecumseh, the early 19th-century Shawnee Indian chief and warrior, who was the architect of the broadest pan-Indian confederation in U.S. history. Mr. Cozzens also provides a sneak preview of his spring 2023 book on Andrew Jackson, the Creek War, and the Trail of Tears, among the most tragic episodes in our nation’s history. They discuss major figures and events that shaped the American West after the Civil War, and the interview concludes with a reading from Cozzens’ book, Tecumseh and the Prophet: The Heroic Struggle of America's Heartland.

Stories of the Week: In Boston, public school enrollment among Black students has declined by 50 percent over the past two decades. Is the district’s outdated school selection process driving families to charter schools? Companies like IBM, Google, and Delta Airlines are waiving standard college-degree requirements for new hires, focusing more on skills and experience – is this a short-term solution to address the labor market shortage, or a practice that's here to stay?

Guest:

Peter Cozzens is the best-selling, international-award-winning author of eighteen books of American history. His The Earth Is Weeping: The Epic Story of the Indian Wars for the American West was awarded the prestigious Gilder-Lehrman Prize in 2017 for the best book published on military history in the English language. Tecumseh and the Prophet: The Heroic Struggle of America's Heartland, was a finalist for the George Washington Prize and winner of the Western Writers of America spur award. His works have been published in translation in China, Russia, Spain, and Italy, among other countries. A Brutal Reckoning: Andrew Jackson, the Creek Indians, and the Epic War for the American South, the concluding volume in his trilogy on America's westward expansion will be published in April 2023. Cozzens also is a retired senior Foreign Service officer. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, he served as a captain in the U. S. Army.

The next episode will air on Weds., December 7th, with Betsy DeVos, a former United States Secretary of Education and the author of the book, Hostages No More: The Fight for Education Freedom and the Future of the American Child.

Tweet of the Week:

News Links:

Boston schools lost 15,000 Black students in the past 20 years. Where did they go, and will they ever return?

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/11/26/metro/boston-schools-lost-15000-black-students-past-20-years-where-did-they-go-will-they-ever-return/

WSJ: Employers Rethink Need for College Degrees in Tight Labor Market

https://www.wsj.com/articles/employers-rethink-need-for-college-degrees-in-tight-labor-market-11669432133