"Killing Custer" Reflection Post

Before I began reading this book I was slightly aware of the process that American authors of text books and educational materials take to change history to be seen in a better light regarding Americans. All the text books I read in middle school and high school praise American achievement and leave little to the imagination of the experience and outcome of other nations and individuals involved in historical American events. We usually don't notice this when we're in a history class but it became evident after a while that a lot of historical events are exaggerated, manipulated, and sugar coated in some cases to make certain cultures appear superior to others.
I was involved in a program at the University of Michigan through the school of social work a few years ago that dealt with and talked about segregation in the Detroit Metropolitan area. I remember this issue came up in one of the discussions we were having. One of the participants pointed out why we only learn about the WASP (white anglo-saxon protestant) culture in schools and not other cultures. After all America is composed of numerous cultures which is what makes it such a divine and unique nation. After he said this (in which many others agreed), I began to notice more and more how many cultural view points in American history are only briefly mentioned or left out altogether in textbooks.
While reading "Killing Custer" I immediately understood Welch's argument. He not only shows the event of The Battle of Little Bighorn from Native's perspective, but also shows his readers how purposely the view point of Native's is left out while we learn about this battle in school. He also points out how Native's during that era are usually depicted as violent, heartless individuals. It almost seems that someone learning about this event can't help but view Natives as evil and the enemy without thinking that there might be another side to the story. It also seems that some of these text books and educational references brainwash the public into thinking a certain way about Americans and another about other cultures involved in American history.