Almost everyone recognizes the names of Andrew Jackson and David Crockett, but one cannot understand these men with understanding the trail of tears. Although many have heard the term "trail of tears," most do not have even a vague idea about this very dark chapter in American history but it is a story that everyone should learn. Dean Arnold provides a readable analysis of the web of issues that led to the forced removed of the Cherokee from their lands in north Georgia and southern Tennessee to eastern Oklahoma. It is the story of racism, greed, duplicity, political expediency, physical violence and death. It is the story of the clash of cultures and of value systems. It is story with many villans and few heroes. It is also the story of people struggling with each other to define an effective strategy against an overwhelming force. It is story of Christian missionaries caught up in struggle, caught between cultures and caught between Cherokee factions. Nevertheless, they lived out the message of the cross, perhaps imperfectly but admirably. Jackson used presidential power to inflict the forced removal;Crockett left for Texas. The Cherokee lost so much more. ( )