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Witajcie w rezerwacie. Indianin w podróży przez ziemie amerykańskich plemion
Historia Indian pełna jest dramatycznych wydarzeń i bohaterów o poetyckich imionach. Jednak wielcy wodzowie pykający fajkę pokoju należą już do przeszłości (a może raczej do naszych fantazji o przeszłości). Życie ich potomków we współczesnych rezerwatach jest znacznie mniej romantyczne, choć nadal budzi wiele emocji. David Treuer, członek plemienia Odżibuejów i ceniony powieściopisarz, dorastał w rezerwacie Leech Lake, ale wykształcenie zdobywał na „białych” uniwersytetach. Dzięki temu potrafił pogodzić dwie perspektywy, uczestnika i obserwatora, co w połączeniu z niezwykłym talentem narracyjnym, poczuciem humoru i otwartością dało wspaniałe efekty. Witajcie w rezerwacie to książka, która przeprowadzi nas przez meandry historii, wyjaśni znaczenie kolejnych traktatów, wytłumaczy skomplikowane rozwiązania prawne obowiązujące w rezerwatach, poda główne przyczyny napięć między Indianami a nie-Indianami. A przede wszystkim pozwoli nam zobaczyć, jak dziś żyją mieszkańcy rezerwatów, jak radzą sobie z biedą, przestępczością, jak łączą tożsamość indiańską z amerykańską i jak walczą o zachowanie swojego dziedzictwa.
344 pages, Hardcover
First published January 31, 2012
755 people are currently reading
5150 people want to read
About the author
David Treuer
13 books420 followersDavid Treuer is an Ojibwe Indian from Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota. He is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize, and fellowships from the NEH, Bush Foundation, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He divides his time between his home on the Leech Lake Reservation and Minneapolis. He is the author of three novels and a book of criticism. His essays and stories have appeared in Esquire, TriQuarterly, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, Lucky Peach, the LA Times, and Slate.com.
Treuer published his first novel, Little, in 1995. He received his PhD in anthropology and published his second novel, The Hiawatha, in 1999. His third novel The Translation of Dr Apelles and a book of criticism, Native American Fiction; A User's Manual appeared in 2006. The Translation of Dr Apelles was named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, Time Out, and City Pages. REZ LIFE is his newest book and is now out in paperback with Grove Press.
Treuer published his first novel, Little, in 1995. He received his PhD in anthropology and published his second novel, The Hiawatha, in 1999. His third novel The Translation of Dr Apelles and a book of criticism, Native American Fiction; A User's Manual appeared in 2006. The Translation of Dr Apelles was named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, Time Out, and City Pages. REZ LIFE is his newest book and is now out in paperback with Grove Press.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 394 reviews
August 23, 2020
“Like reservations themselves, this book is a hybrid. It has elements of journalism, history, and memoir. As such it is meant to be suggestive rather than exhaustive. It is meant to capture some of the history and some of the truth of reservation life—which is not any one thing but many things depending on where you’re looking and to whom you’re talking.” – Dave Treuer, Rez Life
Based on the author’s above-stated purpose, I think he succeeds. Treuer starts the book with his personal experience growing up on a reservation. He then relates the results of many interviews that offer insights on what “rez” life is like today. In the process, he delivers a history of reservations, including past treaties, violations, and major changes in the law since conception. His primary focus is on his own tribe, the Ojibwe in the Great Lakes region, but he visits other tribes as well.
The book is structured around people and their stories. This works for the most part, though it can occasionally seem disjointed and allows for many digressions into side topics. Content includes the origins of casinos on Indian land, treaty rights, tribal sovereignty, and the various states of Indian cultures – some thriving and others dwindling. It highlights ongoing social problems on reservations such as poverty, violence, and substance abuse. It clears up many misconceptions. The author is obviously proud of his heritage. He remains optimistic, while not glossing over the challenges faced by reservation residents.
Based on the author’s above-stated purpose, I think he succeeds. Treuer starts the book with his personal experience growing up on a reservation. He then relates the results of many interviews that offer insights on what “rez” life is like today. In the process, he delivers a history of reservations, including past treaties, violations, and major changes in the law since conception. His primary focus is on his own tribe, the Ojibwe in the Great Lakes region, but he visits other tribes as well.
The book is structured around people and their stories. This works for the most part, though it can occasionally seem disjointed and allows for many digressions into side topics. Content includes the origins of casinos on Indian land, treaty rights, tribal sovereignty, and the various states of Indian cultures – some thriving and others dwindling. It highlights ongoing social problems on reservations such as poverty, violence, and substance abuse. It clears up many misconceptions. The author is obviously proud of his heritage. He remains optimistic, while not glossing over the challenges faced by reservation residents.
May 6, 2014
This particular chapter of the job was a little racist. I was writing a book about members of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, and the publisher told me that I could choose the subjects myself but I had to include some New Mexico Native. I don't remember him saying that I had to have a real Indian, but I understood the requirement.
I called the reigning head of the CRC mission, a white man, a preacher, who let me know in no uncertain terms that he wasn't going to hand over a Navajo because he was, quite frankly, sick and tired of easterners like me coming around and asking to take a picture of Tonto. Forget it, he said. "What you ought to do," he told me, "is write the story of some Indian from the city." He told me about a Chicago mission for Native folks, I listened, and, back again in the Midwest, wrote a story about a woman, a Pima, from the deserts of Arizona.
"Here's the deal," the preacher told me; "the future of the Indian is not on the reservation." End of story. This from a man who'd spent much of his life on the rez.
That was 30 years ago or so.
A generation later, it seems to me that what that preacher said was flat wrong. Already in 1973 at Wounded Knee and Alcatraz and almost every reservation in America, a movement one might call Red Power arose as if out of nowhere. It scared the dickens out of most white people, even made them angry because it sometimes felt like unrequited love--I mean, haven't we been good to you?--you know, that sort of thing.
But the kind of consciousness-raising that occurred on American reservations gave almost all Native people something they'd lost, self-respect--or at least started them down the road to regaining at least some of what had been stolen, sometimes violently, from their very souls. A Winnebago woman told me she never felt as proud as she did the day in the late 70s, when her father took her along to Washington D. C. to protest.
Today, most palefaces, like me, tend to think of reservations as wasteland battle grounds, dismal, drug-infested hellholes where misery begets a suicide rate beyond imagination. David Treur, a Ojibwa novelist and, now, non-fiction writer, doesn't back away from sad and violent images of reservation life. Horrors abound, and his new book, Rez Life, doesn't pretend that it's some redman's fantasyland.
But most Anglos might be shocked to discover that Treur sings the glories of reservation life without hesitation. "The truth to me seems to be that reservations are places of surplus," he told NPR in an interview. "There's more of everything. There might be more hardship, but there's more joy. There might be more pain, but there's more opportunity. There's more of everything."
It seems to me that the preacher's crystal ball was clouded. It seems to this white man that reservations are, even to those who leave, home.
Treur uses the word reservation to define Native American life in a fashion I'd never thought of, a way that helps--or should--a white guy understand the lay of the land. A reservation is a place that is reserved, he says. Some might think of it as a prison--as the preacher from Navajo land might have; but it's a place that's reserved. When white anglers get incensed about fishing, their ire is understandable--"what blasted rights do Ojibwas have to spear walleye or net 'em by the hundreds, out of season too, when we can't?"
The answer, Treur says, is quite simple: Ojibwas have been doing it for hundreds of years. It's a right reserved for them by otherwise worthless treaties that allow them to continue one custom of an ancient and honorable way of life. The law reserves their right to fish as their great-great grandparents did.
When, just a few years ago, I wrote a book about Navajo families who'd been part of that same Christian mission for generations, I was surprised to discover that all the tribal people I met and interviewed loved their home, their reservation, the sacred land all around. Today, just about half of the Navajo people don't live on the tribe's sprawling reservation, but more than half do, perhaps because, as Treuer says of his own, Red Lake, in Minnesota, "there's more of everything."
There's some history in Treur's look at his home, a good strong helping of American history. There's some fishing here too. And some good yarns, some tributes, some honor.
But David Treur doesn't create a portrait that isn't real; it begins with the suicide of his own grandfather. Some parts will make any reader cringe. He says his own Ojibwa people overfished the lakes so badly that it took years to renew the walleyes. He is clearly uncomfortable with the absurd machinations most tribes, these days, go through to determine who is and who isn't a member. Casinos have made a few Native people ridiculously wealthy, and brought more education and better health care to reservations; but glittering gambling halls aren't heavenly. Those slots don't dispense better lives.
If you honestly don't know much about Native America, if you'd like to know more about life on the rez and get a good, healthy serving of the kind of history that will not only hold your attention but make you sit up and listen, then you can't do better than David Treur's Rez Life. It's a primer, a thoughtful, heartfelt look at the lay of the land.
More palefaces should read Treuer's Rez Life. In America today Native folks are far too invisible. They're human beings, not object lessons or talking points, but to know at least something of their story will do this at least--it'll make you humble, and, for a white American, that's a good thing.
I called the reigning head of the CRC mission, a white man, a preacher, who let me know in no uncertain terms that he wasn't going to hand over a Navajo because he was, quite frankly, sick and tired of easterners like me coming around and asking to take a picture of Tonto. Forget it, he said. "What you ought to do," he told me, "is write the story of some Indian from the city." He told me about a Chicago mission for Native folks, I listened, and, back again in the Midwest, wrote a story about a woman, a Pima, from the deserts of Arizona.
"Here's the deal," the preacher told me; "the future of the Indian is not on the reservation." End of story. This from a man who'd spent much of his life on the rez.
That was 30 years ago or so.
A generation later, it seems to me that what that preacher said was flat wrong. Already in 1973 at Wounded Knee and Alcatraz and almost every reservation in America, a movement one might call Red Power arose as if out of nowhere. It scared the dickens out of most white people, even made them angry because it sometimes felt like unrequited love--I mean, haven't we been good to you?--you know, that sort of thing.
But the kind of consciousness-raising that occurred on American reservations gave almost all Native people something they'd lost, self-respect--or at least started them down the road to regaining at least some of what had been stolen, sometimes violently, from their very souls. A Winnebago woman told me she never felt as proud as she did the day in the late 70s, when her father took her along to Washington D. C. to protest.
Today, most palefaces, like me, tend to think of reservations as wasteland battle grounds, dismal, drug-infested hellholes where misery begets a suicide rate beyond imagination. David Treur, a Ojibwa novelist and, now, non-fiction writer, doesn't back away from sad and violent images of reservation life. Horrors abound, and his new book, Rez Life, doesn't pretend that it's some redman's fantasyland.
But most Anglos might be shocked to discover that Treur sings the glories of reservation life without hesitation. "The truth to me seems to be that reservations are places of surplus," he told NPR in an interview. "There's more of everything. There might be more hardship, but there's more joy. There might be more pain, but there's more opportunity. There's more of everything."
It seems to me that the preacher's crystal ball was clouded. It seems to this white man that reservations are, even to those who leave, home.
Treur uses the word reservation to define Native American life in a fashion I'd never thought of, a way that helps--or should--a white guy understand the lay of the land. A reservation is a place that is reserved, he says. Some might think of it as a prison--as the preacher from Navajo land might have; but it's a place that's reserved. When white anglers get incensed about fishing, their ire is understandable--"what blasted rights do Ojibwas have to spear walleye or net 'em by the hundreds, out of season too, when we can't?"
The answer, Treur says, is quite simple: Ojibwas have been doing it for hundreds of years. It's a right reserved for them by otherwise worthless treaties that allow them to continue one custom of an ancient and honorable way of life. The law reserves their right to fish as their great-great grandparents did.
When, just a few years ago, I wrote a book about Navajo families who'd been part of that same Christian mission for generations, I was surprised to discover that all the tribal people I met and interviewed loved their home, their reservation, the sacred land all around. Today, just about half of the Navajo people don't live on the tribe's sprawling reservation, but more than half do, perhaps because, as Treuer says of his own, Red Lake, in Minnesota, "there's more of everything."
There's some history in Treur's look at his home, a good strong helping of American history. There's some fishing here too. And some good yarns, some tributes, some honor.
But David Treur doesn't create a portrait that isn't real; it begins with the suicide of his own grandfather. Some parts will make any reader cringe. He says his own Ojibwa people overfished the lakes so badly that it took years to renew the walleyes. He is clearly uncomfortable with the absurd machinations most tribes, these days, go through to determine who is and who isn't a member. Casinos have made a few Native people ridiculously wealthy, and brought more education and better health care to reservations; but glittering gambling halls aren't heavenly. Those slots don't dispense better lives.
If you honestly don't know much about Native America, if you'd like to know more about life on the rez and get a good, healthy serving of the kind of history that will not only hold your attention but make you sit up and listen, then you can't do better than David Treur's Rez Life. It's a primer, a thoughtful, heartfelt look at the lay of the land.
More palefaces should read Treuer's Rez Life. In America today Native folks are far too invisible. They're human beings, not object lessons or talking points, but to know at least something of their story will do this at least--it'll make you humble, and, for a white American, that's a good thing.
December 9, 2020
This book is one of those that once you have finished reading it, you realized just how much you have learned from it. And it does not hurt that it is beautifully written. David Treuer is Native American and the book is a bIography, of sorts. It is a biography of a Reservation. He captures the stories of his family, friends, and acquaintances that he has known in his life. Each comes to life and the reader feels like she has a connection to each of them and to the author. It is the story of poverty and progress, of lives suddenly ended too soon, of kids living in poverty and looking for ways out. But most of all, Treuer manages to capture the spirit of the reservation that makes those living and dying there matter to us. But this is not a story of victimization. It is the story of every day people, often in dire circumstances, who live their lives, making decisions that are sometimes good and sometimes not. I highly recommend this book. Although I heaped praise upon "The Spirit of Wounded Knee", and rightfully so, this book is more personal. At many times, life on the reservation seemed much like my own upbringing and maybe that is the point. It reminds us that we are all connected to one another as members of the human race and we have an obligation to one another.
June 24, 2016
Difficult to read... not only to learn about even more nastiness that the white government still inflicts upon the different native peoples, but technically difficult because of the structure of the book. The blurb reminds us that Treuer has written successful fiction, but it lies when making the claim relevant. There is no narrative, and there is no story arc, and there is no happily ever after. History, journalism, and a bit of memoir, are used to illustrate six encompassing facets of what it's like to be a 21st century Indian.
It's obviously just a starting point, really. For example, urban Indians are only briefly mentioned. There are a lot of numbers, but a lot are missing, too: eg, a certain tribe has only a tiny enrollment... but how many tribes are there, and what is the 'average' enrollment, and which are growing? How many Indians *do* successfully graduate from college? What was he talking about when he tried to explain why some Indians don't like immersion schools that raise the children in the language, attempting to preserve aspects of traditional culture?
(rhetorical questions; I don't need y'all to try to answer)
In the epilogue a "feud" with another Indian writer is mentioned. I wonder who it is, and what they disagree about. Because, certainly, other folks will have other perspectives.
In any case, this is the most eye-opening book on Indian life I've read since Vine Deloria Jr.'s Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto.
There is a short list of books for further reading, but unfortunately no index. A good book to read on your e-reader, then, so you can easily find 'what was that other thing he said about that one thing...".
Maybe only 3.5 stars. Depends on what other book you might choose to read instead, iow, compared to ... what?
It's obviously just a starting point, really. For example, urban Indians are only briefly mentioned. There are a lot of numbers, but a lot are missing, too: eg, a certain tribe has only a tiny enrollment... but how many tribes are there, and what is the 'average' enrollment, and which are growing? How many Indians *do* successfully graduate from college? What was he talking about when he tried to explain why some Indians don't like immersion schools that raise the children in the language, attempting to preserve aspects of traditional culture?
(rhetorical questions; I don't need y'all to try to answer)
In the epilogue a "feud" with another Indian writer is mentioned. I wonder who it is, and what they disagree about. Because, certainly, other folks will have other perspectives.
In any case, this is the most eye-opening book on Indian life I've read since Vine Deloria Jr.'s Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto.
There is a short list of books for further reading, but unfortunately no index. A good book to read on your e-reader, then, so you can easily find 'what was that other thing he said about that one thing...".
Maybe only 3.5 stars. Depends on what other book you might choose to read instead, iow, compared to ... what?
October 2, 2011
(Advance copy obtained via NetGalley)
David Treuer's book Rez Life, is a very readable "hybrid...of journalism, history, and memoir." The style is journalistic, in which specific aspects of "rez life" are illustrated through interviews and accounts of individuals, with bits of history thrown in to illustrate how specific conflicts and situations arose. The pieces of memoir arise because much of the book is about the reservations of the author's own tribe, the Ojibwe, and the body of the book is bracketed by the suicide of his maternal grandfather at the beginning of the book, and the burial at the conclusion.
Often in the journalism, and invariably in the history, the reaction of the reader is likely to be outrage, though the telling is straightforward. It is hard to construe the actions of the U.S. Government (and the inaction/inertia of the Bureau of Indian Affairs) in a positive light. Or indeed, as anything other than disgraceful. It's also hard to avoid the conclusion that, when Congress passed laws to ostensibly help the Indian, the effect was generally to make things worse. However, the author seems hopeful, as if the bottom has been reached and that the Native Americans now have the potential to climb out of the hole of 200 years of history.
Those looking for a more authoritative history of US-Indian relations should probably look to the sources that the author mentions in the end-notes. This book seems to be trying to capture, with obvious love and affection, the good and the bad of modern reservation life. On those grounds, it succeeds.
The book does not raise this issue, but my lasting thought was one of morality: how should a government "make things right" after literally hundreds of years of doing the wrong thing at nearly every turn?
David Treuer's book Rez Life, is a very readable "hybrid...of journalism, history, and memoir." The style is journalistic, in which specific aspects of "rez life" are illustrated through interviews and accounts of individuals, with bits of history thrown in to illustrate how specific conflicts and situations arose. The pieces of memoir arise because much of the book is about the reservations of the author's own tribe, the Ojibwe, and the body of the book is bracketed by the suicide of his maternal grandfather at the beginning of the book, and the burial at the conclusion.
Often in the journalism, and invariably in the history, the reaction of the reader is likely to be outrage, though the telling is straightforward. It is hard to construe the actions of the U.S. Government (and the inaction/inertia of the Bureau of Indian Affairs) in a positive light. Or indeed, as anything other than disgraceful. It's also hard to avoid the conclusion that, when Congress passed laws to ostensibly help the Indian, the effect was generally to make things worse. However, the author seems hopeful, as if the bottom has been reached and that the Native Americans now have the potential to climb out of the hole of 200 years of history.
Those looking for a more authoritative history of US-Indian relations should probably look to the sources that the author mentions in the end-notes. This book seems to be trying to capture, with obvious love and affection, the good and the bad of modern reservation life. On those grounds, it succeeds.
The book does not raise this issue, but my lasting thought was one of morality: how should a government "make things right" after literally hundreds of years of doing the wrong thing at nearly every turn?
November 7, 2015
A book well worth the read, in my opinion, with a wealth of information about current conditions on reservations and the history of how it came to be this way.
My only qualms were nitpicks: the editors were clearly getting bored toward the end, as the amount of typos only increased as I read along; the subtitle needs a little work in my opinion - I initially thought it would be an autobiographical sort of book; at times he repeats points he has made - within the same paragraph, which can get irritating; and sometimes he goes off on pages and pages of information that seems to have nothing to do with anything. The spiel about different kinds of fish and why walleyes are so special flew right over my head, as did the discussion of a certain type of poker game at a casino he visited. This is partly because of my own limited knowledge about fish and poker and the terminology that goes along with these things, but it may have helped had he explained it from a layman's perspective.
Clearly, most of these are personal opinion and little things that bother me, and possibly me alone. Outside of the listed grievances, the book was actually very engaging and enjoyable, though I think it helped me to read the author's brother's book first (Anton Treuer's "Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask"). I'm not just trying to shamelessly name drop the name of another book I liked better in this review: I genuinely believe it helped me to comprehend some of the discussions in David Treuer's book, and in fact, reading them together might be a good idea for anyone who isn't familiar with Native American culture and the issues that surround it, past and present.
My only qualms were nitpicks: the editors were clearly getting bored toward the end, as the amount of typos only increased as I read along; the subtitle needs a little work in my opinion - I initially thought it would be an autobiographical sort of book; at times he repeats points he has made - within the same paragraph, which can get irritating; and sometimes he goes off on pages and pages of information that seems to have nothing to do with anything. The spiel about different kinds of fish and why walleyes are so special flew right over my head, as did the discussion of a certain type of poker game at a casino he visited. This is partly because of my own limited knowledge about fish and poker and the terminology that goes along with these things, but it may have helped had he explained it from a layman's perspective.
Clearly, most of these are personal opinion and little things that bother me, and possibly me alone. Outside of the listed grievances, the book was actually very engaging and enjoyable, though I think it helped me to read the author's brother's book first (Anton Treuer's "Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask"). I'm not just trying to shamelessly name drop the name of another book I liked better in this review: I genuinely believe it helped me to comprehend some of the discussions in David Treuer's book, and in fact, reading them together might be a good idea for anyone who isn't familiar with Native American culture and the issues that surround it, past and present.
February 21, 2019
This book is amazing. I learned so much reading this book. There are so many things we do not know about the history of Native Americans and their struggle throughout history. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in finding out more about the details of their fight to survive and their interesting heritage.
November 8, 2022
To książka napisana przez członka plemienia Odżibuejów, który żyje w rezerwacie i z tego punktu widzenia opowiada właśnie o rezerwatach dla Natywnych Amerykanów.
Jest tu rozdział o tym jak rezerwaty powstały jakie rządzą w nim w nich prawa, kto ma prawo do polowań w rezerwatach, o przestępczości na ich terenach i dlaczego to Indianie mogą zakładać kasyna. Jest też o językach pierwszych plemion, o szkolnictwie i o tym jak próbowano za pomocą edukacji wyplenić plemienne tradycje.
Tematów jest dużo i mam niestety wrażenie w tej książce dużego chaosu. Pomimo tego, że jest 6 rozdziałów i one są w pewien sposób tematycznie rozdzielone, to jednak każdy z nich traktuje trochę o wszystkim. Autor przeskakuje z tematu na temat, od osobistej anegdotki, przez stan dzisiejszy do historycznych faktów, potem znowu do dzisiaj. Chociaż dowiedziałam się kilku ciekawych rzeczy na temat rezerwatów, to mam poczucie prześlizgnięcia się po temacie i raczej zostaję z niewiele większą wiedzą niż przed przeczytaniem tej książki.
Jest tu rozdział o tym jak rezerwaty powstały jakie rządzą w nim w nich prawa, kto ma prawo do polowań w rezerwatach, o przestępczości na ich terenach i dlaczego to Indianie mogą zakładać kasyna. Jest też o językach pierwszych plemion, o szkolnictwie i o tym jak próbowano za pomocą edukacji wyplenić plemienne tradycje.
Tematów jest dużo i mam niestety wrażenie w tej książce dużego chaosu. Pomimo tego, że jest 6 rozdziałów i one są w pewien sposób tematycznie rozdzielone, to jednak każdy z nich traktuje trochę o wszystkim. Autor przeskakuje z tematu na temat, od osobistej anegdotki, przez stan dzisiejszy do historycznych faktów, potem znowu do dzisiaj. Chociaż dowiedziałam się kilku ciekawych rzeczy na temat rezerwatów, to mam poczucie prześlizgnięcia się po temacie i raczej zostaję z niewiele większą wiedzą niż przed przeczytaniem tej książki.
May 15, 2023
More last minute cramming for the 2023 Santa Fe International Literary Festival with tickets to see David Treuer this weekend. There is a lot more non-fiction authors at this year's festival - especially related to Native American history - so I am thankful for that as much like African American history, I sorely need to learn some Native American history and this book is filled with things I (shamefully) never knew.
So while this is an extremely worthwhile read, Treuer himself in the afterward accurately describes it as a hybrid book of journalism, history, and memoir and that is primarily the reason for the 3 stars rating you have likely already seen. One man's "hybrid" is this man's "lacking focus." Again, while I was thankful for education and enlightenment I was getting, those moments felt perhaps too few and far between in what felt like some rambling that would lead me to do a not insignificant amount of skimming -- and thus feel like I can't give a book a 4 star (or more) rating even with the value of the material and Treuer's unique personal experiences and perspectives. Unofficially, a 3.5 star read with a Goodreads round-down to those 3 stars.
As well as having a ticket to attend his event, I also have pre-purchased a (autographed) copy of Treuer's (more) acclaimed and (more) well-reviewed/rated latest book "The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee" -- so even tho I had my technical issues with this book, I am pretty certain that I will read this as well in my continuing education of American history.
November 20, 2019
David introduces a topic about life on the rez with an anecdote from personal experience, and then he explains how the situation got to be that way. It's a unique and interesting method of tracing history and makes the book feel more personal than most books that simply hammer you with dry facts. I highly recommend it as well as others from David.
March 16, 2015
I am sad that I have been so uninformed for so long about the Native peoples who walked this land before us. I am sad that I, like a lot of people, have assumed that all of the United States' injustice toward the American Indian occurred in the past. Injustice still exists. People still suffer. Nothing is cut and dry.
Read this book.
"To understand American Indians is to understand America. This is the story of the paradoxically least and most American place in the twenty-first century. Welcome to the Rez."
Read this book.
"To understand American Indians is to understand America. This is the story of the paradoxically least and most American place in the twenty-first century. Welcome to the Rez."
January 3, 2016
The history of Leech Lake Reservation made simple to a non-Ojibwe audience. This was eye opening and a good introduction into Native American past victories, defeats, decisions and how they have shaped the way that the community lives today. Non-fiction, part essay and memoir, this is a book I can wholly recommend.
May 26, 2023
"That Native American cultures are imperiled is important and not just to Indians. It is important to everyone, or should be. When we lose cultures, we lose American plurality—the productive and lovely discomfort that true difference brings."
I learned a lot of interesting things I did not know about different Native American tribes, reservation life, treaties, etc, but I did not enjoy reading this book. Written in a history/memoir/opinion piece style that I found a little bit all over the place and hard to connect with, having said that it is still worth the effort if the topic is of interest.
I learned a lot of interesting things I did not know about different Native American tribes, reservation life, treaties, etc, but I did not enjoy reading this book. Written in a history/memoir/opinion piece style that I found a little bit all over the place and hard to connect with, having said that it is still worth the effort if the topic is of interest.
January 1, 2013
I was wrong where I thought I'd been right.
I was wrong about what sovereignty really means. I thought I understood the issue and I thought I had a pretty good grasp on it. I'm an educated white liberal guy and I had learned a bit about sovereignty in college history classes and in reading and talking to Native friends. But I just didn't know anything about rights and laws and what the trade-offs had been.
I can compare it to a middle school kid who can do fractions and solve for x so he thinks he understands number theory . . . naive. I was naive.
The sign of a great book is that it evokes strong emotion while teaching me something and exposing weakness in my preconceptions. This is a great book.
I'd like to thank my friend, Leslie Harper, for recommending this to book to me. She's on the Rez and dedicating her life to strengthening the heritage and the language. Today I have a better appreciation than I did a month ago.
I was wrong about what sovereignty really means. I thought I understood the issue and I thought I had a pretty good grasp on it. I'm an educated white liberal guy and I had learned a bit about sovereignty in college history classes and in reading and talking to Native friends. But I just didn't know anything about rights and laws and what the trade-offs had been.
I can compare it to a middle school kid who can do fractions and solve for x so he thinks he understands number theory . . . naive. I was naive.
The sign of a great book is that it evokes strong emotion while teaching me something and exposing weakness in my preconceptions. This is a great book.
I'd like to thank my friend, Leslie Harper, for recommending this to book to me. She's on the Rez and dedicating her life to strengthening the heritage and the language. Today I have a better appreciation than I did a month ago.
June 3, 2016
A blend of memoir and history giving the reader an authentic view of modern life on an Ojibwe reservation in Minnesota. The author's explanation of treaties and their ramifications for both sides was fascinating. He shows how past events have led to current conditions in a voice that doesn't judge or preach. He keeps it real.
November 11, 2020
Tematem życia i historii rdzennej ludności Ameryki Północnej mocniej interesuję się od ponad dwóch lat, kiedy to przeczytałam "Powrócę jako piorun" Marcina Jarkowca, czyli sprawnie napisany reportaż biograficzny traktujący o Russellu Meansie, prawdopodobnie nakjbardziej znanym i najzacieklejszym aktywiście społecznym Indian drugiej połowy XX wieku. Książka ta rozbudziła we mnie ciekawość losem rdzennych Amerykanów. Zapragnęłam dowiedzieć się więcej o ich życiu przed przybyciem na tereny współczesnych USA i Kanady Europejczyków, o ich największych wodzach, bitwach. Dziś o historii Indian wiem już sporo, ale ciągle mam dosyć mierną wiedzą o ich teraźniejszości. Jak żyją? Czym się zajmują? Jak kultywują swoje tradycje, swoją historię? Pragnąc choć cząstkowej odpowiedzi na te pytania sięgnęłam po "Witajcie w rezerwacie" Davida Treuera.
To nie jest typowy reportaż. Jest w nim bowiem bardzo dużo autora, można wręcz powiedzieć, że momentami książka bardziej przypomina biografię jego rodziny aniżeli rezerwatów per se. Treuer pochodzi z plemienia Odżibuejów, o którym wcześniej nie wiedziałam prawie nic, bowiem do tej pory czytałam głównie o Komanczach i Siuksach, zatem z wielkim zainteresowaniem czytałam o stereotypach dotyczących tego plemienia, ich wodach, historii i języku oraz kulturze. Z bólem serca muszę w tym momencie wspomnieć zatem, że te nawiązania do historii Odżibuejów traktuję po lekturze całości jako jedyny plus tej książki. Dlaczego?
Kiedy zaczynałam ją czytać sądziłam, że to będzie ta lektura, którą będę polecać wszystkim tym, którzy chcieliby dowiedzieć się czegoś na temat Indian, ale nie do końca wiedzą, gdzie zacząć pozyskiwanie informacji. Treuer wydał mi się bowiem dowcipnym reportażystą mogącym pochwalić się lekkim piórem, który w ciekawy sposób opisywał losy swojej rodziny i swojego plemienia. Bardzo szybko wciągnęłam się w czytanie i byłam przekonana, że skończę lekturę jeszcze tego samego dnia. Zajęła mi ona jednak tych dni kilka bowiem szybko David Treuer zaczął mnie irytować.
Książką rządzi chaos. Autor dał jej podtytuł "Indianin w podróży przez ziemie amerykańskich plemion", co jest o tyle nietrafione, że wcale tych podróży nie odbył jakoś wiele, a i wypowiada się jedynie o kilku rezerwatach. Wstawek osobistych jest tutaj mnóstwo, cała książka jest wręcz upstrzona różnego rodzaju anegdotkami, które totalnie nic nie dodają do tematu, a jedynie sprawiają, że poszczególne rozdziały pęcznieją w strony. Dla osób, które lubią ten typ pisania literatury faktu na pewno będą zadowolone, mnie natomiast to szalenie przeszkadzało, ponieważ nie tylko kompletnie mnie dekoncentrowało, ale i miałam wrażenie, że przez to umyka temat, który autor chciał w danym rozdziale podjąć. Ja przywykłam jednak do bardziej usystematyzowanego sposobu pisania reportaży i mnie się to nie podobało.
Kolejna rzecz, autor jest bardzo, ale to bardzo jednostronny w swoich opiniach. W pewnym momencie cytuje jednego ze swoich rozmówców - Indianina w średnim wieku - który mówi "(...) Indianie ciągle chcą za wszystko winić białych. Nie myślą o wyborach, których dokonują". Interesujące, że możemy przeczytać to zdanie w tej książce bowiem to jest dokładnie to, co stara się przedstawić Treuer. Pisząc o alkoholizmie i problemie narkotykowym współczesnych Indian, o odbieraniu dzieci z patologicznych rodzin, o gwałtach etc. za każdym razem przemyca on myśl, że to wszystko przez Białych. I równą winą za wszystko obarcza on tak tych z XVIII wieku, jak i współcześnie. Kiedy wspomina o "dobrych" Białych to zawsze z jakąś wbitą szpileczką jak na przykład opisując białoskórego chłopaka, których wychowywał się w rezerwacie: "Ryan to dobry chłopak, chociaż dorastał na ziemi odebranej Indianom na przełomie XIX i XX wieku na mocy Dawes Act, w zasadzie naruszającym i prawo, i zasady moralne". Rozumiecie o co mi chodzi?
To spora wada, książka traci przez to na autentyczności. Z każdą kolejną stroną ma się bowiem takie "och, tak, tak, po prostu nie lubisz białych ludzi, chowasz urazę, okej, okej". I dlatego tak jak w początkach lektury miałam ochotę bardzo ją polecać, tak teraz nie wydaje mi się już taką konieczną książką do napisania. Są inne reportaże prezentujące historię Indian i jej wpływ na życie współczesnych rdzennych Amerykanów, które jednak podchodzą do tematu "na chłodno" i przedstawiają czarno na białym krzywdy wyrządzone Indianom, ale prezentują też uczciwie to, co złego zrobili oni sami. I właśnie takie książki moim zdaniem warto czytać i z takich książek warto poznawać te historie. Ta chyba niespecjalnie jest tego warta.
Wystawiam dwie gwiazdki, choć realnie dałabym tej książce co najwyżej półtora.
To nie jest typowy reportaż. Jest w nim bowiem bardzo dużo autora, można wręcz powiedzieć, że momentami książka bardziej przypomina biografię jego rodziny aniżeli rezerwatów per se. Treuer pochodzi z plemienia Odżibuejów, o którym wcześniej nie wiedziałam prawie nic, bowiem do tej pory czytałam głównie o Komanczach i Siuksach, zatem z wielkim zainteresowaniem czytałam o stereotypach dotyczących tego plemienia, ich wodach, historii i języku oraz kulturze. Z bólem serca muszę w tym momencie wspomnieć zatem, że te nawiązania do historii Odżibuejów traktuję po lekturze całości jako jedyny plus tej książki. Dlaczego?
Kiedy zaczynałam ją czytać sądziłam, że to będzie ta lektura, którą będę polecać wszystkim tym, którzy chcieliby dowiedzieć się czegoś na temat Indian, ale nie do końca wiedzą, gdzie zacząć pozyskiwanie informacji. Treuer wydał mi się bowiem dowcipnym reportażystą mogącym pochwalić się lekkim piórem, który w ciekawy sposób opisywał losy swojej rodziny i swojego plemienia. Bardzo szybko wciągnęłam się w czytanie i byłam przekonana, że skończę lekturę jeszcze tego samego dnia. Zajęła mi ona jednak tych dni kilka bowiem szybko David Treuer zaczął mnie irytować.
Książką rządzi chaos. Autor dał jej podtytuł "Indianin w podróży przez ziemie amerykańskich plemion", co jest o tyle nietrafione, że wcale tych podróży nie odbył jakoś wiele, a i wypowiada się jedynie o kilku rezerwatach. Wstawek osobistych jest tutaj mnóstwo, cała książka jest wręcz upstrzona różnego rodzaju anegdotkami, które totalnie nic nie dodają do tematu, a jedynie sprawiają, że poszczególne rozdziały pęcznieją w strony. Dla osób, które lubią ten typ pisania literatury faktu na pewno będą zadowolone, mnie natomiast to szalenie przeszkadzało, ponieważ nie tylko kompletnie mnie dekoncentrowało, ale i miałam wrażenie, że przez to umyka temat, który autor chciał w danym rozdziale podjąć. Ja przywykłam jednak do bardziej usystematyzowanego sposobu pisania reportaży i mnie się to nie podobało.
Kolejna rzecz, autor jest bardzo, ale to bardzo jednostronny w swoich opiniach. W pewnym momencie cytuje jednego ze swoich rozmówców - Indianina w średnim wieku - który mówi "(...) Indianie ciągle chcą za wszystko winić białych. Nie myślą o wyborach, których dokonują". Interesujące, że możemy przeczytać to zdanie w tej książce bowiem to jest dokładnie to, co stara się przedstawić Treuer. Pisząc o alkoholizmie i problemie narkotykowym współczesnych Indian, o odbieraniu dzieci z patologicznych rodzin, o gwałtach etc. za każdym razem przemyca on myśl, że to wszystko przez Białych. I równą winą za wszystko obarcza on tak tych z XVIII wieku, jak i współcześnie. Kiedy wspomina o "dobrych" Białych to zawsze z jakąś wbitą szpileczką jak na przykład opisując białoskórego chłopaka, których wychowywał się w rezerwacie: "Ryan to dobry chłopak, chociaż dorastał na ziemi odebranej Indianom na przełomie XIX i XX wieku na mocy Dawes Act, w zasadzie naruszającym i prawo, i zasady moralne". Rozumiecie o co mi chodzi?
To spora wada, książka traci przez to na autentyczności. Z każdą kolejną stroną ma się bowiem takie "och, tak, tak, po prostu nie lubisz białych ludzi, chowasz urazę, okej, okej". I dlatego tak jak w początkach lektury miałam ochotę bardzo ją polecać, tak teraz nie wydaje mi się już taką konieczną książką do napisania. Są inne reportaże prezentujące historię Indian i jej wpływ na życie współczesnych rdzennych Amerykanów, które jednak podchodzą do tematu "na chłodno" i przedstawiają czarno na białym krzywdy wyrządzone Indianom, ale prezentują też uczciwie to, co złego zrobili oni sami. I właśnie takie książki moim zdaniem warto czytać i z takich książek warto poznawać te historie. Ta chyba niespecjalnie jest tego warta.
Wystawiam dwie gwiazdki, choć realnie dałabym tej książce co najwyżej półtora.
November 23, 2025
Well I know quite a bit more about the general outline of the American Indians and the Reservation (Rez) system today--and at least I can still use the word 'Indian' since Treuer, a legit member of the Ojibwe tribe (albeit with mixed-blood) does not flinch from the term. His own description of the book is a good summary of what you get: 'Like reservations themselves, this book is a hybrid. It has elements of journalism, history, and memoir. As such it is meant to be suggestive rather than exhaustive. It is meant to capture some of the history and some of the truth of reservation life—which is not any one thing but many things depending on where you’re looking and to whom you’re talking'.
I have long been interested in the journey of the Indians in America--how can you live here and not be? Echoes and reminders are everywhere if you are paying attention. It wasn't easy being a essentially a group of Stone-Age cultures encountering the expanding outgrowth of what became the Industrial Revolution. Being 'conquered' by this comparatively late wave was both a blessing and curse for the Indians--most tribes of history were either subsumed or simply exterminated by waves of conquerors--think of the countless tribes of Europe and Asia that met the Assyrians, Persians, Romans, Muslims (read about Tamerlane), Mongols and others. Not to minimize the disaster in the New World, but disease was the chief opponent of the Indians, something no one had clue about. The idea of treaties and reservations would have been laughable to most of the conquerors noted above.
Anyway, I have read of the mistreatment and broken treaties in many places but Treuer does a fine job in 'summarizing' the bewildering complexity of the relations and interactions of whites and Indians. With so many battles, treaties (broken and kept), laws and regulations over 300 years of history it is not easy to pick out the really consequential events and inflection points, but Treuer does. It can be a little dull reading about case law unless you really enjoy the legal machinations, but they are key to any understanding of how things developed and where things stand today. He is a good storyteller, for instance in discussing the roots of the Indian gaming 'industry' on a small reservation in Minnesota where the state tried to put a property tax on a modest trailer home. The impacts and ramifications of Key acts like the 1887 Dawes Act, the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act and others are discussed but it is necessarily a complex quilt covered fairly quickly. I enjoyed the stories of actual 'rez' life more but I understand his need to balance the dry facts with their human impacts.
There are some profound philosophical ideas discussed especially toward the end when it comes to the very key question of 'what is an Indian'? As big gaming money has flowed into a fair number of tribes (not all have gotten rich he points out) since the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (1988), more and more Indians are coming out of the woodwork so to speak, to get in on the wealth and is generating resentment and conflict about who is 'in' and who is 'out' in some tribes. It is all a bit complicated and I won't venture an opinion other than to say the Indians are near the forefront of the 'identity' movement with all of its connotations, both good and bad in this country today.
3.5 stars, rounded down reluctantly, because he perhaps tried to do too many things in one book. But definitely recommended to understand anything of current Indian life in America.
I have long been interested in the journey of the Indians in America--how can you live here and not be? Echoes and reminders are everywhere if you are paying attention. It wasn't easy being a essentially a group of Stone-Age cultures encountering the expanding outgrowth of what became the Industrial Revolution. Being 'conquered' by this comparatively late wave was both a blessing and curse for the Indians--most tribes of history were either subsumed or simply exterminated by waves of conquerors--think of the countless tribes of Europe and Asia that met the Assyrians, Persians, Romans, Muslims (read about Tamerlane), Mongols and others. Not to minimize the disaster in the New World, but disease was the chief opponent of the Indians, something no one had clue about. The idea of treaties and reservations would have been laughable to most of the conquerors noted above.
Anyway, I have read of the mistreatment and broken treaties in many places but Treuer does a fine job in 'summarizing' the bewildering complexity of the relations and interactions of whites and Indians. With so many battles, treaties (broken and kept), laws and regulations over 300 years of history it is not easy to pick out the really consequential events and inflection points, but Treuer does. It can be a little dull reading about case law unless you really enjoy the legal machinations, but they are key to any understanding of how things developed and where things stand today. He is a good storyteller, for instance in discussing the roots of the Indian gaming 'industry' on a small reservation in Minnesota where the state tried to put a property tax on a modest trailer home. The impacts and ramifications of Key acts like the 1887 Dawes Act, the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act and others are discussed but it is necessarily a complex quilt covered fairly quickly. I enjoyed the stories of actual 'rez' life more but I understand his need to balance the dry facts with their human impacts.
There are some profound philosophical ideas discussed especially toward the end when it comes to the very key question of 'what is an Indian'? As big gaming money has flowed into a fair number of tribes (not all have gotten rich he points out) since the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (1988), more and more Indians are coming out of the woodwork so to speak, to get in on the wealth and is generating resentment and conflict about who is 'in' and who is 'out' in some tribes. It is all a bit complicated and I won't venture an opinion other than to say the Indians are near the forefront of the 'identity' movement with all of its connotations, both good and bad in this country today.
3.5 stars, rounded down reluctantly, because he perhaps tried to do too many things in one book. But definitely recommended to understand anything of current Indian life in America.
March 24, 2020
After reading Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and realizing I knew very little about Native American culture, I decided to try to read more on that topic. This book was a great follow up. It was written in a very unique style that took a while to get in to, but worked perfectly for this topic. The book covered a lot of history, up to current times, a lot of tribes, and explained a lot of things like how treaties impact Native Americans today, casinos, native languages, etc. I learned a lot.
dnfs
November 23, 2021DNF at 15%. This didn't work for me. He spends an enormous amount of time talking about lakes, rivers, and fish. Which is fine. But that's not the book I wanted to read.
January 24, 2023
all around great book, mixing story telling with history, learned so much and enjoyed reading it so much.
June 28, 2024
Właściwie nie mam do niej żadnych zarzutów, bardzo solidny, przekrojowy reportaż. Autor poleca w posłowiu/podziękowaniach książki, które pogłębiają poszczególne zagadnienia. Doceniam ogromnie
July 24, 2024
Real life, eye opening Indian stories told by a real Indian. Definitely a worthwhile read.
Read
December 8, 2023I decided to remove my rating for this book. How do you rate the injustices that the Indigenous people have suffered and continue to suffer at the hands of their oppressors. It’s sad the way this population has been treated and the pain that is passed on from generation to generation.
November 17, 2018
Rez Life by David Treuer is an amazing book, more a journey though different reservations and history of the complex relationship of Indians with the federal government and governments of different states. Dealing with these levels of bureaucracy can be challenging. I heard David Treuer talk about his forthcoming book, The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present, as we are shifting Columbus Day to Indigenous Day. He had much to say on NPR about challenging the illusion of the Indian as victim, capturing how Indians have challenged the system on many fronts.
The present book is some memoir, but more about this Indian history and documenting the status of sovereign nations, which has been contested on many fronts. He tells the story of individuals on different reservations, documenting their history, including his own Ojibwe roots in Leech Lake Reservation, his family, and the people he grew up with. With rights to the land, people can practice hunting, fishing, sapping, and other traditions that ground their identity.
I know much of the legislation that Treuer refers to in the book, but the impact on individuals in families and communities makes his presentation of the history more powerful. The wars are devastating, but also the separation of families in schools, which parents did to keep some ties to their children. If parents did not consent, they could lose their children. In fact, there are many Indian children in foster care and living with relatives or just lost in the system. In reality, school were to assimilate these children into America; cut their hair, punish if they used their own languages, and have older children punish younger ones. Yet, there was real abuse, including sexual abuse, in these “Indian” schools, which Treuer tells via the experiences of young men who had to pull themselves together after years of drinking and fighting. Indian schools were in the background of “Smoke Signals,” the 1998 film directed by Chris Eyre based on the book by Sherman Alexie. The parents are damaged by their own boarding schooling experiences, which they had trouble overcoming.
In Rez Life, Treuer acknowledges the costs and he has lost friends and relatives, but survivors have built a rich community. He is tied to family and community. We see how languages and traditions are routes that bring people to healthy adulthoods where they can give back to communities.
I learned much about the beginning of selling tobacco, but then the development of casinos, which work better for some tribes than other. We see Indians using their rights to challenge a federal government that basically wanted them to die off.
Like many Black Americans, I was told that I had Cherokee blood, but growing up in New York City I have never been connected to an Indian community. Treuer’s depiction of community is rewarding. I am content to see myself as a Black American, mixed with other stock. However, I have much admiration for those Indians who have put up a fight to save their culture, which can be enriching for all of us. There is much sadness here, the colonial legacy is a hard truth to swallow. Some people are pulled into the competitive American culture, meaning practices of exclusion and jealousy. Yet, some Indians are holding on to their ways and seeking a brighter future. Maybe we can all learn from them.
The present book is some memoir, but more about this Indian history and documenting the status of sovereign nations, which has been contested on many fronts. He tells the story of individuals on different reservations, documenting their history, including his own Ojibwe roots in Leech Lake Reservation, his family, and the people he grew up with. With rights to the land, people can practice hunting, fishing, sapping, and other traditions that ground their identity.
I know much of the legislation that Treuer refers to in the book, but the impact on individuals in families and communities makes his presentation of the history more powerful. The wars are devastating, but also the separation of families in schools, which parents did to keep some ties to their children. If parents did not consent, they could lose their children. In fact, there are many Indian children in foster care and living with relatives or just lost in the system. In reality, school were to assimilate these children into America; cut their hair, punish if they used their own languages, and have older children punish younger ones. Yet, there was real abuse, including sexual abuse, in these “Indian” schools, which Treuer tells via the experiences of young men who had to pull themselves together after years of drinking and fighting. Indian schools were in the background of “Smoke Signals,” the 1998 film directed by Chris Eyre based on the book by Sherman Alexie. The parents are damaged by their own boarding schooling experiences, which they had trouble overcoming.
In Rez Life, Treuer acknowledges the costs and he has lost friends and relatives, but survivors have built a rich community. He is tied to family and community. We see how languages and traditions are routes that bring people to healthy adulthoods where they can give back to communities.
I learned much about the beginning of selling tobacco, but then the development of casinos, which work better for some tribes than other. We see Indians using their rights to challenge a federal government that basically wanted them to die off.
Like many Black Americans, I was told that I had Cherokee blood, but growing up in New York City I have never been connected to an Indian community. Treuer’s depiction of community is rewarding. I am content to see myself as a Black American, mixed with other stock. However, I have much admiration for those Indians who have put up a fight to save their culture, which can be enriching for all of us. There is much sadness here, the colonial legacy is a hard truth to swallow. Some people are pulled into the competitive American culture, meaning practices of exclusion and jealousy. Yet, some Indians are holding on to their ways and seeking a brighter future. Maybe we can all learn from them.
December 31, 2020
Audiobook.
Excellent book that badly needed a really discerning editor.
I chose this book based on title alone. So it was a happy accident that the majority of this book is about Minnesota native Americans and their history, and focused heavily on the Leech Lake reservation where my family has owned a cabin for decades. As the author points out, on the Leech Lake reservation, most of the land is not used by native Americans. So despite spending a lot of time there growing up, I didn’t know much about the history of the place. There was the narrow road that led to what my dad called ‘ the Indian cemetary’ (possibly true, I don’t know) where I learned to drive, and there were the multiple plots of land with run down trailers that we drove by where my dad said ‘the poor indians lived’ but he never talked about what it all meant. There was, of course, the endless walleye fishing (and eating).
So, needless to say, I learned a ton from this book. And the book is really long, so there is a ton to dive through here from the history of the reservation treaties in Minnesota (and a bit nationally), to the intricacies of the walleye supply in Minnesota’s lakes, to the rise of casinos, to violence and poverty, and everything in between.
The biggest downside to this one for me is that it needed an editor to go through and stop the repetition. The same information and phrases were repeated over and over again and could have shortened the book quite a bit. It tried to be everything (as the author notes, it’s part journalism, part history, part memoir) and so was much longer and more muddled than it needed to be. However, I still think it was a well done book and I’m glad to have read it.
Excellent book that badly needed a really discerning editor.
I chose this book based on title alone. So it was a happy accident that the majority of this book is about Minnesota native Americans and their history, and focused heavily on the Leech Lake reservation where my family has owned a cabin for decades. As the author points out, on the Leech Lake reservation, most of the land is not used by native Americans. So despite spending a lot of time there growing up, I didn’t know much about the history of the place. There was the narrow road that led to what my dad called ‘ the Indian cemetary’ (possibly true, I don’t know) where I learned to drive, and there were the multiple plots of land with run down trailers that we drove by where my dad said ‘the poor indians lived’ but he never talked about what it all meant. There was, of course, the endless walleye fishing (and eating).
So, needless to say, I learned a ton from this book. And the book is really long, so there is a ton to dive through here from the history of the reservation treaties in Minnesota (and a bit nationally), to the intricacies of the walleye supply in Minnesota’s lakes, to the rise of casinos, to violence and poverty, and everything in between.
The biggest downside to this one for me is that it needed an editor to go through and stop the repetition. The same information and phrases were repeated over and over again and could have shortened the book quite a bit. It tried to be everything (as the author notes, it’s part journalism, part history, part memoir) and so was much longer and more muddled than it needed to be. However, I still think it was a well done book and I’m glad to have read it.
March 7, 2024
If I were ever to say that a book is required reading, this would be it.
If you are someone from the Midwest, someone who has called Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota or Wisconsin home, then I think this book is a must. Even if you aren't from these states, if you're an American, this book is one you should give a go.
I wanted to read this book for a while, but only recently had the chance. I'm glad that it's spent so long sitting on my "want-to-read" shelf, because I think if I had read it at any other point in my life, I wouldn't have had the appreciation for it that reading it now has given me. This book has provided me a perspective, one that I'm very thankful for.
If you are someone from the Midwest, someone who has called Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota or Wisconsin home, then I think this book is a must. Even if you aren't from these states, if you're an American, this book is one you should give a go.
I wanted to read this book for a while, but only recently had the chance. I'm glad that it's spent so long sitting on my "want-to-read" shelf, because I think if I had read it at any other point in my life, I wouldn't have had the appreciation for it that reading it now has given me. This book has provided me a perspective, one that I'm very thankful for.
July 31, 2013
I really and truly wanted to like this book because the subject sounds fascinating, but the author lost me when he blathered on for three pages in Chapter 1 about the characteristics and details of the differences between walleye and pike, and blah, blah, blah, blah, OMG......ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!
This one's going on my DNF (Did Not Finish) list. Life's too short to waste time reading books that put you to sleep.
This one's going on my DNF (Did Not Finish) list. Life's too short to waste time reading books that put you to sleep.
March 20, 2012
This was a nice blend of memoir, history and straightforward journalism. I was engaged throughout and I also learned a lot. He writes specifically about Minnesota and Wisconsin tribes, but then applies these issues to more general stuff like federal policy and history. Wide range of subtropics here, which might bother some, but I enjoyed the ride.
June 23, 2016
5 stars for information. 5 stars for provoking thought. 5 stars for blending personal narrative, biography, historical and political analysis to foster understanding of how the past affects the present, as well as what might be most important now...
March 18, 2018
As the author describes it, this book is "journalism, history and memoir". Treuer weaves the history of the treatment, containment and betrayal of Native Americans by the government.
Enlightening and depressing at the same time.
Enlightening and depressing at the same time.
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