What do you think?
Rate this book
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse: The Story of Leonard Peltier and the FBI's War on the American Indian Movement
An “indescribably touching, extraordinarily intelligent" ( Los Angeles Times Book Review ) chronicle of a fatal gun-battle between FBI agents and American Indian Movement activists by renowned writer Peter Matthiessen (1927-2014), author of the National Book Award-winning The Snow Leopard and the novel In Paradise
On a hot June morning in 1975, a desperate shoot-out between FBI agents and Native Americans near Wounded Knee, South Dakota, left an Indian and two federal agents dead. Four members of the American Indian Movement were indicted on murder charges, and one, Leonard Peltier, was convicted and is now serving consecutive life sentences in a federal penitentiary. Behind this violent chain of events lie issues of great complexity and profound historical resonance, brilliantly explicated by Peter Matthiessen in this controversial book. Kept off the shelves for eight years because of one of the most protracted and bitterly fought legal cases in publishing history, In the Spirit of Crazy Horse reveals the Lakota tribe’s long struggle with the U.S. government, and makes clear why the traditional Indian concept of the earth is so important at a time when increasing populations are destroying the precious resources of our world.
On a hot June morning in 1975, a desperate shoot-out between FBI agents and Native Americans near Wounded Knee, South Dakota, left an Indian and two federal agents dead. Four members of the American Indian Movement were indicted on murder charges, and one, Leonard Peltier, was convicted and is now serving consecutive life sentences in a federal penitentiary. Behind this violent chain of events lie issues of great complexity and profound historical resonance, brilliantly explicated by Peter Matthiessen in this controversial book. Kept off the shelves for eight years because of one of the most protracted and bitterly fought legal cases in publishing history, In the Spirit of Crazy Horse reveals the Lakota tribe’s long struggle with the U.S. government, and makes clear why the traditional Indian concept of the earth is so important at a time when increasing populations are destroying the precious resources of our world.
688 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
336 people are currently reading
12521 people want to read
About the author
Peter Matthiessen
143 books912 followersPeter Matthiessen is the author of more than thirty books and the only writer to win the National Book Award for both non-fiction (The Snow Leopard, in two categories, in 1979 and 1980) and fiction (Shadow Country, in 2008). A co-founder of The Paris Review and a world-renowned naturalist, explorer and activist, he died in April 2014.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 242 reviews
January 26, 2023
This was a very important book and I highly recommend it. However it is very dense to read and comes across like a long legal court document. I would love if it was made into a documentary, as I feel it would be easier to follow all of the different players and their stories. At times I needed to backtrack to make sure I followed who was connected to who. All in all a great but very long read.
February 15, 2024
In June 1975, two FBI agents were gunned down on the Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation near the village of Oglala, South Dakota. Two years later, Leonard Peltier, a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), was tried and convicted of two counts of murder, and was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.
Forty-four years later, he is still in prison.
It is important to note that the subtitle of Peter Matthiessen’s book is The Story of Leonard Peltier and the FBI’s War on the American Indian Movement.”
Q: Is it true, as Matthiessen maintains, that the FBI suppressed and tampered with evidence and also threatened and otherwise intimidated witnesses who testified against Peltier?
A: Yes.
Q: Is Matthiessen’s book an objective account of the trial and conviction of Peltier?
A: No. He leans heavily toward a sympathetic view of Peltier’s plight and is highly critical of the FBI’s investigation of the case and the Justice Department’s prosecution.
Q: Does this mean that Matthiessen believes that Peltier was innocent of the charges?
A: No. He doesn't know. It does mean that he thinks that Peltier did not receive a fair trial.
Q: Do you think Leonard Peltier killed the FBI agents?
A: I don’t know.
Q: Do you think he received a fair trial?
A: NO.
Forty-four years later, he is still in prison.
It is important to note that the subtitle of Peter Matthiessen’s book is The Story of Leonard Peltier and the FBI’s War on the American Indian Movement.”
Q: Is it true, as Matthiessen maintains, that the FBI suppressed and tampered with evidence and also threatened and otherwise intimidated witnesses who testified against Peltier?
A: Yes.
Q: Is Matthiessen’s book an objective account of the trial and conviction of Peltier?
A: No. He leans heavily toward a sympathetic view of Peltier’s plight and is highly critical of the FBI’s investigation of the case and the Justice Department’s prosecution.
Q: Does this mean that Matthiessen believes that Peltier was innocent of the charges?
A: No. He doesn't know. It does mean that he thinks that Peltier did not receive a fair trial.
Q: Do you think Leonard Peltier killed the FBI agents?
A: I don’t know.
Q: Do you think he received a fair trial?
A: NO.
November 12, 2008
This book really affected me. It made me angry at the injustice that happened to these people. Mattiessen really did his research for this book. It's a detailed account of the incident at Wounded Knee in the 70's, AIM (American Indian Movement) and the trials that followed thereafter. Thankfully, the FBI lost in it's attempt to prevent this book from being published. It's an important book and we have the right to learn about the attrocities committed against the Native Americans. I feel strongly that this should be required reading in high school. This is not an easy read, but will definitely keep you interested. I also recommend watching the documentary "Incident at Oglala: The Leonard Pelteir Story".
December 17, 2012
Free Leonard Peltier!
Why?
Well, you have to read this book, but here's a synopsis that nobody but the most diehard 1970s FBI defender can try to deny.
Matthiessen documents years of FBI spying on the American Indian Movement, including "turning" insiders, coupled with intimidation tactics and more. Often the FBI in South Dakota was working, if not hand in hand, at least on parallel tracks in this thuggery with folks such as a corrupt Pine Ridge Indian Reservation leadership, then-Attorney General and now disgraced former Congressman Bill Janklow, BIA cops and more.
While Matthiesen looks at bits and pieces of AIM's history elsewhere, he focuses on Pine Ridge and its Sioux, as this area, through things such as a temporary takeover of Mount Rushmore, was a center of AIM activity.
In trials related to the events in and around Pine Ridge, FBI agents repeatedly intimidated witnesses into changing testimony, coached witnesses, sprung last-minute surprise witnesses at trials (which is against the law, if you didn't know), suborned perjury and otherwise made a mockery of justice.
Things reached a climax June 26, 1975 when two FBI agents approached the Jumping Bull property on the Pine Ridge Reservation, ostensibly looking for Jimmy Eagle on a weapons charge. According to all Indian accounts, the two agents began opening fire on the property.
Both were eventually shot in a return of fire. They were later killed at close range.
After three other AIM leaders at the site were all acquitted of murder charges in the FBI agents' deaths, the FBI appeared determined to hang the case on Peltier by any legal or illegal means possible.
Aided by a viciously biased judge giving one-sided bench rulings, the government did exactly that.
Read how things reached this point, what AIM's grievances were, how the FBI infiltrated them, and more.
But, above all, read the story of Leonard Peltier both before and after his conviction.
Is Leonard Peltier a political prisoner? Read this book and decide for yourself.
Why?
Well, you have to read this book, but here's a synopsis that nobody but the most diehard 1970s FBI defender can try to deny.
Matthiessen documents years of FBI spying on the American Indian Movement, including "turning" insiders, coupled with intimidation tactics and more. Often the FBI in South Dakota was working, if not hand in hand, at least on parallel tracks in this thuggery with folks such as a corrupt Pine Ridge Indian Reservation leadership, then-Attorney General and now disgraced former Congressman Bill Janklow, BIA cops and more.
While Matthiesen looks at bits and pieces of AIM's history elsewhere, he focuses on Pine Ridge and its Sioux, as this area, through things such as a temporary takeover of Mount Rushmore, was a center of AIM activity.
In trials related to the events in and around Pine Ridge, FBI agents repeatedly intimidated witnesses into changing testimony, coached witnesses, sprung last-minute surprise witnesses at trials (which is against the law, if you didn't know), suborned perjury and otherwise made a mockery of justice.
Things reached a climax June 26, 1975 when two FBI agents approached the Jumping Bull property on the Pine Ridge Reservation, ostensibly looking for Jimmy Eagle on a weapons charge. According to all Indian accounts, the two agents began opening fire on the property.
Both were eventually shot in a return of fire. They were later killed at close range.
After three other AIM leaders at the site were all acquitted of murder charges in the FBI agents' deaths, the FBI appeared determined to hang the case on Peltier by any legal or illegal means possible.
Aided by a viciously biased judge giving one-sided bench rulings, the government did exactly that.
Read how things reached this point, what AIM's grievances were, how the FBI infiltrated them, and more.
But, above all, read the story of Leonard Peltier both before and after his conviction.
Is Leonard Peltier a political prisoner? Read this book and decide for yourself.
January 23, 2019
Sioux at Standing Rock defending their land against big oil and their State minion armies, circa 2016. So you think shit has changed?
Elegant, passionate investigative muckraking in the grand style: messy, gnarly, informative, memorable and anger-inducing. This is a sweeping, detailed novelistic tour de force that raises more questions than it answers and sometimes has you questioning the author's veracity while at the same time having you shaking your head in agreement over his findings and conclusions. In investigating the state's case against Leonard Peltier and his cohorts, Matthiessen presents a disgraceful historical litany of the underlying causes of American Indian anger. This book ends on an enigmatic and somewhat unsatisfactory note, but in getting there is a mind-massaging and unforgettable journey, and should be required reading for all Americans.
(KevinR@KY, read in 2008; reviewed retrospectively -- and regrettably without benefit of detail -- in 2016)
Elegant, passionate investigative muckraking in the grand style: messy, gnarly, informative, memorable and anger-inducing. This is a sweeping, detailed novelistic tour de force that raises more questions than it answers and sometimes has you questioning the author's veracity while at the same time having you shaking your head in agreement over his findings and conclusions. In investigating the state's case against Leonard Peltier and his cohorts, Matthiessen presents a disgraceful historical litany of the underlying causes of American Indian anger. This book ends on an enigmatic and somewhat unsatisfactory note, but in getting there is a mind-massaging and unforgettable journey, and should be required reading for all Americans.
(KevinR@KY, read in 2008; reviewed retrospectively -- and regrettably without benefit of detail -- in 2016)
October 4, 2017
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse is one of the best non-fiction books that I have read. The story is a volatile cocktail of violence, poverty, intimidation and historical oppression. And then when the FBI gets involved the problems only escalate from there.
This book logs in at nearly 800 pages. The first 200 pages are slow going and quite unnecessary if you already have background on modern Sioux history and the American Indian Movement. The story really gains traction with the events in the summer of 1975 surrounding the tragic shooout between FBI agents and Leonard Peltier and his associates. These events on the Pine Ridge Reservation are the central focus of the remainder of the book continuing right through the epilogue and afterword.
This book was quite controversial when it was released in 1983 and for many decades since. The author, Peter Matthiessen, was certainly sympathetic to the members of the American Indian Movement. He was even sued by the governor of South Dakota and FBI agents because of the unflattering light in which they were portrayed. All of the claims of libel against Matthiessen were eventually dismissed after years of litigation. Following the dismissal of the libel suits, books could be sold again and by the 1990's the book and events were covered in some depth by the major networks.
Why is this book is so riveting? First off, Matthiessen is a phenomenal writer pure and simple. Secondly Matthiessen incorporates a large amount of first hand research and quotes. He interviewed everybody associated with the American Indian movement and those witnesses of the tragic events. Lastly Matthiessen lays a seemingly exhaustive set of facts out there for the reader to interpret. Ultimately Matthiessen states his belief in Leonard Peltier's innocence. Few people today contest whether the FBI fabricated evidence, but I don't share the same view that Peltier is innocent nor did I buy the concocted story of Mr. X. When the FBI accuses you of murder, it's best to not try and pin it on a Mr. X and refuse to provide his identity.
The fundamental themes of this book center on oppression, dispossession and aggression. Regarding the latter there is an FBI agent, the one who later sues the author, who describes why law enforcement uses overwhelming force in dealing with these movements, even though this is almost certainly going to lead to violence. A force of 200 law enforcement vs. 30 suspects may seem overwhelming to a lay person but he says they want 1000 men because no FBI agent wants to die for just doing their job. So you see this life and death tug-of-war play out between law enforcement against an aggrieved people, some of whom have very checkered pasts.
To a large degree that is what makes this book so riveting. It is about multiple miscarriages of justice. The situation evokes sympathy for FBI agents and their families in a no win situation and then their predictable reactions when there are no willing eyewitnesses who come forward regarding the executions. The story evokes sympathy for people who live on a reservation with murder rates far exceeding the worst American cities. The story evokes sympathy for the plight of Native Americans when the U.S. government does not live up to its treaties and commits the same sins of aggressions like those at Wounded Knee nearly a hundred years earlier.
In summary, it's a thought provoking book by an author who is honest about where his sympathies lie.
This book logs in at nearly 800 pages. The first 200 pages are slow going and quite unnecessary if you already have background on modern Sioux history and the American Indian Movement. The story really gains traction with the events in the summer of 1975 surrounding the tragic shooout between FBI agents and Leonard Peltier and his associates. These events on the Pine Ridge Reservation are the central focus of the remainder of the book continuing right through the epilogue and afterword.
This book was quite controversial when it was released in 1983 and for many decades since. The author, Peter Matthiessen, was certainly sympathetic to the members of the American Indian Movement. He was even sued by the governor of South Dakota and FBI agents because of the unflattering light in which they were portrayed. All of the claims of libel against Matthiessen were eventually dismissed after years of litigation. Following the dismissal of the libel suits, books could be sold again and by the 1990's the book and events were covered in some depth by the major networks.
Why is this book is so riveting? First off, Matthiessen is a phenomenal writer pure and simple. Secondly Matthiessen incorporates a large amount of first hand research and quotes. He interviewed everybody associated with the American Indian movement and those witnesses of the tragic events. Lastly Matthiessen lays a seemingly exhaustive set of facts out there for the reader to interpret. Ultimately Matthiessen states his belief in Leonard Peltier's innocence. Few people today contest whether the FBI fabricated evidence, but I don't share the same view that Peltier is innocent nor did I buy the concocted story of Mr. X. When the FBI accuses you of murder, it's best to not try and pin it on a Mr. X and refuse to provide his identity.
The fundamental themes of this book center on oppression, dispossession and aggression. Regarding the latter there is an FBI agent, the one who later sues the author, who describes why law enforcement uses overwhelming force in dealing with these movements, even though this is almost certainly going to lead to violence. A force of 200 law enforcement vs. 30 suspects may seem overwhelming to a lay person but he says they want 1000 men because no FBI agent wants to die for just doing their job. So you see this life and death tug-of-war play out between law enforcement against an aggrieved people, some of whom have very checkered pasts.
To a large degree that is what makes this book so riveting. It is about multiple miscarriages of justice. The situation evokes sympathy for FBI agents and their families in a no win situation and then their predictable reactions when there are no willing eyewitnesses who come forward regarding the executions. The story evokes sympathy for people who live on a reservation with murder rates far exceeding the worst American cities. The story evokes sympathy for the plight of Native Americans when the U.S. government does not live up to its treaties and commits the same sins of aggressions like those at Wounded Knee nearly a hundred years earlier.
In summary, it's a thought provoking book by an author who is honest about where his sympathies lie.
October 20, 2011
This saga of the conflict between the U.S. government and Native Americans picks up where Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee leaves off, and makes the critical point that as excellent as that earlier book is, contemporary readers might get a false sense of complacency from it, that we live in a more enlightened age and the struggles exist in the past. This book, which focuses mainly on the events surrounding the shootout on the Pine Ridge reservation in 1975 and the story of Leonard Peltier, serves as a strong corrective to that. Ironically, the current edition contributes to that impression by ending on a positive note. After 16 years in prison, Leonard Peltier's case received increased media attention, and the book ends with optimistic visions of a long struggle finally coming to an end. However, the book's coverage ends in 1991. Twenty years later, Leonard Peltier is still in prison, and his defense committee hasn't produced a fresh newsletter or blog post in over three years. The only thing new on their website is a ticker that updates every second to document his total time of imprisonment, 13040 as of today.
February 9, 2021
I'm not sure I can write a review of this, there are so many thoughts about it running though my head. I picked this up a few years ago at the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian (you should go). Matthiessen book (opinionated but heavily noted) is dense and isn't the beautiful nature writing that makes up The Snow Leopard (read it), this a different type of book.
Matthissen investigates the AIM (American Indian Movement) shooting of two FBI agents at Pine Ridge Reservation (which borders Standing Rock). Matthiessen first details the treatment of Native Americans at the hands of the US government (including the breaking of treaties by the US government) before moving into the events of the shooting and the trials that follow. In many ways, too, it also gives one a new look at Standing Rock.
If you are reading this or having read this, I highly suggest searching the names of the central players as information as come out since the publication of the book.
Matthissen investigates the AIM (American Indian Movement) shooting of two FBI agents at Pine Ridge Reservation (which borders Standing Rock). Matthiessen first details the treatment of Native Americans at the hands of the US government (including the breaking of treaties by the US government) before moving into the events of the shooting and the trials that follow. In many ways, too, it also gives one a new look at Standing Rock.
If you are reading this or having read this, I highly suggest searching the names of the central players as information as come out since the publication of the book.
June 13, 2024
An excellent retelling of the life of Leonard Peltier. The very grim lives of the Lakota Sioux Indians are documented from the second Wounded Knee incident, to the Shootout at Oglala. The latter landed Leonard Peltier 2 consecutive life terms. Matthiessen has researched and very well documented this story, lending credence to AIM (American Indian Movement) and shedding light on the actions of the FBI, BIA and their GOONS (Gaurdians Of the Oglala Nation). Whether in fact Peltier, among others, was resposible for the killing of 2 FBI agents may never be known as there was so much misinformation manufactured by the FBI and Government Prosecutors. Truth to tell is that Peltier did not receive anything close to what could be called a "fair" trial. Disseminating misinformation, falsifying documents, and acquiring prosecution testimony under great duress were just a few of the actions that convicted him.
January 21, 2024
I’ve always thought Peter Matthiessen was a terrible writer. I’ll be up front about that right from the start. The fact that he was a CIA agent doesn’t do much to lend him credibility either. But the story of Leonard Peltier and the American Indian Movement (AIM) is important enough for me to overlook the shortcomings of the author and take In the Spirit of Crazy Horse into serious consideration.
This copiously researched and overwrought work on recent Native American Indian history begins with an account of Crazy Horse, Geronimo, General Custer, and the massacre at Wounded Knee in South Darkota. After some commentary on stolen land and treaties that were never upheld by the U.S. government, the story is brought into more recent times by briefly telling the story of AIM and how leaders like Russel Means, Dennis Banks, John Trudell and other lesser known men formed the militant activist group at the end of the 1960s. The group was loosely organized and made up of urban Indians, mostly from the West coast. They came into prominence in the early ‘70s when they occupied the Oglala reservation of Pine Ridge, South Dakota. This led to a brief standoff with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the FBI that brought AIM into the spotlight of national politics and won them support among Native peoples all across the country. Matthiessen follows this section up with an account of the trials that came after.
Up to this point, the story is straight forward and easy to follow since it goes along an ordinary linear path. Matthiessen’s style is not known for being direct, precise, or clear, but in these opening chapters he manages to keep a tight rein on his language so the audience doesn’t get lost so soon. The opening chapter on Wounded Knee feels arbitrary and unnecessary, especially for anybody who knows about American history. It could have been left out or shortened, but it doesn’t do any real damage to the book. The problems come later. At least these sections do a good job of setting the tone and context for what comes next.
What does come next is the whole heart of the story. In June of 1975, two FBI agents drove onto the Pine Ridge reservation with a huge entourage of FBI and BIA agents, SWAT teams, a gang of thugs, and a right wing militia group, while a spotter airplane flew overhead. A group of AIM members were camping on the reservation with a cache of weapons. Nobody knows how it started, but a firefight began. The two FBI agents were shot point blank and one AIM activist named Leonard Peltier was later charges and convicted of murder.
This whole chapter is confusing. I have to say, that is not Peter Matthiessen’s fault. He tells the story several times from the points of view provided by several different witnesses. Since most of them were either firing guns or hiding to avoid being shot, you can’t expect any of them to provide a clear explanation of what happened. As muddled and difficult as this part of the book can be, Matthiessen still holds your attention enough to keep you reading and guessing what will happen.
The inevitable next section of the story is the arrest of Peltier and some others and their two trials for murder. The prosecution does a terrible job in both trials, resulting in a finding of not guilty in the first and guilty in the second, the one in which Leonard Peltier got sentenced to life imprisonment. Matthiessen demonstrates how insufficient the prosecution’s case was in both and how they broke the law in their conduct by intimidating witnesses, tampering with evidence, and withholding necessary documents from the defense. If Matthiessen’s account of these trials is accurate, then there is more than sufficient reason for Peltier to be allowed a retrial. If Matthiessen’s account isn’t accurate, then it is because he is guilty of massively cherry picking his information. Given what I know about Leonard Peltier, I think the former is more believable than the latter and I would prefer to just go along with the author. But what comes later in the book, or more accurately what doesn’t come later, gives me reason to pause and question how trustworthy the author is.
From a simple standpoint of excitement, the beginning of the last section is the most interesting. The imprisoned Leonard Peltier learns of a supposed plot to assassinate him, so he escapes from the penitentiary, only to be caught soon after. If you want any more action to keep the narrative going, you will find it here. This incident leads the author to assert that there is some sort of conspiracy by the FBI to bring down the American Indian Movement. Matthiessen’s theory is that they are working with some corporations to access uranium mines in the Black Hills on the Pine Ride Reservation. Is it a real conspiracy or just a conspiracy theory? We know that the FBI tried to take out other Civil Rights organizations along with other activist groups of the New Left in the 1960s, so it isn’t a far fetched idea. As to why they chose to go after Peltier even though they probably knew he wasn’t guilty, is a bit more complex. It appears they needed to pin the murders on someone, even if it wasn’t the actual murderer and they found it easier to build a case against Peltier than anyone else. As for the assassination plot, I just don’t know. The FBI had Fred Hampton of the Black Panthers assassinated so it can’t be ruled out even if there is testimony from only one man regarding this.
The rest of this last section involves Matthiessen rambling around, talking to various people about various elements related to the case. Except for the two people who claim to have murdered the FBI agents, there isn’t anything here that actually strengthens the author’s argument. It is a disorganized mess of random stuff that is barely, if ever, interesting. It seems that Matthiessen felt he had to include all the information he had gathered even if it didn’t contribute anything of value to the book overall.
The biggest problem with this last section is not its bad writing, but the way in which it makes its one-sidedness so obvious. I have to say that I mostly agree with the author’s stance on the issues addressed, but the absence of opposing points of view make it look suspicious. There is one passage where the author has a phone conversation with FBI agent David Price, but Price does little more than talk in circles without ever saying much of anything. He obfuscates the FBI’s case rather than clarifies it. It doesn’t stand firmly as an attempt at providing a counter-argument. Matthiessen should have cut down on all the testimony from AIM members and sympathizers, who sound like nothing more than yes-men and yes-women, and included more from the government’s point of view. It would have made the story more complete and I don’t think it would have hurt his thesis. It probably would have strengthened it.
Is In the Spirit of Crazy Horse worth reading? For now, I have to say yes. The history is interesting enough on its own to survive the bad writing. And as far as I know, this is the most well-researched and comprehensive account of the Leonard Peltier affair that is available. Still the question remains, did Leonard Peltier kill those two FBI agents? I really don’t think so, but I also don’t think Peter Matthiessen did a good job of proving his innocence. What he does succeed in is showing how the trial was a sham, a persecution motivated by extreme prejudice and not by a desire for justice.
This copiously researched and overwrought work on recent Native American Indian history begins with an account of Crazy Horse, Geronimo, General Custer, and the massacre at Wounded Knee in South Darkota. After some commentary on stolen land and treaties that were never upheld by the U.S. government, the story is brought into more recent times by briefly telling the story of AIM and how leaders like Russel Means, Dennis Banks, John Trudell and other lesser known men formed the militant activist group at the end of the 1960s. The group was loosely organized and made up of urban Indians, mostly from the West coast. They came into prominence in the early ‘70s when they occupied the Oglala reservation of Pine Ridge, South Dakota. This led to a brief standoff with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the FBI that brought AIM into the spotlight of national politics and won them support among Native peoples all across the country. Matthiessen follows this section up with an account of the trials that came after.
Up to this point, the story is straight forward and easy to follow since it goes along an ordinary linear path. Matthiessen’s style is not known for being direct, precise, or clear, but in these opening chapters he manages to keep a tight rein on his language so the audience doesn’t get lost so soon. The opening chapter on Wounded Knee feels arbitrary and unnecessary, especially for anybody who knows about American history. It could have been left out or shortened, but it doesn’t do any real damage to the book. The problems come later. At least these sections do a good job of setting the tone and context for what comes next.
What does come next is the whole heart of the story. In June of 1975, two FBI agents drove onto the Pine Ridge reservation with a huge entourage of FBI and BIA agents, SWAT teams, a gang of thugs, and a right wing militia group, while a spotter airplane flew overhead. A group of AIM members were camping on the reservation with a cache of weapons. Nobody knows how it started, but a firefight began. The two FBI agents were shot point blank and one AIM activist named Leonard Peltier was later charges and convicted of murder.
This whole chapter is confusing. I have to say, that is not Peter Matthiessen’s fault. He tells the story several times from the points of view provided by several different witnesses. Since most of them were either firing guns or hiding to avoid being shot, you can’t expect any of them to provide a clear explanation of what happened. As muddled and difficult as this part of the book can be, Matthiessen still holds your attention enough to keep you reading and guessing what will happen.
The inevitable next section of the story is the arrest of Peltier and some others and their two trials for murder. The prosecution does a terrible job in both trials, resulting in a finding of not guilty in the first and guilty in the second, the one in which Leonard Peltier got sentenced to life imprisonment. Matthiessen demonstrates how insufficient the prosecution’s case was in both and how they broke the law in their conduct by intimidating witnesses, tampering with evidence, and withholding necessary documents from the defense. If Matthiessen’s account of these trials is accurate, then there is more than sufficient reason for Peltier to be allowed a retrial. If Matthiessen’s account isn’t accurate, then it is because he is guilty of massively cherry picking his information. Given what I know about Leonard Peltier, I think the former is more believable than the latter and I would prefer to just go along with the author. But what comes later in the book, or more accurately what doesn’t come later, gives me reason to pause and question how trustworthy the author is.
From a simple standpoint of excitement, the beginning of the last section is the most interesting. The imprisoned Leonard Peltier learns of a supposed plot to assassinate him, so he escapes from the penitentiary, only to be caught soon after. If you want any more action to keep the narrative going, you will find it here. This incident leads the author to assert that there is some sort of conspiracy by the FBI to bring down the American Indian Movement. Matthiessen’s theory is that they are working with some corporations to access uranium mines in the Black Hills on the Pine Ride Reservation. Is it a real conspiracy or just a conspiracy theory? We know that the FBI tried to take out other Civil Rights organizations along with other activist groups of the New Left in the 1960s, so it isn’t a far fetched idea. As to why they chose to go after Peltier even though they probably knew he wasn’t guilty, is a bit more complex. It appears they needed to pin the murders on someone, even if it wasn’t the actual murderer and they found it easier to build a case against Peltier than anyone else. As for the assassination plot, I just don’t know. The FBI had Fred Hampton of the Black Panthers assassinated so it can’t be ruled out even if there is testimony from only one man regarding this.
The rest of this last section involves Matthiessen rambling around, talking to various people about various elements related to the case. Except for the two people who claim to have murdered the FBI agents, there isn’t anything here that actually strengthens the author’s argument. It is a disorganized mess of random stuff that is barely, if ever, interesting. It seems that Matthiessen felt he had to include all the information he had gathered even if it didn’t contribute anything of value to the book overall.
The biggest problem with this last section is not its bad writing, but the way in which it makes its one-sidedness so obvious. I have to say that I mostly agree with the author’s stance on the issues addressed, but the absence of opposing points of view make it look suspicious. There is one passage where the author has a phone conversation with FBI agent David Price, but Price does little more than talk in circles without ever saying much of anything. He obfuscates the FBI’s case rather than clarifies it. It doesn’t stand firmly as an attempt at providing a counter-argument. Matthiessen should have cut down on all the testimony from AIM members and sympathizers, who sound like nothing more than yes-men and yes-women, and included more from the government’s point of view. It would have made the story more complete and I don’t think it would have hurt his thesis. It probably would have strengthened it.
Is In the Spirit of Crazy Horse worth reading? For now, I have to say yes. The history is interesting enough on its own to survive the bad writing. And as far as I know, this is the most well-researched and comprehensive account of the Leonard Peltier affair that is available. Still the question remains, did Leonard Peltier kill those two FBI agents? I really don’t think so, but I also don’t think Peter Matthiessen did a good job of proving his innocence. What he does succeed in is showing how the trial was a sham, a persecution motivated by extreme prejudice and not by a desire for justice.
August 15, 2025
An important piece of investigative journalism and history, this book carefully documents the oppression of Native Americans by the FBI and the US government. While it uses the 1975 Wounded Knee shootout as a focal point, it goes far back in American history to contextualize the incident, making it clear that what happened there was not a one-off, but a culmination of tensions.
While Matthiessen’s sympathy is with the Native American perspective (as, I think, it should be), he grounds his perspective in fact and first hand testimony, and when he expresses his opinions he clearly frames them as such.
There will always be ambiguity about what happened at the Wounded Knee shoot out in 1975, but what I think is beyond argument is that Leonard Peltier’s court case was a travesty of justice. The courts and the FBI railroaded him, withheld evidence, and were so far from objective it would be laughable if it wasn’t a real human life in jeopardy. This injustice was never resolved (Peltier was only recently released to house arrest as an old man), but Matthiessen shed light on a cause that many people wished to see obscured.
The trial section in the middle was a slog for me, but I understand the importance of providing the level of detail he did. And once I was past this section, I was glad I powered through, as the final quarter of the book is arguably the most interesting, especially in this paperback edition which picks the story back up to explain happenings in the years since the hardcover edition came out.
While Matthiessen’s sympathy is with the Native American perspective (as, I think, it should be), he grounds his perspective in fact and first hand testimony, and when he expresses his opinions he clearly frames them as such.
There will always be ambiguity about what happened at the Wounded Knee shoot out in 1975, but what I think is beyond argument is that Leonard Peltier’s court case was a travesty of justice. The courts and the FBI railroaded him, withheld evidence, and were so far from objective it would be laughable if it wasn’t a real human life in jeopardy. This injustice was never resolved (Peltier was only recently released to house arrest as an old man), but Matthiessen shed light on a cause that many people wished to see obscured.
The trial section in the middle was a slog for me, but I understand the importance of providing the level of detail he did. And once I was past this section, I was glad I powered through, as the final quarter of the book is arguably the most interesting, especially in this paperback edition which picks the story back up to explain happenings in the years since the hardcover edition came out.
October 26, 2012
I read this book in 1992 as part of a graduate American Indian Law seminar conducted at the University of Colorado Denver (UCD) with Dr. Glenn Morris - the head of the Denver chapter of AIM as the instructor. It was one of more than several books used in the seminar but certainly for me one of the more memorable and influential. Also, the now infamous Dr. Ward Churchill was a guest instructor on several occasions.
He never represented himself as a Tribal member and although the courts have questioned his ancestry and his scholarship, having been in the classroom with him I would not question his intellectual endowment. He struck this observer as a thoughtful and brilliant man however you might feel about his ideas.
The book inspired me greatly and as a result I have had the good fortune to have worked with tribal governments since 1995 leading and conducting government-to-government consultations to the present day with hundreds of consultations completed. I've visited Pine Ridge, SD numerous times and all the other reservations in the book - which frankly has been a dream come true.
I highly recommend the book and I believe whatever side of the argument you fall on you will find the book thoughtful and entertaining and perhaps even inspiring.
He never represented himself as a Tribal member and although the courts have questioned his ancestry and his scholarship, having been in the classroom with him I would not question his intellectual endowment. He struck this observer as a thoughtful and brilliant man however you might feel about his ideas.
The book inspired me greatly and as a result I have had the good fortune to have worked with tribal governments since 1995 leading and conducting government-to-government consultations to the present day with hundreds of consultations completed. I've visited Pine Ridge, SD numerous times and all the other reservations in the book - which frankly has been a dream come true.
I highly recommend the book and I believe whatever side of the argument you fall on you will find the book thoughtful and entertaining and perhaps even inspiring.
June 22, 2009
Detailed almost to the point of excrutiating, but overall excellent recitation of the events leading up to the killing of 2 FBI agents in Oglala, on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Matthiesen's research is painstaking, and once I realized how the book was organized it made sense and I could follow it (he hides his explanation in the notes for each section). The facts are incredibly convoluted, and there are so many layers to what happened. Matthiesen does a pretty good job of tryin to sort it all out. I'm not sure I'm convinced of Peltier's "innocence" but I certainly believe that justice was miscarried in the desparate acts of the FBI and the office of the US Attorney, to get vengance for the killings.
January 27, 2014
How one talk about a book that is so bias and so necessary? The author Peter Matthiessen does not pretend to be objective but admits up front that this book was written to right a grievous injustice.
An injustice that didn’t start with the incident in Oglala in which three people were killed, an Indian and two FBI agents who were shot at close range, and of whose death Leonard Peltier has been held responsible and for which he is still doing time.
While this incident and the “frame up” of Leonard Peltier are the obvious subjects of the book, the author puts them in context by going back to the Wounded Knee massacre and the decades of injustice that lead to this 1975 shoot out. To understand, even just a little, the frame of mind of the Indian protagonists, one as to walk a little in their shoes and this is what Mathiessen does by telling of the oppression, the injustice and the poverty that has been their lot.
Reading this book I could not help being moved by the strength and leadership of the AIM leaders who had decided that they had enough. In front of such injustice they showed a lot of discipline. Mathiessien doesn’t make them out to be saints. He shows them with their flaws and all but he always portray them with compassion.
The author did a very thorough research and, in his effort to show us the context and clear Peltier’s name he goes into minute details about the lives of the protagonists, the incident of 1975 itself and the trial. So much so, that I had difficulties at times following the different characters - especially when the book moves back and forth in time - but at other times the book reads like a legal thriller.
When I closed the book, felt that I knew these people better and I wanted to learn more about what happened to them since the book was published. I also wanted to know more about the life and death of Annie May Aquash, who is one of the major women characters in this book.
Was I convinced about Peltier’s innocence? Not necessarily, but I was convinced that there was ground for a new trial.
As with any book discussing the plight to the North American Indian I can’t help feeling guilty. I am descendant of the people who took their land and the prosperity of my people was founded on pillage and genocide of their ancestors. There is also the fact that I live in a country, Canada, where there are pockets of people living in third world conditions and that a lot of those people are from the First Nation.
A book such as “In the Spirit of Crazy Horse” is still necessary thirty years after it was published because, over and over again, Indians have been victims of racism and injustice. Even as I’m writing, the authorities and the public are showing cruel indifference the hundred of aboriginal women who have gone missing in Canada.
As Dino Butler wrote:
We must always fight for what we believe in. We must never tire in our fight. It does not really matter how we fight what matters is what we are fighting for.
So for the scope of the book and its righteous aim, I give it four stars.
An injustice that didn’t start with the incident in Oglala in which three people were killed, an Indian and two FBI agents who were shot at close range, and of whose death Leonard Peltier has been held responsible and for which he is still doing time.
While this incident and the “frame up” of Leonard Peltier are the obvious subjects of the book, the author puts them in context by going back to the Wounded Knee massacre and the decades of injustice that lead to this 1975 shoot out. To understand, even just a little, the frame of mind of the Indian protagonists, one as to walk a little in their shoes and this is what Mathiessen does by telling of the oppression, the injustice and the poverty that has been their lot.
Reading this book I could not help being moved by the strength and leadership of the AIM leaders who had decided that they had enough. In front of such injustice they showed a lot of discipline. Mathiessien doesn’t make them out to be saints. He shows them with their flaws and all but he always portray them with compassion.
The author did a very thorough research and, in his effort to show us the context and clear Peltier’s name he goes into minute details about the lives of the protagonists, the incident of 1975 itself and the trial. So much so, that I had difficulties at times following the different characters - especially when the book moves back and forth in time - but at other times the book reads like a legal thriller.
When I closed the book, felt that I knew these people better and I wanted to learn more about what happened to them since the book was published. I also wanted to know more about the life and death of Annie May Aquash, who is one of the major women characters in this book.
Was I convinced about Peltier’s innocence? Not necessarily, but I was convinced that there was ground for a new trial.
As with any book discussing the plight to the North American Indian I can’t help feeling guilty. I am descendant of the people who took their land and the prosperity of my people was founded on pillage and genocide of their ancestors. There is also the fact that I live in a country, Canada, where there are pockets of people living in third world conditions and that a lot of those people are from the First Nation.
A book such as “In the Spirit of Crazy Horse” is still necessary thirty years after it was published because, over and over again, Indians have been victims of racism and injustice. Even as I’m writing, the authorities and the public are showing cruel indifference the hundred of aboriginal women who have gone missing in Canada.
As Dino Butler wrote:
We must always fight for what we believe in. We must never tire in our fight. It does not really matter how we fight what matters is what we are fighting for.
So for the scope of the book and its righteous aim, I give it four stars.
April 15, 2010
This is an important book, and I'm impressed with the amount of research and time Matthiessen put into it, and I think the story needed to be told. That said, I spent the vast majority of it wishing that an unbiased journalist would come shove him away from his computer, steal his notes, and take over writing the book for him. I agree with him on pretty much everything, but still he was so biased that he undermined his own point of view. At one point he actually argued that the fact that the murder of an Indian on an Indian reservation was even investigated was proof of conspiracy against Indians. And if that's not enough for you, he spends many other parts of the book arguing that failure to investigate murders of Indians is proof of governmental indifference to the plight of Indians on reservations.
Look, Matthiessen, I appreciate your hard work, and I overwhelmingly agree with you, both in perspective and conclusions. But your editor did you no favors by not calling you on your bullshit. I stopped reading this book in irritation about 300 pages in and never would've picked it back up if I hadn't seen the movie William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe.
Look, Matthiessen, I appreciate your hard work, and I overwhelmingly agree with you, both in perspective and conclusions. But your editor did you no favors by not calling you on your bullshit. I stopped reading this book in irritation about 300 pages in and never would've picked it back up if I hadn't seen the movie William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe.
August 25, 2010
Nonfiction. Two words... Leonard Peltier. Two more words... Oglala Shoot-out. Two more words... FBI tampering. Enough said.
October 25, 2024
I was recommended this book by a podcast (Behind the Bastards)that was supporting Leonard Peltier's parole hearing in July 2024. So I donated to the parole fund, signed petitions, and picked up this book to learn more about one of the US's biggest miscarriages of justice in recent history.
The first thing that struck me was the fact that the language used was a bit... outdated. Then I realised it was published in 1983, republished after a lengthy legal battle in 1991. This is not news, this should be history. And yet, while many people involved in the story are dead, Peltier remains in prison after losing his appeal, despite a lot of evidence having come to light that the charges leading to his two consecutive life sentences are bogus.
Peltier isn't eligible for parole again for 15 years. He'll be 94.
Free Leonard Peltier.
The first thing that struck me was the fact that the language used was a bit... outdated. Then I realised it was published in 1983, republished after a lengthy legal battle in 1991. This is not news, this should be history. And yet, while many people involved in the story are dead, Peltier remains in prison after losing his appeal, despite a lot of evidence having come to light that the charges leading to his two consecutive life sentences are bogus.
Peltier isn't eligible for parole again for 15 years. He'll be 94.
Free Leonard Peltier.
May 21, 2017
33rd book read in 2017.
Number 339 out of 598 on my all time book list.
Number 339 out of 598 on my all time book list.
October 12, 2021
Incredibly well-told. Whether or not Leonard Peltier killed the FBI agents seems beside the point. Reading this I felt long-held ugly suspicions about the FBI confirmed and detailed. At this point I think it’s profoundly understood that there was a lot left out of my public school history classroom so I don’t need to beleaguer that point but I find it astonishing the things I’m learning at 35.
The violence permitted, abetted and committed by the US government on the Pine Ridge reservation and elsewhere in the time of AIM’s ascension is grueling enough to read about but the COINTELPRO tactics of terrorizing, infiltrating and dismantling autonomous communities of support by fracturing them : dividing people and planting seeds of distrust- is completely heartbreaking. So many lives, on all sides, terminated or wasted.
There are so many reasons to be paranoid. Who is being protected? From what?
Peter Matthiessen writes about this clearly and beautifully. I look forward to reading more of his writing.
The violence permitted, abetted and committed by the US government on the Pine Ridge reservation and elsewhere in the time of AIM’s ascension is grueling enough to read about but the COINTELPRO tactics of terrorizing, infiltrating and dismantling autonomous communities of support by fracturing them : dividing people and planting seeds of distrust- is completely heartbreaking. So many lives, on all sides, terminated or wasted.
There are so many reasons to be paranoid. Who is being protected? From what?
Peter Matthiessen writes about this clearly and beautifully. I look forward to reading more of his writing.
February 26, 2017
This is the longest audiobook I've listened to so far - and I'm glad it occurred to me to speed it up a bit because I was enjoying the information provided but it was starting to drag on a bit long and the library hold was about to expire for the second time.
I think this is a good book for everyone to better understand the background to the No DAPL movement. The connection isn't made until much later in the book, but it's eventually suggested that the attempts by the FBI to disrupt AIM and liken them to communists was driven by land grabs for resources, especially related to power production. It also ties into a lot of he work being done right now to show the abuses by police and courts against innocent suspects that was made popular by Serial.
I found the background to the book being suppressed by court cases fascinating as well.
I think this is a good book for everyone to better understand the background to the No DAPL movement. The connection isn't made until much later in the book, but it's eventually suggested that the attempts by the FBI to disrupt AIM and liken them to communists was driven by land grabs for resources, especially related to power production. It also ties into a lot of he work being done right now to show the abuses by police and courts against innocent suspects that was made popular by Serial.
I found the background to the book being suppressed by court cases fascinating as well.
August 28, 2023
Trying to investigate the number of Indians in North America before the arrival of the Europeans seems to be an impossible task. The estimates vary between just under a million to somewhere around sixty million. The higher estimates seem to be greatly exaggerated. The lower estimates seem much too low. There is no way of really knowing. Since there are over 5 million Indians today, let's assume that there were over 10 million since they occupied huge areas of North America and are now restricted to much smaller areas. Were they treated fairly by the Europeans? Few would defend the treatment of the native peoples by the European immigrants. This book talks about the injustice done by government representatives at many levels to Indian people during the last 150 years and perhaps continuing until the present day. I have no way to verify if what this book asserts is true but even if a small portion of it is true, it is a disgraceful miscarriage of justice.
The author was passionate in his defense of the Indians so may not have been totally objective. Also, the book is much too long with way too many characters and too many details. It makes the story hard to follow. I can't really recommend the book; I don't know how much of it is true. The author interviewed many of the Indians involved and there is no way to verify their description of the events I read the book because I now live in Oklahoma, a state with a lot of Indian history and I want to know this history - sad as it may be.
The author was passionate in his defense of the Indians so may not have been totally objective. Also, the book is much too long with way too many characters and too many details. It makes the story hard to follow. I can't really recommend the book; I don't know how much of it is true. The author interviewed many of the Indians involved and there is no way to verify their description of the events I read the book because I now live in Oklahoma, a state with a lot of Indian history and I want to know this history - sad as it may be.
April 8, 2022
Years of growing tension between A.I.M. and the F.B.I. exploded in a shoot-out in 1975 which left 3 men dead, 2 FBI agents and 1 Indian. The U.S. government tried 4 Indians for these deaths, one man receiving a sentence of 2 life sentences. Mathieson argues that there were numerous irregularities in the investigation and court case, a deliberate and systematic effort by the government to railroad a conviction, a conviction which Mathieson believes was of an innocent man. He traces the roots of this injustice to more than a century of injustice and mistreatment of Indians by the United States. He explores the many ways native peoples continue to be the victims of systemic injustice in the late 20th century. The devastation of the land which Indians hold as sacred is given special attention. This book was controversial when written in the 1980s, facing 8 years of lawsuits. Mathieson gives the reader a detailed account and a well documented argument. I am not familiar with this case, so can not evaluate his claims. But, based on American history, I have every reason to find what he says to be credible and disturbing.
February 16, 2009
I don't think you can hold the shortcomings of this book against Matthiessen. As with any complicated, partisan event, each perspective offers only one piece of the patchwork. And this is an important one, even if some of the information that's emerged since its publication challenges some of aspects of Peltier's defenders' arguments.
Nonetheless, the book is commendable for its examination of the renewed wars against Native Americans as the coal, oil and uranium under their lands became increasingly important to industry interests. And although it's hard to judge the extent to which he was impartially critical of the evidence of government wrongdoing in the case -- what he pulls together is pretty staggering, a good civics reminder.
As a journalist, I would have preferred he erred more on the side of explictly sourcing more of his material.
Nonetheless, the book is commendable for its examination of the renewed wars against Native Americans as the coal, oil and uranium under their lands became increasingly important to industry interests. And although it's hard to judge the extent to which he was impartially critical of the evidence of government wrongdoing in the case -- what he pulls together is pretty staggering, a good civics reminder.
As a journalist, I would have preferred he erred more on the side of explictly sourcing more of his material.
October 10, 2009
This is a lengthly and sobering account of the American Indian Movement in the 60's and 70's, and the continuing conflict between Native Americans and the U.S. Government. There are references to broken treaties between our government and Indian tribes, racism, and the poor conditions on Indian Reservations. The main element of the book concerns Leonard Pelteir, convicted of murdering two FBI agents on a reservation during a shoot-out between Native Americans and the FBI. Apparently, the publishing of this book was delayed by eight years due to lawsuits brought by the FBI to prevent damaging information about its conduct leading up to the incident, and during the prosecution of the case. Matthiessen was clearly sympathetic to the Indian cause, but it's not hard to understand why. The book does a good job in telling a neglected story, but it's a sad reminder of past unjustices.
February 1, 2020
This book was long, detailed, well researched and exhausting. I learned a great deal about the Wounded Knee occupation and about the Oglala shoot out-
occurrences that I recall hearing about in the 70s. Matthiessen spent an incredible amount of time and effort researching and writing this book. His opinion is pretty clear but his reporting seems balanced. It's an eye opener regarding our government's attitude and treatment of Native Americans, (or Indians, as they identified in the book) in the modern day. Not much changed from 1890 to 1975 in that way.
occurrences that I recall hearing about in the 70s. Matthiessen spent an incredible amount of time and effort researching and writing this book. His opinion is pretty clear but his reporting seems balanced. It's an eye opener regarding our government's attitude and treatment of Native Americans, (or Indians, as they identified in the book) in the modern day. Not much changed from 1890 to 1975 in that way.
December 1, 2008
If you want to learn about what the FBI did to the American Indian Movement in the 1960s and 1970s with COINTELPRO and you want to learn about the events that led to the wrongful imprisonment of Leonard Peltier, then read this book. We didn't stop oppressing and killing Indians in the 1800s...
December 25, 2012
Liked: lots of historical detail, attempts to give it a personal perspective of the participants. Disliked: much too partial for my taste, detail would seem less excessive if better organized
September 15, 2010
I wanted to learn more about what has happened with the native americacn population in my lifetime, but the way this book is written I just can't get into this book. Don't think I'll finish.
December 23, 2021
I really enjoyed this book. For years former South Dakota governor William Janklow and FBI special agent David Price tried to sink this book with libel suits but ultimately failed. And thank goodness. The Indian Wars are not over. They subside from time to time but the Indian peoples are still asserting and fighting for their sovereignty and the right to live on and enjoy their ancient lands. And the federal government, and white America, is still pushing to keep them in a place of obedience.
The book centers the story and court trials of Leonard Peltier but there is so much more in this book than one man's struggle. I caught myself throughout this book judging or trying to tie the events into a moral compass or framework. And though moral compasses are very much needed, they sometimes can get in the way of deep observation. And oftentimes deep observation is needed first and foremost. Especially for those of us who are children of Empire.
The character I was most drawn to was Annie Mae Aquash, a member of the American Indian Movement, who was murdered not long after the shootout at Oglala in 1975. Not too long ago, after years of no one being charged, two former AIM members were charged in her murder, with a third being implicated; adding to the complexity of an already complex situation.
If you are wondering if this is a good book to read. Yes, it is.
The book centers the story and court trials of Leonard Peltier but there is so much more in this book than one man's struggle. I caught myself throughout this book judging or trying to tie the events into a moral compass or framework. And though moral compasses are very much needed, they sometimes can get in the way of deep observation. And oftentimes deep observation is needed first and foremost. Especially for those of us who are children of Empire.
The character I was most drawn to was Annie Mae Aquash, a member of the American Indian Movement, who was murdered not long after the shootout at Oglala in 1975. Not too long ago, after years of no one being charged, two former AIM members were charged in her murder, with a third being implicated; adding to the complexity of an already complex situation.
If you are wondering if this is a good book to read. Yes, it is.
April 15, 2023
It is hard to read about the treatment of the American Indian throughout the history of the United States and not be skeptical about our government and its motives. The fact that this book was so disruptively challenged by government officials in the court of law, so that it went unpublished for years is a scary fact.
Peter Mathiessen did more than write a book here, he forced our government to question it’s own evolving views of the US constitution. Native Americans have been doing this since the US was founded and with much less success, which is the issue at the heart of this book.
This is a dense read surrounding the killing of two FBI agents and an Indian boy. It is very detail laden involving a lot of court room discussion, so in that regard it can be hard to read.
But the lengths that people will go through to control the truth is horrifying, leaving me with a feeling that I can never actually trust anything that I read or hear.
Without a doubt to me, Peter Mathiessen is one of the best American authors that has ever been.
Peter Mathiessen did more than write a book here, he forced our government to question it’s own evolving views of the US constitution. Native Americans have been doing this since the US was founded and with much less success, which is the issue at the heart of this book.
This is a dense read surrounding the killing of two FBI agents and an Indian boy. It is very detail laden involving a lot of court room discussion, so in that regard it can be hard to read.
But the lengths that people will go through to control the truth is horrifying, leaving me with a feeling that I can never actually trust anything that I read or hear.
Without a doubt to me, Peter Mathiessen is one of the best American authors that has ever been.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 242 reviews