I Will: How Four American Indians Put Their Lives on the Line and Changed History

by Sheron Wyant-Leonard

A unique portrayal of four members of the American Indian Movement--with fascinating full-color images created by Leonard Peltier! In I Will, Sheron Wyant-Leonard weaves the personal recollections of four members of the American Indian Movement--Leonard Peltier, Dennis Banks, Dorothy Ninham, and her husband Herb Powless--into a unique narrative to expose their trials and tribulations over the course of two decades.  When the last gunshots of the Indian Wars of the nineteenth century faded away, a dark and desperate time began for Native American people. Poverty, neglect, and hopelessness hung over the land. But as the seventies dawned, a powerful movement for change by newly urban Indians was born with the words “American Indian Movement.” This story includes a brief look at their childhoods as told by the people who lived it, including their government boarding schools, reservation life, the fight against termination, and the founding of their resistance with building takeovers and government saboteurs, a prison escape, including the largest FBI manhunt in history. They walked the line between courage and fear and changed the direction of Native history forever.  

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Cultural, Indigenous

Kindle Edition

First published July 20, 2021

Reviews

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a serious deep dive into four major players of the American Indian Movement (AIM) in the United States. It is obvious the author, Sharon Wyant-Leonard, spent considerable time and energy gathering oral and other first hand accounts of various AIM actions, including the Trail of Broken Treaties and their takeover of BIA headquarters in 1972.

I loved getting so many personal details about their childhoods, their personalities, and their relationships with one another. My intentions when I picked this book up were certainly met.

The only real downsides I experienced were the quality of writing (a lot of unattributed quotes in conversations with multiple speakers and disjointed, hard to follow narration) as well as glossing over or otherwise not providing clear summaries or explanations about big events that occurred throughout the book.

This book is described as providing the story of major events in the AIM movement, including the incident at Pine Ridge that led to Leonard Peltier's arrest and imprisonment, but often I found it buried the lead or assumed the reader already knew what happened and glossed over the big stuff.

I studied AIM and read about it pretty extensively in college and found myself lost at times or missing crucial pieces of the puzzle, which in turn caused me to be confused and unable to concentrate on the subsequent events in the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Skyhorse Publishing for the opportunity to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I am so excited to see books by and about BIPOC available and look forward to seeing what else you have to offer.

[David Mahood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a heartbreaking story that I have followed for forty years. The blatantly corrupt trial of Leonard Peltier, and the backstory of how the American Indian Movement stood up to the centuries of mistreatment toward Native Americans is woven into a compelling narrative by Ms. Wyant-Leonard. This is a book that you need to read to get a clearer picture of the tumultuous period in the 1970s, which included the formation of AIM and its activism including the occupations of Alcatraz, the offices of the BIA, and ultimately Wounded Knee. It exposes the corrupt tribal governments and the complicity of the US GOV and the FBI. These are not taught in today's classrooms so this book should become part of our history's curriculum. Ms. Wyant-Leonard's contribution to this important chapter in our history is fundamentally critical to healing the past, if possible.

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredibly intimate view of the trials and tribulations of the people behind the American Indian Movement. It’s not so much a documentation of “what” happened but “why”, which has never been told before.

[Preston Randolph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leonard Peltier needs to be freed!

[Kenneth Barber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book follows four people who were instrumental in the founding of the American Indian Movement: Leonard Peltier, Dennis Banks, Herb Powless and his wife Dorothy. The book details how the movement coalesced with Banks as the face of the movement.
Peltier is the main focus of the book as he was the target of the FBI after the killing of two agents on Pine Ridge. It was never proven that Peltier shot the agents, but he was charged and convicted of the crime.
The book tells about the efforts of AIM to reclaim their lands and reclaim their heritage. The Trail of Broken Treaties that led to the takeover of the Department of Interior, the stand-off at Pine Ridge, the killings of the agents and the involvement of Marlon Brandon are all woven into the story.
The narrative also introduces the reader to many lesser known AIM activists.

[Mark Bergemann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leonard P’s release not covered

From the description I assumed the book would cover the release of LP and his participation in the writing of the book. Not so. Disappointing. However, what the book does cover is interesting. Most important for me was being immersed in a way of thinking and communicating.

[Shirley Camick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should have been written forty years ago because people are not aware of the atrocities and sending their children to boarding schools that has a different language from their own. Taking their rights away when they really own this land.

[Lynn Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn’t put it down! Wow! Beautifully written in a way that transports the reader into the story.

[Jennifer SJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m glad I read this book, but it was a challenge to finish it. The writing is disjointed, and events are sort dropped into the text with little background.

[M Casto · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent over view of the AIM movement of the 60s and 70s. Good introduction to the subject.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, more than 5 stars.

[WAYNE DAHRING · Rating 4 out of 5]

It made me feel like I was there - I could not stop reading. I went Wow.
I know this person, is how this book makes me. I never felt like reading a book like this.
I was overwhelmed! If you have ever had hardship you will not understand until you read this
book.

[Jack Magee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this book last night and I can say I did not want it to end. The writers use of a non-fiction novel style is powerful. I am a history buff and was a young adult when many of the events depicted in this book took place and they have not been described in such personal, human terms before. I come away with a new understanding of the circumstances and motivations that thrust the four main characters together and a new respect for what was at stake for each of them and what it cost. Ms. Wyant-Leonard made history come Alive for me. Sometimes exciting and frightening and sometimes profoundly sad....But, in the end, a whole new look into an often misunderstood and under appreciated time in the long, bitter conflict between the United States and its original inhabitants. BRAVO!!!!! Ms. Wyant-Leonard. I look forward to your next book.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to learn about the American Indian Movement but this book fell short of chronicling the important events-- it reads like a transcribed interview of the main players rehashing from memory all of their personal ties and conversation.

The author is a playwright, and I could see how the details she's gathering and writing could serve as backdrops for a play, but it doesn't make for the best book. It's not quite storyline, definitely not historical biography of events...

If the reader is already familiar with AIM, the people and the events, then maybe this book will be of greater interest, but for someone looking for an introduction to the movement, this book is not it.