Eating Fire, Tasting Blood: An Anthology of the American Indian Holocaust

by MariJo Moore

As you walk out of your front door tomorrow morning, look down. Look to your left and to your right. Touch the earth: the concrete, the sidewalk, or whatever surrounds you. Undoubtedly you will be touching the layered coverings of the remains of indigenous peoples. Not arrowheads, not broken pieces of pottery — but the very DNA of the first peoples of this continent. For five centuries — from Columbus's arrival in 1492 to the U.S. Army's massacre of Sioux Indians at Wounded Knee in the 1890s, to the renewed assault in the 1970s — our continent's indigenous people endured the most massive and systematic act of genocide in the history of the world. In Eating Fire, Tasting Blood, twenty established and up-and-coming American Indian writers from disparate nations and tribes offer stirring reflections on the history of their people. This is not a collection of essays about Native Americans but rather a collection BY Native Americans — the story of native holocaust on a tribe-by-tribe level as told by those few who have been fortunate enough to survive. Included are original essays by Vine Deloria Jr., Paula Gunn Allen, Linda Hogan, and Eduardo Galeano.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Native American, Indigenous

432 pages, Paperback

First published June 21, 2006

About the author

MariJo Moore (Cherokee/Irish/Dutch) is the author of a dozen books including Spirit Voices of Bones, Confessions of a Madwoman, Red Woman With Backward Eyes and Other Stories, The Diamond Doorknob, The Boy With A Tree Growing From His Ear and Other Stories, and the editor of four anthologies including Genocide of The Mind: New Native Writings and Eating Fire, Tasting Blood: Breaking the Great Silence of the American Indian Holocaust. The recipient of numerous literary and publishing awards, she resides in the mountains of western North Carolina where she presides over rENEGADE pLANETS pUBLISHING.

Reviews

[Lit Folio · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's troubling to read the various accounts of what can only be called an American Holocaust. In essay after essay we see the evidence so clearly of how deeds were betrayed and mistreatment of the original residents of this fair land were cast out until near extinction.

It's a shameful legacy brought on by dominant systems of power--namely--European settlers who imposed themselves on what was to them the New World. From the Trail of Tears --where famously scores of tribes were forced to re-locate from the American South to the new frontiers of the burgeoning west--namely Oklahoma, we see various accounts of the deleterious effects of displacement. We also see here troubling effects of disease like Small Pox that contributed to the diminishment of Native populations. But there is also the hope that's rendered in the preservation of customs and traditions among Native groups today. A troubling read, but well worth it. Wholeheartedly recommend.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought-provoking and insightful, this collection of essays took me by surprise. I was not expecting such a diverse collection of genres, ranging from poetry and personal memoir to scholarly sociological studies. Full disclosure - I did not read all of every essay. Some were a little thick for me, considering I was more interested in the personal stories. However, this collection had something for everyone. If you are at all interested in an alternate view of the American history you learned in school, this book is highly recommended!

[Bart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some essays in Marijo Moore's anthology are really insightful and taught me quite a bit about the (past/present) American Indian holocaust. Many of the other pieces are boring (poetry) or shallow. Most of the essays that lack depth do have critical analysis on many issues; however, there are some issues - romanticization of indigenous life, matriarchy, and the Jewish Holocaust - that authors consistently bring up with weak or no critiques.
Some authors romanticize indigenous life to a point of ethnocentrism and make outlandish claims that the authors refute in the same essay, such as Europeans causing indigenous groups to no longer be peaceful and later admitting that some groups were traditionally enemies before whites arrived on the continent! Moore labels one section "Matriarchy" and a few authors discuss indigenous cultures as matriarchal before contact with European cultures. Their descriptions actually describe matrilineal and matrilocal societies not matriarchal. A few of the authors somewhat trivialize the Jewish Holocaust in their comparisons of it to the American Indian Holocaust. Ridiculous!
Moore, also, orders the essays in sections with no explanations on the sections or why essays are in those sections.

[Fei · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the beginning essays were very academic and dry, but the latter few, esp the ones about women's lives, were much more personal. I think it's overall an important read for Americans but it can be emotionally difficult to get through at times.

[Erika · Rating 2 out of 5]

some of these narratives were not interesting at all and the ones that were well written or intriguing were much too short

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must-read for anyone who lives in North America. It addresses everything American history books have omitted.