by David Treuer
First published 2019
Native American history did not end at Wounded Knee in 1890, despite popular narratives that suggest otherwise. David Treuer, an Ojibwe writer and anthropologist raised on a Minnesota reservation, presents a different story. He argues that Native peoples have shown remarkable adaptability and innovation since the late nineteenth century, not in spite of their struggles but because of them. Treuer combines historical research with personal reporting and memoir to trace how tribes responded to each new challenge. Land seizures prompted sophisticated legal strategies. Forced boarding school education created a shared Native identity. Military service and urban migration brought Indigenous people into mainstream society while fostering new forms of self-governance and resistance. The book follows tribal cultures from initial European contact through the present day, showing how each generation found new ways to preserve their languages, traditions, and communities while adapting to changing circumstances.
Genres: history, anthropology, biography-memoir, native-american, cultural-studies, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, personal-narrative
Setting: Minnesota, Wounded Knee
Period: 19th-century, 20th-century, 21st-century
512 pages · Hardcover · Riverhead Books