Reviews

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present by David Treuer

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nickg530's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

4.25

hugold's review against another edition

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hopeful informative inspiring slow-paced

4.0

lesserjoke's review against another edition

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4.0

As the title suggests, this is a book that's very much in conversation with Dee Brown's classic Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, which I regret to say I haven't yet read. Like that earlier volume, this 2019 follow-up centers its Native American history in the perspective of indigenous peoples themselves, but with the added focus on the period following the titular Lakota massacre. Ojibwe author David Treuer emphasizes the fact that Indian civilization(s) didn't culminate at Wounded Knee, and he draws on his own experiences and ethnographic interviews to offer key insights into how the broader U.S. culture of the past century has shaped and been shaped by this population.

From reservation casinos to language revitalization to pipeline disputes, Treuer provides a crash course on some of the contemporary issues facing tribal members, as well as an eye-opening look at the historical forces behind them. It's a necessary reminder that Native Americans are neither monolithic nor bygone nor defined just by victimhood, and that no understanding of our country can be complete without taking them into consideration.