David TreuerReseñas

I believe this to be a very valuable resource for anyone with Native American blood. It gets just an average 3-star rating from me because I really thought this was going to be more of a personal journey of the author’s, but it turned out to be more political than anything else, which made it a little rough for me to get through. I did learn a lot about the different ways our government has duped the Native Americans over the years, which is not saying anything new. Governments, not just ours here in the US, are infamously greedy and crooked, and have duped many ethnicities, and even their own people, over hundreds of years. I've learned that even the Native American’s are not innocent in the whole scheme of history, nor are they innocent in their current situation. They were warring and sparring over land rights and territories (which continue even today), scalping and kidnapping, and participating in cannibalism way before the white man ever showed up. It’s too easy to blame the white man for all their problems, but I found in this book that when the tables were turned, the Native American leaders reacted the same way. They became crooked and greedy, even against their own people.

The author, David Treuer, is part Ojibwe. His family settled just off the Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota. His mother, an Ojibwe, grew up in Bena in the 40’s, a very small town with no more than about 140 people. He lets you know that today they are a rough lot and do not take kindly to outsiders.

Life on the rez was and is still a tough life. There are more crimes, more ex-prisoners than their neighboring counties. In 2008, the average income on the reservations was $21,000 versus $52,000 for the rest of Americans. There’s high drug trafficking within the reservation. There’s a 60% unemployment rate and high school graduations are the lowest in the state of Minnesota. Could this be because of their “sovereignty”? They are their own “nation” within our nation. They live by their own rules and their own laws. At first, they thought they could punish one bad person they didn’t want on their reservation by extricating him to live off of the reservation for 10 years. The U.S. government said, Hold on a minute. We don’t want him. You find a way to deal or we will take up the matter of “law”. So there was definitely a learning curve, and the reason why education was to be so important in making the reservation successful over time.

The US, per previous treaties, gave land, and continues to give housing, welfare assistance, free healthcare, along with other social services, and free college education…IF they so desire. Now, about the land, our government has deceptively created the Dawes Act to take back some of that land and allot a portion (120-130 acres per family and 40 acres per single person), then reclaim any remaining land leftover. So now, this has created a checker board of mixed U.S. government territories and Native American territories inside the reservations. The rules and laws have become increasingly complicated on who has the right to enforce certain laws. This has also created a lot of division and hostility among the whites and natives.

The longer the Native Americans stay uneducated, the longer they will stay poor. The treaties, agreements, and laws weren’t designed to make them rich, only to provide the bare necessities to sustain life. The rest is left up to them, just like welfare for citizens of the U.S. It just isn’t designed to make the poor rich…IT SUSTAINS LIFE! That’s it! I say this because when before they were living in uninsulated, boarded shacks with tar paper roofs, the U.S. government finally gave them insulated HUD housing built in tracts with indoor plumbing and electricity. They complained about living in tracts because it put warring bands living next to each other, even though they had the option to opt out. It wasn’t a requirement to live in the tract housing. They complained about having to live with sheetrock because they weren't used to it and didn’t like it. They complained about how cheap the houses were made, when before their situation was much worse. It almost seems like they were mad and unappreciative because they weren't living better lives than what they were seeing surrounding them...outside the reservation...but their desire was to be a sovereign nation.

The only difference that I can see between the Native Americans and the super poor hillbillies living in the Appalachian hills of Jackson, Kentucky (“Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis” by J.D. Vance), and the super poor hillbillies living in the hills of Buck’s Peak, Idaho (“Educated” by Tara Westover), and of the 10,000 Acadians (my ancestors) whose villages were pillaged and families separated and deported from Grand Pre in 1755-1765, of which 53% of the first 3,100 died during that earliest deportation, is that the Native Americans were provided for by the United States and were allowed to stay Sovereign. They were even allowed to keep their 5,000 slaves as they made their way across the Trail of Tears, and they continued to be their slaves until emancipation. These blacks are called the Freedmen, and are considered a tribal member, as well as all their descendants today. They receive all the benefits that the Native Americans receive, within the tribe and from the U.S.

Just like the Acadians in Louisiana, whose culture and language was nearly extinguished, the Native American’s have nearly lost their culture also. But, I think they may be a little too fixated on the idea of sovereignty, land possession, and government handouts, and I believe it is holding them back. Their own leaders in each band who set the laws and regulations for governing have long been known to be morally corrupt, along with the U.S.’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). GREEDY! GREEDY! GREEDY!

Both our cultures are now bringing back an immersion into our native languages. That’s step one. Good or bad, reservations have invested in Casinos, which has and is still bringing in billions of dollars to whichever band and/or reservation it is built. Depending on the success of the Casino, each tribal member can receive up to at least $80,000 per year. Now this is where the greed comes in because a portion of this Casino money has to be split among all noted tribe members. For example, the Cherokee tribe, which has grown to unimaginable proportions are now, in court, trying to remove the Freedmen from being a part of the tribe. They don’t want to share the mother-lode with them any longer. The Native American's want their restitution for life, but not willing to give it up for the people they enslaved...hmmmm....

The Cajun's have used their ingenuity well to make a name for themselves in Southwest Louisiana, and all without sovereignty, and without the free amenities and special status in life. I don't feel slighted at all and am super-proud of our heritage! The authors, Tara Westover and J.D. Vance, made it out of the hills and, because of being educated, became successful in their lives…without sovereignty, and without losing a part of themselves. They each were lucky enough to have had that one stable person in life who lead them in the direction they needed to go. People grow up to be a product of their environment! Period! And if, on the reservation, there continue to be the highest crime, dropout’s and drugs, and poorest-of-poor who are complacent and satisfied with menial handouts, then their people aren’t taking responsibility for their young. It doesn’t take a village to raise a child, it takes one person keeping an eye on that child 24/7 and leading him. If they want to see change, then they need to start that change now.

Now, I’m not taking anything away from the Native Americans. I actually do have much love and respect for their culture and would hate to see it disappear, but, I am tired of all the excuses of failure from the different ethnic groups here in America being put on the white man because, believe it or not, there are also plenty of white men who are dirt poor and freeloading on the system too. And I know that if our Cajun culture slips away, I will know it's our own fault for not leading our youth. No one else to blame but ourselves!

I remember liking or at least learning a lot from Brown's Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, but Treuer's framing of his work as a response to rather than a continuation of it is absolutely necessary. Treuer's juxtaposition of living Native Americans with historical events post Wonded Knee drives home his point that while it is important to know the history of his people - they should not be relegated just to the past.

This novel of hardscrabble life in a town bordering an Ojibway reservation in Minnesota, in a housing tract called "Poverty", after President Johnson's War On. Three generations venerate the land - the descriptions of which are the true beauty of the book - and there's interference in the form of Vietnam, the Catholic Church, and the brutal weather. Jeannette and her twin brother lovers have two children after Duke and Ellis rescue her from servitude in an Iowa home where she was placed by the church in 1918. They walk from Iowa back to Wisconsin on an old Indian trail. Neither their children nor grandchildren can make much progress nor put much distance between themselves and destitution, but they stay close to the land and to each other. There's an elemental sadness and hopelessness living side-by-side with family love and interdependence that remains with the reader.

“Like reservations themselves, this book is a hybrid. It has elements of journalism, history, and memoir. As such it is meant to be suggestive rather than exhaustive. It is meant to capture some of the history and some of the truth of reservation life—which is not any one thing but many things depending on where you’re looking and to whom you’re talking.” – Dave Treuer, Rez Life

Based on the author’s above-stated purpose, I think he succeeds. Treuer starts the book with his personal experience growing up on a reservation. He then relates the results of many interviews that offer insights on what “rez” life is like today. In the process, he delivers a history of reservations, including past treaties, violations, and major changes in the law since conception. His primary focus is on his own tribe, the Ojibwe in the Great Lakes region, but he visits other tribes as well.

The book is structured around people and their stories. This works for the most part, though it can occasionally seem disjointed and allows for many digressions into side topics. Content includes the origins of casinos on Indian land, treaty rights, tribal sovereignty, and the various states of Indian cultures – some thriving and others dwindling. It highlights ongoing social problems on reservations such as poverty, violence, and substance abuse. It clears up many misconceptions. The author is obviously proud of his heritage. He remains optimistic, while not glossing over the challenges faced by reservation residents.

Thorough history of ancient indigenous cultures up to wounded knee. About indian life, resilience and hope, not just their struggle.

this was a very slow read for me, but not because it was badly written or hard to pick up. it's so full of information - important information - that i couldn't read it too quickly. (which i know i did, and i will have to go back to this book, i think, a few times.) this is an excellent, full throated, well written explanation of many different tribes of native americans and their histories and heritages, and a trumpeting of their existence and thriving future. it's really well done, and in many cases is a bit of a rebuttal against some well respected and widely read histories.

i'm sure (mostly?) that i'd heard this before, but somehow it hadn't cemented into my brain - but columbus never even made it to mainland north america, after all we gave him "credit" for.

"...it wasn't merely 'germs and steel' that spelled the end of the 'red race.' The Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, and many others had weathered disease and rebounded. Moreover, they had done almost everything 'right' by the standards of the new republic. They had fought for the government (including under Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend). They had devoted themselves to farming and trade, developed court and legislative systems - they had proved themselves socially and culturally adaptive. And this had done nothing to assuage the determination of the colonists and settlers to seize their land and resources. "Neither superior technology nor an overwhelming number of settlers made up the mainspring of the birth of the United States or the spread of its power over the entire world,' writes historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. 'Rather, the chief cause was the colonialist settler-state's willingness to eliminate whole civilizations of people in order to possess their land.'"

"I cannot shake the belief that the ways in which we tell the story of our reality shapes that reality: the manner of telling makes the world. And I worry that if we tell the story of the past as a tragedy, we consign ourselves to a tragic future. If we insist on raging against our dependency on the United States and modernity itself, we miss something vital: as much as our past was shaped by the whims and violence of an evolving America, America, in turn, has been shaped by us."

Actual Rating: 4.5/5 stars
Review: This was a really well thought out and well done book. We don’t tend to talk about Native American history after Wounded Knee, instead focusing on how white people progressed on the American continent. I couldn’t give it a full 5 of 5 stars due to the breakdown of chapters being a tiny bit confusing.

There's been a lot of attention recently to how poorly we are taught about the history of race in America. Much of that focuses on our relationship with African-Americans. Our knowledge of American Indian history and culture is even poorer. Treuer's book made me realize how ignorant I am--and at that, I probably knew more than a lot of Americans.

The initial section is a potted history of Indians prior to 1890, the year of Wounded Knee. It's interesting and points up a lot of details that are often omitted to school kids--not just the history of broken treaties, but the ways the US government moved many tribes and effectively created some modern groups by pushing tribes together. Treuer's book emphasizes the diversity of Indian life and culture.

As the book progresses towards modern times, it becomes less a traditional history, and more about the stories of Indians themselves. The politics are covered fairly thoroughly, but Treuer allows Indians from different parts of the US to tell their own stories and remind us that Indians aren't just historical figures, but part of a living culture that has changed and adapted over time both through coercion and by choice.

nonfiction (history of Indian reservations) I only got to page 75 or so; would have liked to learn more but got frustrated with the meandering narrative (interspersed between long bouts of legal and political history). I would have had an easier time if there'd just been individual histories--Ojibwe talking about their experiences and their families' experiences, or if the legal/political history could have been expressed more succinctly.

Essential reading. I really appreciated its scope and found it so much more engaging than the book it aims to reframe.

In the author’s notes of Rez Life, David Treuer calls his book a combination of memoir, journalism, and history, and that’s exactly how it reads. Treuer grew up on an Ojibwe reservation in Minnesota, and he uses his personal background and knowledge to explore the Native American experience. He illuminates many of the modern circumstances with historical information and relates it to his family and friends in a way that feels very connected and real. Rez Life is an excellent read for those looking for an introduction to the Native American struggle in the United States.½

My favorite non-fiction books usually combine a strong personal narrative within the subject matter, and David Treuer does just that in The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee. Treuer grew up on a reservation in Minnesota, and he weaves the stories of family and friends into the brutal history of Native Americans. Treuer does an excellent job of chronicling hundreds of years of injustice and mistreatment with lots of primary documents and interviews. His intimate connection to the material and interesting outlook on current events definitely heightens the book. I highly recommend this to non-fiction readers who want to expand their understanding of Native American events and history.

A poor adaptation of Atonement-meets-Brokeback-Mountain. Some of the major events are telegraphed so far in advance that you feel no surprise at any of the shocking plot twists whatsoever. The story itself is somewhat interesting, but it's not well handled. Further, the character of Prudence is badly developed, which makes her constant sexualization both troubling and suspicious, especially because the men are treated in a way that makes them "helpless" to her wiles and passive in her wake.

This is a great book about native Americans in the United States since the Wounded Knee massacre. The author begins with precolonial native life up to Wounded Knee but focuses and what has happened since. The author has done a vast amount of research on a plethora of tribal groups across the United States. There are extensive interviews with tribal elders, leaders and regular folks.. The author's thesis seems to be that while natives have suffered a myriad of injustices he sees a Renaissance in native culture, strength and in population growth occurring currently. I learned a lot.

Dust jacket

I began reading this group of essays first back in June, finished them in October after reading most of the novels it references, and then I read the whole book again over the last weekend. This is a complicated and open-ended and exploratory book and I recommend you read it because what I got from it might be completely different from what you get from it...in the tradition, I suppose, of all deep reading.

"Native American Fiction: A User's Manual" is a remarkable work for the way it isolates, through deep reading of a handful of novels, how contemporary Native American novels reflect and refract the heritage of colonialism, the heritage of genocide, the heritage of mystic nostalgia-building about Native American life...and the heritage of past writings about Native Americans, from colonialists and Native Americans alike. The book is among other things a close examination of the idea of "authenticity" in Native American works. The book tries to define what 'authenticity' really means, not by what critics and/or authors say, but from inside the text, from what can be gleaned from the novels themselves.

Treuer argues that writing that evokes 'authenticity,' when examined at a text-level, has less to do with getting back to a pure and pre-colonial storytelling tradition, and more to do with writing sentences that mimic 17th-19th century white authors, like Cooper and Grinnell and Longfellow. He posits that the language of the colonizer mimics to the language of "authentic" voices, and vice versa, to the point where however great a contemporary Native American novel is, it can't be distinguished at a textual level from a novel written by a non-Native-American.

Treuer carries this argument to the last possible iterative conclusion near the end of the book when he compares at a textual level the work of Sherman Alexie, champion of the idea of authenticity as an important bedrock of Native American fiction, with the work of racist charlatan Asa Earl Carter, author of the sham autobiography "Education of Little Tree." Treuer finds little to differentiate the works of these two authors that can be found within the works themselves. This is a bit mind-blowing and that is why it's important to read the whole book...there's a reason why this essay is near the end of a very carefully laid-out argument.

There is so much here to make you feel either aghast or enlightened or both at once because Treuer really does blow up a lot of cherished beliefs in his quest for absolute honesty--his desire to clear the mist and romance away from our collective idea of Indian-ness. Treuer is a huge fan of Erdrich and Welch and Silko but he is also happy to point out that Erdrich's work--how her novels work--has more in common with Proust and Faulkner than with 'authenticity..' and that Welch's elevated dialogue is influenced by Cooper, and that Welch uses techniques that hearken all the way back to Homer...and Silko's mythologies are not 'authentic' but are instead made anew to suit her fictional purpose...All the while he is asserting these authors mastery and genius. This is not a take-down. It's a build-up.

So in the end when Treuer states "There is no such thing as Native American Fiction," what he is saying is, I believe, that we readers need to pull back the easy assertions of 'authenticity' and to read with fresh eyes and without expectation that we know what the term 'Native American fiction' really means. Because 'authenticity' is only, Treuer seems to say, an obscurity of what is really going on in these novels. To claim 'authenticity' is in a way to diminish their novel-ness, their nouvelle-ness, their innovative greatness.

One of my favorite passages of this book is a close read of an Objibwe poem and its English translations. Within that fragment of original, 'authentic' literature is such a pure beauty, even if the fragment was meant as a children's rhyme. Treuer doesn't quite say that the only true authentic Native American literature is limited to pre-colonial periods, or to works written originally in Native American languages. But he allows for what has been lost.

A fascinating read, with its core thesis challenged in interesting ways by the author himself on every page, in a way that allows the reader to spin and speculate about literature in wonderful ways. It is in the end a book for readers, giving us new ways to approach and appreciate these novels as readers.

Old review:

More a journey than a thesis, Treuer's Native American Fiction: A User's Manual gave me, as a reader, new perspectives, rather than hard conclusions. Treuer posits motivations of fellow Native American authors and why they write what they do; these are always interesting. He also shares his assumptions about what (mostly white) readers bring to a novel written by a Native American. His suppositions are made declaratively, not self-reflectively. I loved his certainty. I loved his opinions. I re-thought my own reading experiences of the novels he writes about and came to new understandings of these. I was mostly persuaded. And I enjoyed spending time with Treuer, as he explored a topic that he has thought about deeply. This is the best kind of literary criticism--a kind that opens both worlds and words to new interpretations.

This is an imperfect book, and yet it is absolutely extraordinary. Truer has given us the history of America's indigenous people, attempting with admirable success to tell the stories of many different nations, as impacted by European imperialism. The majority of what is here is history I never learned, and I am someone who has actively tried to gain this knowledge. Of course its a series of terrible tales, more shameful than I could have imagined. As far as I know the material in this book has never been taught to a single American schoolchild. (I do have a couple friends who went to rez schools, and I will need to ask them if they knew all of this.) Every American should be taught this history, it is essential to understanding America. With this book Treuer seeks to change the narrative of Indians as victims, a narrative with its popular genesis in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Instead Treuer tells us the story of resilient peoples. Indians who faced unimaginable violence and oppression and soldiered on.

To create this narrative of resilience Treuer blends history with memoir, social science, modern oral history, and political philosophy. While I understand his choice, in my opinion Treuer tries to do too much, and it makes it hard to follow the book in parts. As a reader I found I wanted more history, and suddenly I was listening to the personal stories of modern Indians. Again, I get that these modern stories illustrate the costs of the history described, and the power and resilience of communities who have had their land stolen, their citizens murdered, and their good faith mocked for hundreds of years. Still, I think this approach muddied everything, this should have been two books. Still, it was a perspective changing read which I know I will reread. It turns out to be one of the best reads of the year for me, but if it had been streamlined I think it would have been on my best ever reads list.

David Treuer should be widely applauded across America for this book. His introduction, especially, is important. This is a book about survivors. If I could summarize, I'd say "After all they've done, we're still here. Get used to it."

We need more Native writers being praised for presenting a positive view, precisely because that's not what the general public wants and expects. As the title directly addresses, readers are too accustomed to the "Bury my Heart" Indian, the beaten, downtrodden, end-of-the-trail, relic Indian. It's time to meet the real thing: adaptive, resilient, modern.

Yes, there is a lot of information here; you knew it's not all pretty; now see how it's not all in the distant past. We're still making history today -- did you know there is a Diné citizen running in the 2020 Presidential race?

While much of this history may be new if you haven't made an effort to learn Native history or Federal Indian Law, everyone in the U.S. should know this stuff, at least in broad outlines; if you don't, you're uninformed. Furthermore, if you live in the U.S. there is probably even more you should know about the specific history of your own neighborhood. Do you know it? Do you know what language belongs to your land? If you don't speak it, can you explain and justify that fact? If you own property, can you trace the title back to a fair and legitimate transfer from the indigenous nation? You may not know your local history, but it's very possible that someone is still around who does. They may be living next door.

This book was incredibly hard for me to rate. I think it deserves a 5. Most of the time the reading experience for me was only a 3 and sometimes a 4, and only occasionally a 5, and sometimes even a 2. I can’t in good conscience give it less than a 4 and it pains for not to give it 5 full stars.

This should be a history book (and class) in every high school, preferably mandatory – so different from the false histories I was taught when in K-12. Ideally it would be supplemented with other materials and visits by Native Americans giving talks and participating in discussions and answering questions, but this would work as the main book for the classes. It is an important book and I learned so much. I do consider this a “must read” book for everyone, particularly residents of North America, but everyone.

The reason for the docking of a star was that for me it was a really slow read. I always wanted to keep reading and never lost interest but it wasn’t a page-turner for me. It took me 4 weeks to read. I read other books during that time even without them I think it would have taken me nearly as long to read. It’s really, really dense. All crucial information but slow going.

I got hold of the audio edition thinking my reading would go faster if I simultaneously read the hardcover the Overdirve audio edition but I was wrong. I hated the narration. I was shocked to hear a woman’s voice doing the narration; I was expecting a man! This is David Treuer’s story, his family’s story, his tribe/People’s story, and his account of interviews he had with others and his take on history and the present. If it can’t be in his voice it needs to at least be a man’s voice. The narrator’s inflections might be his and I like to think that they are, but it still sounds wrong. So I mostly just continued reading the hardcover book, after giving the audio edition along with the paper edition a fairly long trial period.

I enjoyed his story. I love his parents, including his Holocaust surviving Jewish father.

I wish there were even more but I appreciated all the maps, photos, drawings, pictures that were included. I always love maps in books and those here helped me better understand the narrative.

I almost immediately felt guilty for having loved the book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee when I read it decades ago when it was a recently published book. The author makes a compelling case for why that book misrepresents things. More than once in the book he talks about why that book disturbs him.

This book is so packed with information. Only at 100 pages in does the reader reach the subtitle of “1890 to the Present.” The first 100 pages is more distant history. And when people now talk about the Native Americans/Indians of this area or that area, well I had no idea. There were a plethora of tribes/Nations in most areas. Not just the ones remaining in the more recent past. So many! So much change!

When I read the California section I see so many names that are now street names and place names in my city and I want them changed! They should never have been named as they have been!

My favorite parts were the section prior to 1890 and other earlier rather than more recently in history sections or the more present sections because I learned so much. Much of what was written about the mid-1960s to the present I had more awareness going in, though I still learned much and still enjoyed many people’s stories.

There are many exceedingly distressing accounts and there is also a fair amount of humor. The narrative shows the complexity of this history.

The Epilogue and the A Note on Sources were both excellent and made me appreciate the book even more!

I didn’t read all the notes pages 461-488 (I always wish this information could somehow be included in the book proper) or all the index pages 489-511.

In summary, this is a fascinating, informative history of Natives in North America, particularly in the area that is now the United States, from the distant past to the present. I highly recommend it. I wish I’d had history taught to me like this when I was in school. (This is a book written with adult readers in mind but I think it’s fine for high school and up.) I want to read even more on this subject. I can’t do this book justice in a review. It’s so full of information, history, stories. Highly recommended

Lyrical writing and a strong sense of place can't save this novel, which leaps from narrator to narrator back and forward through a span of years as it tells the intertwined story of a tiny community on the Chippewa Reservation of northern Minnesota.

Relationships are complex, with "family" defined more by emotional ties than genetic ones, and multiple vignettes flash by in search of a plot. The title character, a physically and mentally challenged boy, is little more than a thread wandering through the scenes without either tying them together or giving them depth.

A 4.5, it loses a half point for some organizational issues, but otherwise this is stellar. Treuer addresses not just the problems on the reservations, though he does not ignore those, but also so much that is vital about these communities. While focusing primarily (but not solely) on his own Ojibwe community on the Red Lake rez in Minnesota and the nearby reservations in the parts of this that look at modern life for Indians, Treuer also tackles a good deal of the history of Native Americans after the arrival of Europeans on US soil in a way that shows Indians as victims and warriors, as statesmen and isolationists, and as people of generosity and greed. There is a grit, an honesty, and a historical rigor here that is admirable, but its also a super enjoyable read. I have never read anything like it.½

Treuer masterfully mixes personal stories in with the history of American Indians, particularly the Ojibwe (Chippewa) of Minnesota. The stories are compelling, and the history will be new to most people as little of it was covered in your high school or college classes. An important book to read for anyone who wants a deeper understanding of American and American Indian history.

Un écrivain nous entraîne à la rencontre de l'une des faces cachées de l'Amérique contemporaine: celle des réserves indiennes ou règnent : crime et misère, casinos et richesse sans oublier l'extrême pauvreté.

Got about one-third of the way through and knew it just wasn't going to happen. Seemed simultaneously hurried regarding history, and also plodding. Not very engagingly written

Through historical accounts and depictions of reservations across the U.S. in the present-day, David Treuer reveals the ways in which reservation life has been for Native Americans simultaneously tragically bleak and yet surprisingly hopeful. The number and variety of laws and regulations regarding taxes, the use of natural resources, education, courts and self-government, are remarkably complex, and it was personally eye-opening to learn how reservations function on some level almost as sovereign nations, with many citizens opting to travel abroad on reservation passports rather than a U.S. passport. Though there is some repetition and errors that should have been caught by Treuer's editors, this is an important book, especially for fellow Minnesotans.