Ward Churchill has hit upon a very important and eye opening subject for those that believe everything their history teachers and the media dishes out to them about the American Indian. Mainstream America is still in the dark about the reality of the first peoples of this country. I was moved by many portions of this book and would love to see it made into a PBS series for public consumption. The only sad part is most of the people that need to be informed wouldn't think of reading this book or watching anything on PBS. It is a consise and important work.

Great book that goes deeper in the analysis of popular books on native american cultures and "testimonials" written by pro-natives and anglo-saxons alike.

Great food-for-thought book.

Would also recommend Taos Pueblo and the battle for the blue lake, very sad yet great book.

I would say this is worth 4 stars, but seeing how one reviewer is bent on giving it the worst possible to make a statement rather than a review, I decided to attempt to neutralize his rating.

Churchill's review on cultural myths and cinema tragecomedies that rewrite history to their liking are somewhat striking. One would expect that there is some bias, but to see it put under the microscope as churchill does is more than an eye-opener.

It's not another "white man steals again" books, but rather an intellectually secure book that makes claims outside the public spectrum of politics. And do I dare say, sometimes radical politics are right! Indigenous americans have been slandered. John Wayne has only secured the subtlely racist notions of indigenous savagery and such.

The truth will set you free

Many of the essays in this collection appear to be a forceful attack on the sovereignty of Indian tribes, spun as a bizarre imitation form of radical Indian rights activism. A common theme is the angry defiance of Indian tribes' right to decide who their memers are. Jaimes makes this argument most directly in an essay called "Federal Indian Identification Policy," in which she claims that Indian tribes copied their enrollment methods from a congressional statute, the 1887 General Allotment Act. However, contrary to Jaimes's assertions, the General Allotment Act in fact never contained the "blood quantum" standard that Jaimes accuses Indian tribes of imitating. Ultimately, the false information about Indian tribes spread by Jaimes and other contributors to this volume amounts to a meritless attack on Indian tribes and a concentrated effort to confuse the public about Indian issues generally. Unfortunately, since most readers know so little about Indian political issues, many will unwittingly take this propaganda as gospel truth. The predictable result will be greater oppression for Indian tribes and Indian people.

This book is the cornerstone of my library on contemporary Native America. As a Quinault-Cowlitz woman who has struggled with maintaining her identity in a world hungry for John Wayne's Indians with feathers, I found this work a profound relief from most of what is available. Jaimes is the editor of Ward Churchill's best book to date: Fantasies of the Master Race. Here she shows an even greater expertise in bringing together some of the most profound and prominent feminist voices in the contemporary pro-Indian movement.

I've recommended this elsewhere to people who innocently consume fake Native American texts (e.g., Castaneda's): this is the real thing. Its leanings are pretty radical, and some of its statistics are -- well, those citing them obviously have a vested interest in maximizing the numbers. But it's got some great arguments in it, some descriptions of events that I'm sure weren't in your middle school history texts, and some beautiful prose as a bonus. Check it out.