Penn has led me to insight into my own mixed-up family as my mother seems to have forgotten her own mixblood memory--had it not been for my grandparents, I would have never known my great-grandparents were members of the Delaware nation. Racial shame is the wrong way to bring up your children, and Penn clearly depicts the suffering it inflicts upon the entire family.

I think that good autobiography brings us to that space and place in our humanity where we must stop and rethink America's history so we do not continue to make the same mistakes again. Penn relates how American history has affected his own family from Chief Joseph to the present. What I enjoyed most was the way he wove textual criticism of other Native authors and their works into the story of his life. He is truly a gifted storyteller, and knows how to connect with his reader.

This is an amazing book. It is hard to write about one's own family and make it interesting. To go further and make it not only interesting, but relevant to others, takes a writer of rare talent. Penn is clearly such a writer, and I was very pleasantly surprised at the creative and original approach taken in this work. The author draws thought-provoking parallels and connections between his own mixblood Indian family's dreams, visions, failures and successes, and those of other families, in particular other native and mixed-blood families, including exploration of the writing of many historical native American figures. This is a creative and very original book, highly recommended.

Read this in College. Found it to be the best complete review of American Indian policy from colonial times to present.

A formal review of this book appears in the July, 1996, issue of the New England Historical and Genealogical Register

I picked this book up after college, as an alternative to his much more comprehensive (and expensive) The Great Father. I was impressed by how much detail he goes into for the treaties and time periods, although I was somewhat pressed to remember the names and personalities involved. It was a wonderful book to read, if you're interested in this material, and I am. The historical references, in particular, were helpful in understanding why some treaties have the wording that they do.

This book has been a Godsend to me for researching specific Native American legislation. The book saved me weeks of time by zeroing in on specific congressional legislation germaine to Native Americans. The book is clear and concise enough to give any researcher the actual law or document related to N.A. History

This is a collection of essays by such disparate authors as Helen Hunt Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt, John Collier, and Vine Deloria; grouped into three categories: The Indians Dispossessed; Problems of Cultural Contact; and Assimilation or Preservation. A good reference for major historical events such as the Dawes Act; also a good reference or introduction for basic issues such as Protestant missions and the colonial mindset.

This is one I've been searching for, for several years. If you want a good, one volume work on the role played by the army during the pre-Civil War years, buy this book. One major item that is brought out is that troops on the frontier were used as laborers building roads more than actual military service. The conflicts among the officers as well as the politicians are covered as well. The bibliography is a gold mine of first hand sources