I went in looking to understand the Native American, and finished with a greater understanding of the world.

I got something different out of this book that I wasn't expecting. Jane Elliot, the creator of the infamous 'Green Eye / Blue Eye' test (look it up if you on YouTube haven't already, be ready though, it gets rough) has a recommended reading list on her website, and this book was on it. Going in, I wasn't sure what the meat and bone of the book would detail, and I certainly didn't know the nuances of modern Native American culture. On one hand, I had the vague knowledge that Native American culture, above western culture, understands that there is a spiritual aspect to life that transcends monetary value. The earth is not so much ours, so much as WE belong to it. This, along with a few other impactful statements, quotes and general history (thank you Mr. Howard Zinn) had been the extent of my knowledge before being introduced to Vine Deloria Jr .

For anyone reading this, Custer Died for Your Sins will inform you on a number of topics. These range from disseminating the real and unreal perceptions of Native Americans; dismantling the 'The Anthropologist' (laugh out loud chapter); breaking down the Native view on western religion and the missionary situation; understanding the government agencies dealing with the tribes; shedding light on Native humour; contrasting the civil rights movement with the wants and needs of natives; and, last but not least, how Native Americans can move forward from their current situation. However, the most astonishing realisation the reader will have as he/she explores the native world, is how the above mentioned will have the profound ability to make you simultaneously understand the native view, and see your world in a completely different light. I marked the below quote out as an example:

"But the understanding of the racial question does not ulti­mately involve understanding by either blacks or Indians. It in­volves the white man himself. He must examine his past. He must face the problems he has created within himself and within others. The white man must no longer project his fears and in­ securities onto other groups, races, and countries. Before the white man can relate to others he must forego the pleasure of denying them. The white man must learn to stop viewing history as a plot against himself.

It was more than religious intolerance that drove the early colonists across the ocean. More than a thousand years before Columbus, the barbaric tribes destroyed the Roman Empire. With utter lack of grace, they ignorantly obliterated classical civiliza­tion. Christanity swept across the conquerors like the white man later swept across North America, destroying native religions and leaving paralyzed groups of disoriented individuals in its wake. Then the combination of Christian theology, superstition, and forms of the old Roman civil government began to control the tamed barbaric tribes. Gone were the religious rites of the white tribesmen. Only the Gothic arches in the great cathedrals, sym­ bolizing the oaks under which their ancestors worshiped, re­mained to remind them of the glories that had been."

A note on all of the above mentioned topics (especially the final one). It's a shame this book hasn't received an update on the various issues discussed in its pages. Apart from a preface written in 1987 from the author- something I would recommend reading before AND after finishing- there's little more to find that will sate the interest of the reader (believe me, you'll want to know how certain aspects of the communities spoken of are doing now). I do feel this is important specifically to this book (it is a manifesto after all), as I felt at times I was reading something solely stuck in it's time period, with no additional notes added in it's pages. As such, this does make for slower reading as you feel you may be taking in information that actually doesn't hold precedent in the 'now'.

The only other reason this has four stars is due to a disagreement I had with Delorias on the concept of Corporations, and how he believed the infusion of a Native American tribalism could be combined with the concept of the White Mans attempt at tribalism to make Indian lives better. I won't go into detail seeing that as a white male living in London, I really can't judge concepts being thought up by a man 4,477 miles away, who was trying to better the lives of his people, and who, in turn, were very well aquatinted with the difficulties experienced (and still experienced) on a daily basis with the once imported, now mutated capitalist juggernaut that is the United States government. However, I will say that I found it weirdly contradictory that he mentions Native Americans rising again to their former glory (in some form), only to then talk about the above concept, which, to my eyes, seems like a massive compromise on the behalf of the Native American people to take a white concept, and turn it into something good for the original people of the American land. Another discussion for another time I think.

However, this will not ruin the effect this book will have on the reader, and you will come out a better person for having opened it.

It was written about 50 years ago, so in some ways obviously dated, but a lot of it still holds up. Caused me to look at some things very differently than I had before reading this (separatism, academia, welfare).

While slow and heavy with technical theory at times, I found this book extremely compelling. Deloria makes it known that the Indigenous American is not merely a victim and should not be invisible or overlooked. This book is now a relic of the 1960s, yet I still found many of his ideas relevant to today's moment, especially with the newfound emphasis on native wisdom in regards to climate change and the explosion of the Black Lives Matter movement. I thought the chapter comparing the Indigenous struggle for sovereignty as a legal struggle with the black power movement's need for cultural reform was quite interesting, although I might need a second opinion to be fully convinced. Deloria intersperses his intriguing ideas with dry, witty humor. His snark regarding anthropologists, the christian church, and native humor was much appreciated. I also thought his relation of the history of the Jewish people to Native Americans was fascinating–definitely not something I had even considered before, nor had I thought tribalism could be portrayed in such a positive light. All in all, not the most gripping read, but still very interesting!

History is an unjust, black comedy. With biting sarcasm, this is a point that Vine Deloria, Jr. makes crystal clear in Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto. Published in 1969, this is most definitely a product of its time. However, while advocating for the specific needs of Native Americans during the American civil rights movement, Deloria also writes here a piece of social criticism that was well ahead of its time.

In fact, a great deal of what Deloria writes still holds true in the present. He is one of the first writers I have found to denounce ‘race’ as a social construct, as well as layout the social pitfalls of ‘stereotypes’ for the Native American community. Without using this specific verbiage, the theory is clearly here. Deloria paints a vivid image, and his language is dry, angry, and quite funny at times. There is a profound emotional honesty in his rage and apathy. I can see why this work is so important to so many people.

Writing on a number of topics, the most important chapter for me was “Anthropologists and Other Friends.” To be clear, Deloria does not consider Anthropologists friends (or allies), and thoroughly criticizes how researchers in the field academically benefit from Native Americans without really giving anything in return. As someone who has one degree in Anthropology and a second in Archaeological Heritage, I can 100% understand where he was coming from, especially in the 1960s. While I think that anthropology (and archaeology) can today be used as tools to help underserved communities, the history of the field is one of Western hegemony. Plain and simple.

Furthermore, as a Peruvian American (a halfsies mestiza), I completely understand the emotional anger at the root of much of Deloria’s criticism. Ironically, I chose to study anthropology and archaeology as these were the only fields in which I could learn about my own heritage, as well as non-Western cultures. But as Anthropology, the most scientific of the social sciences, is a study of the ‘other,’ it certainly can contribute to issues of paternalism, hegemony, and even appropriation if researchers fail to understand the humanity of the people they are studying.

While it can warm my heart to hear about the real love and genuine appreciation of my people’s culture, I will still cringe when I hear about folks “Eat, Pray, Love” experiences in Peru. I can’t not be offended by those who use other humans as props for their own character development, or value a culture’s objects over the people who create them. So, when Deloria exclaims, “…it would be wise for anthropologists to get down from their thrones of authority and PURE research and begin helping Indian tribes instead of preying on them. For the wheel of karma grinds slowly but it does grind finely. And it makes a complete circle” (100), I find no fault in this reasoning.

For all that Deloria gets right on the money, I must criticize his lack of empathy for other minority groups active during the Civil Rights movement. Grant it, many of his observations and anecdotes are centered on explaining what would work (and not work) specifically for Native Americans. However, he is quick to belittle much of what African Americans were doing as thuggish, which is an unfair characterization both ethically and realistically. After writing such scathing denouncements of harmful Native American stereotypes, Deloria is still guilty of harboring similar prejudices against minorities different from himself. That was disappointing.

It would be intellectually dishonest of me to praise Deloria’s visionary social criticism, without denouncing his own short-sightedness. Still, I tried my best to understand this work within its contextual point in time and space, and found it to be fairly illuminating on the whole. I would recommend the book, especially if you have native heritage, work with indigenous people, or just want to see the world from a different perspective.

Should be required reading for anyone considering getting some sort of tribal tattoo!

A landmark book that details the historical interactions between Native American civilizations and United States agencies (government, military, religion, etc.) Infused with irony and humor, this book is far from a dry recitation of history.