An amazing read. Informational and insightful.

Dunbar-Ortiz’[b:An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States|20588662|An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States (ReVisioning American History, #3)|Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1395003842l/20588662._SX50_.jpg|39861426] was grim and horrific, yet while Deloria covers some of the same territory, he does so with a cheeky humor which slyly exposes the hypocrisy of white America’s attitudes towards Native Americans. His chapter on “The Anthropologist” in which he presents a a pseudo-sociological analysis of this sub species is a hoot, but will also give many well-meaning white academics pause: why do universities and government agencies shower so much grant money on white people to study Indians, as opposed to giving it to, well…Indians? Likewise , in discussing "The Missionary", Deloria quotes a midcentury “expert” who ponderously declared that Indians were in fact human. “Thanks", quips Deloria , “we were really worried about that”.

Written mostly in the late '60s (with a few updates in the 1987 edition) what I found most challenging was Deloria’s disapproving assessment of the Black Power movement and of Indian connections to it. Deloria saw civil rights and Black Power as primarily cultural movements advocating for Black inclusion in white society, whereas Native interests lay in being left alone by white society. However Deloria fails to appreciate the underlying issues of white resentment, dispossession and violence which threaten both communities. While the two have different histories, their exploitation by whiteness means they have much in common. Black power was not about culture but about economic and legal rights, and MLK fought for the political power of the vote and an to end white terror against Black people, nor just for the right to sit next to whites at lunch counters. Deloria’s dismissal of the Black struggle is disappointing.

I have read two other books recently that led me, finally, to this one...the first book articulating issues from a Native perspective: There, There, by Tommy Orange (a novel about urban Indians), and Lakota Woman, by Mary Crow Dog (a memoir of the struggles of AIM in the 70s). Add to this, the appointment of Deb Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo, as Sect of Interior, which oversees the federal relationship with all Natives. Deloria got some things right, I think, in 1969, and others wrong...but Haaland's appointment can open a new chapter to our sorry relationships with the first Americans.

This books is a series of essays, each focusing on an aspect of Native life, and Native relationship with White America...His book foresees the struggles of the 70s when AIM arose.

He mocks how, even as the dominant society marginalizes, attacks, and ignores Indians, nearly everyone wants to claim ancestry from an Indian Princess. Elizabeth Warren comes to mind here...but, in OK, sometimes it's hard to really get at the truth in some families. He analyzes the federal program of 'termination', essentially breaking all reservations, all Native governments...all identity. After 400 years of broken treaties, they tried to obliterate the tribes.

He criticizes the anthropologists who get big money every summer to 'study' the tribes, and to go home and write papers with lots of footnotes. He slams the missionaries and religious leaders who tried to take Native religion away in the name of 'civilizing' people. Those mission schools were brutal places for children...and that is on us.

In 1969, Deloria compares and contrasts the struggles of the Civil Rights movement of Black leaders with the Native American nationalism movement (see AIM and Native American Church. Blacks had been excluded from American society...Natives were being forced to be assimilated. The situations and goals of the two groups of oppressed people were different enough that he supports Native withdrawal from the Civil Rights movement...His essay on Indian leadership shows the tensions of trying to unify all the tribes into one movement or not...of working together even tho goals for tribes may be very different. He speaks here from experience as a leader.

His vision of the future is optimistic. He predicts urban Natives will become new leaders of the movement...he sees termination ending, tribes allowed by the feds to chart their own futures, according to the needs and strengths of the tribes.

Now...back to those other three books. Orange gives us a heartbreaking look at urban Natives...they have not grown the way Deloria hoped. They have lost their tribal identity, and all those programs have not actually helped Natives who are cut off from their heritage. Crow Dog's memoir takes place just a few years after Deloria's book...she was deeply involved in the AIM struggle. Deloria would be happy, tho, to see Native religion become important again, as Crow Dog tells us.

And Haaland...my God. What an opportunity. What a task.

A summary of items I agree with other reviewers about:

-Vine Deloria is very funny. Damn. If you are in the crosshairs of his joke, good luck not getting singed. So dry and incisive.
-He contradicts himself a fair amount throughout these essays, but his contradictions are interesting food for thought.
-What he has to say about the Civil Rights and Black Power movements hasn’t aged very well.
-This is an important read. The essays 'Laws and Treaties' and 'The Disastrous Policy of Termination' are essential reading.

Man, what a great book. Deloria is incredibly funny and self-deprecating to his own culture, while also offering bits of profound wisdom. If you want to read a really good book about how the Native Americans have been constantly swindled, this is a great read.

"When a people can laugh at themselves and laugh at others and hold all aspects of life together without letting anybody drive them to extremes, then it seems to me that people can survive" - Vine Deloria Jr.

Must read for anthros.

"But in many ways the veil is lifting and a brighter future is being seen. Night is giving way to day. The Indian will soon stand tall and strong once more" -- Vine Deloria Jr., pp 242

This manifesto is powerful because of its knowledge, its perspective, and its voice. It reveals the personal nature of Indian Affairs, a sentiment that is often lost in history and historical documents. Deloria Jr. is an important figure in Native studies as he works to bring the importance and gravity to these topics and discourses in which our voices have often been neglected or ignored outright. He presents a powerful collection of voices in an effort to display the plurality and collective hurting that is happening in Indian Country. We work to continue his conversations and thinking into the modern world, where tribes and Indians can enjoy the culture and rights they were always meant to have.

I picked up this book at the home of my aunt right before taking a week long beach vacation. The same aunt gave me Deloria's God Is Red for my birthday, and I hadn't read it yet, so I figured this might be a good primer before taking on the other book.
Deloria hits the nail on the head with a lot of things in this book. The Indian Humor. The rise of traditional religions. With his scathing sarcasm, his voice radiates off of the page. He also gets a lot of things wrong, however, in a way that almost made me want to stop reading several times.
His treatment of "black militants" and the Black Power movement in general leaves something to be desired. Do I understand what he's saying? Yes. It's not that I don't get it, it's that I don't think we should use words like "ape" when discussing the way black people in the 1960s attempted to gain rights and recognition in the settler state. Additionally, I don't think the corporate mindset is good for indigenous communities. Yes, holding property in common while keeping personal property is good. Yes, working towards the greater good of the community is good. But I think the word Deloria was looking for and was probably adverse to using during the time the book was written was something along the lines of communism. I disagree with his capitalistic outlook on how tribes can advance themselves, especially when it's coupled with his own knowledge that Indians tend to be removed from US politics and economy. In but not of the settler state. Why dive headfirst into settler economy if the goal is recolonization and eventually a red North American continent?
Deloria contradicts himself quite a few times, but the book was still a good read. I finished Nick Estes' Our History is the Future the same day I started this book, so I was primed for the talk of treaty rights, especially with regard to the making and breaking of specific treaties, as well as talk of Task Force reports, that the average reader may not be prepared for. Even with my qualms, I think I will still read Deloria's other works, especially considering how large of an impact he has had on so-called Indian Affairs.

A 1969 classic, many parts have held up well, some not so much. I don't know Indian history well enough to how the subsequent 50 years' experiences would change these essays. I particularly enjoyed the essays on anthropologists and religion.