This is a work of fiction that won the Pulitzer Prize in 2021 but the story is based on the life of the author's grandfather who was a North American Indian who stood up to the the government and did his best to protect the rights of his people.
As a prize winner, it goes without saying that this is a very accomplished piece of writing, and as with many Pulitzer Prize winners, it not only makes a good read, but teaches the reader something as well. There can't be anyone out there who isn't aware of the injustices heaped onto the Indian population by the American government over many years, but what really surprised me was the intention to take away their cultural identity as recently as the mid 1950s.
The Indian population had once roamed the plains of America with tribes dotted all over the land, but starting from the 1700s more and more land was taken from them until, by the middle of the last century, they were left with tiny patches of farmland where the soil was too poor to grow much of anything. In the 1950s many Indians were barely surviving and very malnourished, but they clung on to what they had left because they didn't want to be herded into the cities away from the natural world.
In 1953 The Indian Termination Policy was launched, and it was dressed up as an act of goodwill towards Indians as they would become American citizens just like everyone else. In practice what it meant was that all the land they had fought so hard to keep would be taken off them and they would be forced to disperse and seek jobs wherever they ended up. Many of the people were not formally educated so they would never be able to afford to continue farming, and the type of jobs they were likely to get would keep them in poverty.
I was also interested to read that the Mormon Church caused problems for the Indians by constantly trying to convert them. According to Mormon scriptures the Indians were descendants of Lamanites who they believed to be a cursed people, and the Indians were told that if they could be converted their skin would turn white. Again, this was something that was happening in my lifetime, not in ancient history.
Threading through the history are family stories and many references to the Indian culture that is heavily based on the natural world. These days the Indian beliefs and practices are taken much more seriously and there is a lot of evidence to show that they knew what they were doing while the rest of us were messing up the planet.
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