In the Spirit of Crazy Horse by Peter Matthiessen
|
List Price: Our Price: $9.00 You Save: $11.00 (55%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.47 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of In the Spirit of Crazy Horse
Book Review: Textbook Example
Summary: 2 Stars
Bestseller or no this thing reads with all the flair of a high school history book. Dry, brick-like text, whose only narrative flow seems to be the chronology of it's chapter heads. How you can take cowboys and indians, soldiers and cops, politics and injustice, and make them dull reading is a mystery, but here it is. Good stuff for your research paper I imagine but if you're looking for a page-turner you might find more craft in the FBI files.Book Review: History paid for
Summary: 1 Stars
History paid for.
The fundamental fact that Peter Matthiessen didn't mention in his detailed account of the American Indian Movement, the so called "Reign of Terror" at Pine Ridge in the early 1970s, the brutal murder of two severely wounded and defenseless federal agents and the trials of Leonard Peltier and his co-conspirators, is that while researching, interviewing and writing ITSOCH, he was under contract to share the profits with Leonard Peltier. That guaranteed him unlimited access. Hardly objective reporting.
Matthiessen did however go through great lengths to provide a tremendous amount of detail even if the bulk of it came from the usual suspects themselves.
In the end though, he was also convinced of Peltier's guilt. He shunned Peltier's only real alibi, that someone else, a Mr. X, whom they all knew and Matthiessen skeptically interviewed. Matthiessen was "Taken aback by this unexpected story." And when it came down to the basic facts of the killing of the two FBI agents he said "If there is another persuasive explanation of the location and position of their cars, I cannot find it."
Matthiessen also reported that one of Peltier's key attorney's, Williams Kunstler believed Peltier was guilty as well: "I know Bill Kunstler (another of the AIM lawyers) thought they killed the agents, but he believes that they were innocent whether they did it or not."
But it must be inordinately embarrassing for Matthiessen, The Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, Peltier, and his supporters to know that someone of the stature of Alan M. Dershowitz, the distinguished Harvard law professor, said that Matthiessen "is utterly unconvincing - indeed sophomoric - when he pleads the legal innocence of the individual Indian criminals. The American Indian Movement - like every militant fringe group - contains its share of violent criminals who seek to glorify their predatory acts under the flag of the movement." "...(and) not only fails to convince; he (Matthiessen) inadvertently makes a strong case for Mr. Peltier's guilt. (New York Times, book review March 8, 1983.)
Because it provides much detail, ITSOCH is a good reference for comparing prior statements of the participants in the murders of special Agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams to their later contradictions and subsequent claims, all of which have changed over the years. It does serve as a good foundation and litmus test to further demonstrate Peltier's guilt.
Book Review: Lost Spirit
Summary: 1 Stars
From a purely academic viewpoint, this so-called meticulously researched historical tome falls flat. Not only does it fail to convince, it fails to inspire from a humanistic point of view. Where there is accurate informantion, it is almost always with regard to general Indian history of the late nineteenth century. No new ground is covered unless it is couched in falsehood and mired in misdirection in favor of what the FBI characterized as a small but threatening group of domestic terrorists. AIM. Moreover, poor documentation renders Peter Matthiessen vulnerable to charges of dereliction and lack of due diligence. Matthiessen may have fooled the media into believing his fable about a wronged man who went to prison for a crime he didn't commit (even Peltier's lawyer doesn't go that far, preferring to rely solely on parole merits), but his story doesn't fool Indian County readers. Native publisher Tim Giago says many of the book's claims in defense of Peltier are simply ridiculous and are meant to reel in liberals and gullible types of the author's stripes. This book is a stink bomb that has been repeatedly set off in academic circles and reservation communities, steadily enveloping uninformed victims. Because I was inoculated with the truth learned from another book, American Indian Mafia, I forced myself to withstand the smell and finish the chore. I can't recommend that to anybody.Book Review: ridiculously one sided
Summary: 1 Stars
I am a history buff and appreciate well written history on any subject or event. I especially enjoy books that take a balanced or at least comprehensive look at the subject matter. I understand that most history texts have a point of view, regardless of how hard the author tries to be balanced and fair. This book did not even make the effort. I was ready to be persuaded either way the author, but instead came away feeling the same way i do when i listen to a lawyer is describing how great their client's case is. In fairness i read a fifth of the way through before i abandoned the effort. I purchased it (as an audiobook) because i had previously read the author's novel "Killing Mr. Watson" and enjoyed it immensely.Book Review: A book so biased it changed my mind
Summary: 1 Stars
I picked up this book hoping to educate myself about the situation with Peltier , the FBI and the action on the Lakota reservations in the 70's. What I got was a book so biased, so "white men bad, native good" that it stunned me. The author heaped the hyperbole high and wide. He is apologist for any native action, accuser for any white person's thought. I came away thinking that Peltier probably belongs in prison.