Customer Reviews

Fantasies of the Master Race: Literature, Cinema, and the Colonization of American Indians

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book is great just because Churchill offers analysis of some of the tough cases of Indian fiction, nonfiction and film -- cases that you thought were open and shut "pro-Indian". He leaves aside the Billy Jacks and the John Waynes as obvious absurdities, and with unmatched scholarship tackles movies and books YOU thought finally gave an accurate portrayal of Indians. Buy this book if you loved Dances With Wolves or think you know everything about Carlos Castaneda.

I would say this is worth 4 stars, but seeing how one reviewer is bent on giving it the worst possible to make a statement rather than a review, I decided to attempt to neutralize his rating.

Churchill's review on cultural myths and cinema tragecomedies that rewrite history to their liking are somewhat striking. One would expect that there is some bias, but to see it put under the microscope as churchill does is more than an eye-opener.

It's not another "white man steals again" books, but rather an intellectually secure book that makes claims outside the public spectrum of politics. And do I dare say, sometimes radical politics are right! Indigenous americans have been slandered. John Wayne has only secured the subtlely racist notions of indigenous savagery and such.

The truth will set you free

Ward Churchill has hit upon a very important and eye opening subject for those that believe everything their history teachers and the media dishes out to them about the American Indian. Mainstream America is still in the dark about the reality of the first peoples of this country. I was moved by many portions of this book and would love to see it made into a PBS series for public consumption. The only sad part is most of the people that need to be informed wouldn't think of reading this book or watching anything on PBS. It is a consise and important work.

Ward Churchill makes a compelling case that should be required reading for anyone trying to understand the narrative of US history from something other than a Euro-centric point of view. He gently, and sometimes not-so-gently peels back layer upon layer veiling your eyes to understand the genocide still occurring in our treatment of the Native Peoples of our own land.

This should be required reading!

Great book that goes deeper in the analysis of popular books on native american cultures and "testimonials" written by pro-natives and anglo-saxons alike.

Great food-for-thought book.

Would also recommend Taos Pueblo and the battle for the blue lake, very sad yet great book.

Ward Churchill's bad research is evident in the fact that he can't even spell names correctly. More serious is the fact that Churchill is NOT an American Indian. His tribal membership was honorary and his diatribes have angered the very people for whom he claims to speak. Avoid at all costs and seek real facts from real historians or AIM.

Ward Churchill's "scholarship" would be laughed out of publishing houses if he did not have the "excuse" of supposedly being Indian--that ugly bit of reverse racism that presumes that Indians can't do first-rate academic or intellectual work and ignores the achievements of real American Indian scholars like Joseph Marshall, D'Arcy McNickle, Kate Shanley, Vine and Ella Deloria, and Donald Fixico. Like Jamake Highwater, Churchill's intellectual career has been built on a foundation of patronizing racist assumptions.

In a single note while discussing his extensive study of Westerns, he manages to misspell the names of Lash Larue and Johnny Mack Brown. That's a random selection; pick your own on any page. The Devil is in the details, and an honorary Indian needs to do his homework. If you screw up the little stuff, how can we trust the big stuff? Easy answer? Don't.

Churchill's "deconstruction" of the American Western is no more accurate than the depictions of Indians he derides. Replacing one ignorant prejudice with another, however appealling, is not progress. And taking the poor research and invective of a "honorary Indian" for the views of Indian people is a mistake. With friends like this, who needs the Dawes Act?

White man steals again! This time its the author. Ward Churchill's book is a worthless read full of his white man posing as an indian opinions. Wouldn't he serve indians by teaching his own race the evils of racism? Nah, he is making too much money. Next thing you know he will be claiming to be a Ketoowah. Oops, too late!