Fire on the Plateau: Conflict And Endurance In The American Southwest [Hardcover]

Charles Wilkinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1999 | ISBN-10: 1559636475 | ISBN-13: 978-1559636476 | Edition: 1

"This book recounts my journey through the Colorado Plateau, a journey through place and time and self.... During my explorations of more than three decades, I found a land that sears into my heart and soul, a place that has taught me and changed me. I also discovered a land of conflict and endurance, a land that has given birth to one of the great chapters in American history." --from the Introduction The Colorado Plateau, stretching across four states and covering nearly 80 million acres, is one of the most unique and spectacular landscapes in the world. Remote, rugged, and dry -- at once forlorn and glorious -- it is a separate place, a place with its own distinctive landscape, history, and future.In "Fire on the Plateau," legal scholar and writer Charles Wilkinson relates the powerful story of how, over the past thirty years, he has been drawn ever more deeply into the redrock country and Indian societies of the Colorado Plateau. His work in the early 1970s as staff attorney for the newly formed Native American Rights Fund brought him into close contact with Navajo and Hopi people. His growing friendships with American Indians and increasing understanding of their cultures, along with his longstanding scholarship and experiences on federal public lands, led him to delve into the complicated history of the region.Wilkinson examines that history -- the sometimes violent conflicts between indigenous populations and more recent settlers, the political machinations by industry and the legal establishment, the contentious disputes over resources and land use -- and provides a compelling look at the epic events that have shaped the region. From centuries of habitation by native peoples toMormon settlement, from the "Big Build-Up" of the post-World War II era to the increased environmental awareness of recent years, he explores the conquests of tribes and lands that have taken place, and the ways in which both have endured.Throughout, Wilkinson uses his own personal experiences as a lawyer working with Indian people and his heartfelt insights about a land that he grew to love to tie together the threads of the story. "Fire on the Plateau" is a vital and dynamic work that is sure to strike a chord with anyone interested in the past or future of the American Southwest.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Colorado Plateau of southern Utah, southwestern Colorado, and northern Arizona and New Mexico is the site of some of America's most prized national parks, among them Zion and Grand Canyon. It is also the center of ongoing conflict about the best use of natural resources, as the federal government, Indian nations, and ever-growing municipalities struggle to obtain control of water, minerals, and rangeland. As a former natural-resources attorney and now professor of law at the University of Colorado, Charles Wilkinson knows that struggle well, and his new book provides an on-the-ground overview of some of the most pressing conflicts. Some of his fieldnotes will come as no surprise to Westerners and students of the environment; others come as eye-opening news, whether the fact that Navajo Indian children are regularly bused to schools far away from home, traveling as much as 150 miles a day, or that radioactive waste and fallout from cold-war mining and testing remains a critical danger to public health across the plateau. Wilkinson's findings are often depressing; as he writes, "Thirty-five years ago I saw the West as clean and fresh, open and uncluttered. I no longer see it that way. I love it still, with all my heart, but I fear for it. For it is aging rapidly." Even so, he offers a few success stories to temper the bad news, notably the hard-won designation of large sections of the plateau as protected wilderness, with the promise of more extensive protection to come. --Gregory McNamee

About the Author

Charles Wilkinson is Moses Lasky Professor of Law at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado. Among his books are Crossing the Next Meridian (Island Press, 1992) and The Eagle Bird (Pantheon, 1992). --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Island Press; 1 edition (April 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559636475
• ISBN-13: 978-1559636476
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,166,815 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful, heartfelt, and engaging perspective, July 23, 1999

By 

Kevin Kinnear ([e-mail] (Denver, Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fire on the Plateau: Conflict And Endurance In The American Southwest (Hardcover)

Like his other books (e.g., "The Eagle Bird" and "Crossing the Next Meridian"), Professor Wilkinson pours some of himself into these pages. He blends his relevant personal experiences on the Colorado Plateau, especially times with the Hopi and Navajo, into an account of the issues that have defined that region over the past two centuries. His reflection and respect for the region and Native American cultures permeate this discussion about how those cultures have been affected. The historical background and personal narratives are critical to understanding the conflict that has dominated the Plateau -- especially good are the discussions of the Mormon influence on the area, and the highly questionable dealings of John Boyden with the Hopi (this was the topic of an outstanding article in the BYU law review and lecture at that school). Rarely do you find a writer with such expansive knowledge of the subject matter who also exhibits such passion. As a student of several of his classes at CU Law School, I expected such an engrossing and informative book -- I was not disappointed.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indian rights (and red rocks and more) - an unbiased expert's view, contrary to a possible conflict-of-interest reviewer, January 20, 2006

By 

S. J. Snyder "De gustibus non disputandum" (Various, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fire on the Plateau: Conflict And Endurance In The American Southwest (Hardcover)

I grew up on the Colorado Plateau, just minutes from the "Big Rez," and Charles Wilkinson paints a detailed social, natural and geologic picture of this land, about as close as you can get to the Third World here in the United States, in some ways.

Having one of the largest American Indian populations in the country, and certainly so going by percentage of the population, Indian relations with whites, whether private citizens or the state and federal governments, form a large part of this area's history. Wilkinson, with extensive experience in Indian law, gives an expert's eye view to how this has played out on the Plateau, especially since the rise of the Indian rights movement in the 1970s.

No less a person that Southwestern Indian-oriented novelist Tony Hillerman praises this work for that very expertise. And Hillerman, who has included Navajos, Apaches, Hopis and Zunis as protagonists in various of his novels, would know biased opinion if he saw it. (Contrary to one reviewer here, John Boyden's apparent conflict of interest in representing the Hopi HAS drawn calls for investigation.)

Wilkinson's exposure of how politically connected Salt Lake City attorney John Boyden sold the soul -- and massive coal mining rights -- of the Hopis out to Peabody Coal while also on retainer to Peabody takes up a good-sized chunk of this book. As Wilkinson was the person who discovered the smoking gun, and that in turn was partial motivation for this book, you can feel his anger in defense of Indian rights come through.

For an outside thumbnail history of this, read this Phoenix New Times story at: http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/Issues/1997-05-01/feature_1.html

The next two factors in this area are the hardness of its natural features and its aridity, as pointed out by explorers like John Wesley Powell. And, per Powell, communal-minded Mormons appear to continue to have the best success of Anglos in dealing with this land.

Then, this area has been America's energy frontier ever since the Manhattan Project at nearby Los Alamos. Much of the country's uranium in the early years of the Atomic Age came from this area. Radiation poisoning, Indian treaty negotiations and environmental hazards are part of that mix.

Oil and natural gas, touched on by Wilkinson, are part of that picture, too, as are logging rights.

Getting back to the American Indian theme, Wilkinson shows how development of these resources has caused fractures in governments of most Southwestern Indian tribes, fractures exacerbated by the fact that their current government structures were imposed by Washington without regard for traditional native systems.

Meanwhile, the start brilliance of red rocks, painted desert, deep canyons and twisting slot canyons serves as the unchanging existential background for this thin-veneered modern story.

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NB: Yes, it's commenting about another reviewer, but I highly suspect "Tom Scadden" has an axe to grind, political or otherwise, with his one-star review. Google had only eight links any Tom Scadden; half of them were to his review of this book. And, though he wrote that review three years ago, it's the only book he's reviewed on Amazon. So, take his rating with a huge grain of salt.

And, I have a hunch that I know who this really is. I think it may be Stephen Boyden, younger son of John Boyden, and himself an attorney -- indeed, he is on record as claiming his father did NOT work for Peabody at the same time he worked for the Hopis. If this is actually Stephen Boyden, well, he learned his conflicts of interest out of the cradle, I guess.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I like this lawyer., July 18, 2004

By 

Philip Carl "EcoAngler" (Half Moon Bay, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fire on the Plateau: Conflict And Endurance In The American Southwest (Hardcover)

Its definitely not everyday that I find a lawyer to admire, so Charles Wilkinson is that rare exception. A bit reluctant at first to pick up a first hand account of recent resource and tribal issues on the Colorado Plateau as seen through the eyes of a lawyer, my attitude changed within a few pages. Charles Wilkinson writes with heart! It doesn't take long to see this writer has an obvious emotional investment in the clients and cases he goes to bat for.

The book opens with a telling case of Navajo high schoolers commuting long hours to attend classes. Wilkinson and his firm made the case that long bus rides were leaving students tried before and after class and hurting their grades. With evidence and conviction, they got high schools built on the reservations. With each case recounted, I could sense Wilkinson's attachment to the Colorado plateau and its people grow and grow.

Fire on the Plateau also provides a much broader telling of both the social and natural history of the Four Corners area. But what really set this book apart from others in my mind is Wilkinson's emergence from a lawyer who is just doing his job to someone who bonded to the land and the people he served.