Customer Reviews

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

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

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Anyone with interest in the Four Corners/Colorado Plateau, Native America, Public Land issues, wilderness, law or Western Americana must read this book. Wilkinson's credentials and legacy of work for justice are impeccable. His "Land and Resource Planning in the National Forest" is the best on the subject.

Critics on this site claim that it never happened; that is, Mormon attorney John Boyden never created a conflict of interest by represented Peabody Coal Company and Native America concurrently. (Read: "a Mormon simply wouldn't do it"). Mormons might think themselves irreproachable but greed and the need for glory know no boundaries. The veracity of Boyden's conflict of interest is archived at the University of Utah Marriott Library Special Collections. Anyone can read Boyden's own documents and come to their own conclusion. I have.

Conflict with Peabody or not, the critics have not disputed and cannot dispute the fact that Boyden represented both Hopi and Navajo horrendously over decades, advising them to accept legislation, water and mineral contracts that favored Anglo government and industry -- not the Indian or his land. (I use both "Native American" and "Indian" because some of my Native acquaintances prefer "Indian.") The contracts were so obviously bad and so far below market rate, they were successfully renegotiated many years later.

Wilkinson does a great job of explaining the cultural roots of both Mormons and Native Americans on the plateau that led to such travesties. The ultimate tragedy is that the Hopi and Navajo will never get back any of the plateau land that defines -- or rather defined them culturally.

From the detailed maps to the near 350 sources cited at the end of Fire on the Plateau, it is clear that Charles Wilkinson pours some of himself into these pages. He blends his personal experiences into the stories of the Colorado Plateau, especially the times he has with the people of the Hopi and Navajo culture binding together the issues that have defined the four corners region for over the past two centuries. His affection and admiration for the region and Native American cultures adds to the intimacy of the discussion about how those cultures have been affected by what has happened in the Southwest.
Wilkinson's extensive historical background and personal narratives makes for a powerful combination that is critical to understanding the conflict that has dominated the Plateau. Issues such as greed, ignorance and long drawn out legal battles prove to the reader that this `wasteland' is being pulled at from all sides by all types of corporations. Especially good are Wilkinson's discussions of the Mormon influence on the region, and the dubious dealings of John Boyden, a questionable lawyer who is said to have gone behind the backs of the Hopi people to benefit himself financially.

Fire on the Plateau is a book that needed to be written. Misdeeds, betrayal and environmental chaos are all subjects that have been brought up and dealt with on the Colorado Plateau. These are issues that no human should have to deal with, no matter if the people are "just Indians" or not. The book addresses not only the people of the Four Corners area, but anyone who lives, or has lived, in the Southwest. The facts cannot be ignored and doing so only eludes one from the truth of what has happened, and what will continue to happen in the Southwest if people such as Charles Wilkinson do not speak up for the land.

Wilkinson is a rare mix of a writer who demonstrates an expansive knowledge of the subject matter and who also exhibits a fiery passion for his subject. A major strength of the book was the audacity that Wilkinson possessed as he crusaded for justice, peace and equality for the Native American people. Although Wilkinson can play hardball with the toughest lawyers in the West he portrays a man who is very down to earth and appreciates the beauty of the land.

Overall, I would be lying if I said the book did not captivate my attention. I have lived in the Southwest all of my twenty-two years and did not know injustices such as these were going on right under my nose. Wilkinson has enlightened me and woken me from what I thought was a peaceful and undisturbed land. Fire on the Plateau has kept me up well throughout the night and as I turned each page of the book, I was just as engrossed as the last page. Wilkinson does a fantastic job creating such an informative narrative and to say the least, I was not disappointed.

LET JUSTICE ROLL DOWN.SEE www.blackmesatrust.org as the rest of the story in this book unfolds.

Being somewhat familiar with the history of the Navajo-Hopi conflict, I was naturally drawn to the premise of this novel which resulted as being a one-sided, extremely inaccurate account of the 20th century Hopi history. After performing my own "due diligence" on the subject, I was appauled to learn that the author's slanderous accusations of attorney John Boyden are not substantiated and grieviously misleading. Peabody Coal has officially denied and submitted written proof that Boyden was never engaged in any "conflict of interest" nor on any payroll while representing the Hopi. I discovered that Wilkinson's mysterious "proof" of Boyden's affiliation with Peabody is painfully erroneous as the author draws awfully creative conclusions from very little evidence.
In 1997, Wilkinson suggested that legal recourse would be sought for Boyden's "devious conduct" against the Hopi, but seven years later, Wilkinson's claims have not been substantiated at any significant level. Why is this? I was very unimpressed to learn that after writing with such conviction and certainty, Wilkinson's "shocking revelation" about Boyden's "misconduct" as a focal point of the novel is and will most likely remain a hollow witch-hunt. I would not recommend that anyone read this novel because of it's poorly executed investigation of John Boyden's service to the Hopi Indian Tribe.