Customer Reviews

The Unquiet Grave : The FBI and the Struggle for the Soul of Indian Country

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Together with "The Race Beat"(Roberts & Klibanoff) and "Impounded" (Gordon & Okihiro), "The Unquiet Grave" completes a triumvarate of beautifully executed books published this year which scream the dangers posed by 'Homeland Security' abuses. Hendricks limns not just the atrocities of the FBI, but also the LAPD, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Justice Department, Supreme Court, State of South Dakota and more in a retch inducing indictiment. His deep though unobstrusive research starts in the Seventies and ends in today's world. This book deserves wide readership: and a wide readership deserves to know about this book. What happened to Indians or editors in Indian Country could very well happen to you and I today, anywhere. The governmental machine has lied and cheated and abused us all; only some of its direct objects, as discussed by Hendricks, happened to have red hued skin. Be warned, if you can be outraged by injstice, you may have trouble keeping your blood pressure under control while reading this book.

Reading this book reminds me of the adage: if you aren't appalled you haven't been paying attention. Before reading "The Unquiet Grave" I did not realize that Indian rights are being trampled by the U.S government in myriad ways even now. I knew of historical atrocities, the Trail of Tears, and so on, but I didn't know the extent to which the abuse continues to this day. Thanks to Steve Hendricks and his carefully researched book, now I am paying attention - and I am appalled.

Compelling, all the more so because it's true, The Unquiet Grave is a narrative that reads more like mystery or drama than nonfiction. Hendricks assesmbles his extensive research, skillfully weaving the micro (Aquash's murder) and the macro (the Indian rights struggle) into a tale of betrayal and cover-up that will keep the reader hooked to the end. Painstakingly documented, this book unravels in careful detail the missteps and abuses of power of government agencies, AIM activists, and ruthless Indian tribal leaders alike; it is a chilling account of injustices that helped to sink the Indian civil rights movement and of the innocent Lakota men, women, and children brutalized in its wake. A powerful book with themes such as government surveillance, corruption, conspiracy, and paranoia that resonate to this day.

This book helps one get understand the mind of the native american's - their struggles and the obstacles they face. This book bring to light yet another injustice. Beyond the subject matter, the book is written with style, sensitivity, a touch of advocacy (which is good and warranted), and with humor. Well worth the time.

The Unquiet Grave is written as a non-fiction book should be written--with verve, wit, and balance. The author, Hendricks, sifts through reams of information without imparting the pain of his research to the reader; with a novelist's ear and eye he makes every word count, every paragraph visual.

Throughout the book he weaves interviews, news accounts, court records, and censored FBI documents into a story you learn to care about. He does not shy from critical analysis of historical events or of the characters and parties involved, which is refreshing given the geography of most U.S. journalism today.

If you're concerned about the abuses of government powers (past and present), if you think injustice needs to be properly witnessed, then flip through The Unquiet Grave. It's a good read, a hopeful beacon in the fog and the darkness of the American political psyche. Support an investigative journalist working in the heartland of the U.S. empire--they are a dying breed on a punishing road.

Mr Hendricks' writing is great - his story is riveting and it shines a high power spotlight on the abuses of the FBI against native americans - an issue that all of us should be concerned about because it highlights the risk and threat that powerful agencies can pose to the rule of law and justice.

Usually works with this amount of research end up a boring read and destined for the bottom of the book pile. Not so with Unquiet Grave. Good thing I'm retired as I was glued to Steve's book for three days. Whether you are from this part of Indian country or elsewhere, you will find this book a remarkable storytelling backed by solid documentation and a balanced critique of all the players from that era. We complain about journalists who concoct a regurgitated version of the news. This author was not afraid to wade knee deep in a significant analysis of historical events that shaped American Indian civil rights. What disturbs me here is that the author or any citizen for that matter must seek legal action to obtain records from OUR government that are clearly records open to the public through the Freedom of Information Act. That should bother us all.

If you are looking for a book that gets right to the heart of government corruption in Native American history yesterday and today this is the book for you to read! The writer has done a wonderfull job researching and digging to get to facts that our inept and sickening government would like to turn a blind eye to. A must read for all people and definately for those who wish to enlighten themselves.

Steve Hendricks did the best job of any in documenting what happened during this period of time between American Indian people and no-Indian people in one document.

I was deeply committed and involved within the Indian communities because for some strange reason yet unknown to me I have been very close to Indian people since my youth.

I suffered and experienced the daily abject poverty with them in their homes and could not realize why they could never share what most of the people called the American Dream. I knew part of the answer was almost a

total culture of poverty rather than the Indian cultures I had learned about in school.Multi-generational abuse,physical,sexual,and substance abuse,was the direct cause of much dysfunctional behavior I witnessed.I decided early in my life and to do whatever I could do to help change whatever I could in my lifetime that would stop this injustice. I would give my own life to change that.

I always deplored most organizational efforts to accomplish anything however I joined the Michigan Chapter of the Great Lakes Indian Youth Alliance and the American Indian Movement. The reason why I joined is because for the first time in my life I could feel the surge of self respect,self actualization and spirituality within these organizations,and the individuals and Indian Communities involved at that time.It was a refreshing healing wind of change like you feel after a thunderstorm.

I actually thought the young brilliant Indian Warriors were street/woods wise and spiritual enough to avoid the pitfalls of other dominant culture civil and equal rights organizations but ultimately as far as I am concerned the movement became more and more corrupt exactly like the enemy as it matured.

Individual's like Russell Means,Dennis Banks,Ed McGaa,Floyd Westerman and others less visible continued to self actualize and work hard to individually accomplish the original goals of their and our youth in rather unusual ways after AIM died. I know that each one is committed to do what they can do to improve the lives of their families,extended families,and Indian Nations. Sometime being human they fall short of our and even their expectations. They do what they can as Warrior in spite of almost total overwhelming repression by the United States Government and the American society. However humanly flawed they remain in my mind truly contemporary Warriors of this century.

I also feel Steve Hendricks and many others are doing their best to bring out the truth and documentation of constitutional and personal injustices of those days.I expect other individuals with information to come forth with their knowledge and writing because our society is even much farther away from the truth and principals that this Country was founded on today.

As far as I am concerned whoever killed the active committed lives of the Freedom Fighters,Ray Robinson,Anna Mae Aquash, Neogeshick Aquash the FBI Agents, and the others made a serious mestake and destroyed the purity, beauty,and Sacred Place of the Movement. The murderer or murderers who called for the hit on the precious Warrior Anna Mae Aquash in that instant killed AIM with the same bullet. They will pay for that decision deep within their soul.

I was pleased to see a that the Law Library at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law purchased the copy of The Unquiet Grave I am reading for their students.

It is my hope and prayer that the youth of today will read everything they can get their hands on work, and commit to make justice a reality in their lifetimes.

As long as this abuse, poverty, and injustice remains in our society no one will be free. Until the truth is known we will all be in a "unquiet grave" just waiting for the next shovel of dirt.

If you want to broaden your knowledge,be alive,and aware at least read this book and those that will be forthcoming.

A number of important books have examined the role of AIM in awakening the American Indian to the plight they have been subjected to. These include Russel Means Where White Men Fear to Tread: The Autobiography of Russell Means and Dennis Banks Ojibwa Warrior: Dennis Banks And The Rise Of The American Indian Movement. While the movie Incident at Oglala - The Leonard Peltier Story has added to the story, this very insightful story examines the role of the FBI on the American Indian reservations, especially Pine RIdge and others in the Mid West. It deals extensively with the mysterious 1976 death of Anne May Aqash. This is a heavy book that makes the FBI out to be a truly negative influence and examines the continuing negative role of the U.S federal government vis-a-vis the reservations.

Thoguht provoking and important.

Seth J. Frantzman