Like a Hurricane: The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee (Paperback)

by Paul Chaat Smith (Author), Robert Allen Warrior (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
This highly readable history documents three turbulent years in the history of Native America, beginning in the early winter of 1969, when a few dozen activists occupied Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. The American Indian Movement became prominent by that action, and Chaat and Warrior chart its fortunes through the three years culminating in both Nixon's reelection and the siege at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, where armed AIM sympathizers held off federal agents for eight weeks. The period between Alcatraz and Wounded Knee, the authors write, "was for American Indians every bit as significant as the counterculture was for young whites, or the civil rights movement for blacks." --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly
At the outset of this detailed, lively history of the American Indian protest movement in the early 1970s, its authors say that a problem with most other books on Indians (they do not use the term Native Americans) is that they were not written by Indians themselves and that, however sympathetic, they tend to portray Indians as victims and pawns. Smith, described as an activist by the publisher, and Warrior, a professor of history at Stanford, both Indians, have chosen to write about a brief period?the birth and early days of the American Indian Movement (AIM)?when American Indians were indeed politically and socially active. The book focuses on three Indian protests?the 1969 invasion and 19-month occupation of Alcatraz Island; the 1972 seizure and trashing of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Building in Washington (renamed Native American Embassy for the occasion); and, a year later, the two-month occupation of Wounded Knee, North Dakota, that ended with two dead and 300 Indians under indictment (which effectively bankrupted AIM). Smith and Warrior write clearly and dramatically; they have researched and interviewed well; and although unabashed partisans of the Indian cause, they are frank and even-handed to a point that might be painful to AIM diehards. An important addition to the history of a political movement that has yet to reach its stride. Photos.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 343 pages
• Publisher: New Press (September 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565844025
• ISBN-13: 978-1565844025
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #512,895 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An eye-opener!, June 29, 2000

By	"zarings3" (maple valley, wa USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Like a Hurricane: The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee (Hardcover)

I knew nothing about any of the events depicted in this book. They had been referenced in some other readings I had completed so I was seeking out more information. I felt this book was a great synopsis of the events of the Indian rights movement of the 60's and 70's. I was disappointed in the lack of information on Leonard Peltier and his situation. I wanted the book to continue for a few more years! I think it is sad that the general public has forgotten, so quickly, what occurred during this time. I was born in 1965 and I think once this movement was waning from the media, it was quickly forgotten by the majority of Americans, which is sad. I would recommend this book to anyone searching to understand the plight of the Native Americans today and the history of their search for freedom and the right to exist as they choose.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great historical read!, September 8, 1999

By	[e-mail] (Indianapolis, IN) - See all my reviews

This book picks up where Dee Brown's Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee leaves off. I was afraid when I ordered this book that it would be too politically technical, but it wasn't at all. It really held my interest right from the beginning. It's the first insight that I've really been exposed to about the Native American Civil Rights Movement. The authors really tried to be as unbiased as possible by not only exposing the deceit of the US Government, but by also exposing the weaknesses and mistakes within the Native American factions who were originally involved in the early movement. After reading this book, my wish is that some day I'd love to have dinner with Dennis Banks and Russell Means. What interesting conversation and stories they could tell!!! What true (Native) American heroes they are!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Balanced Story of the Radical Indian Movement AIM, November 1, 2002

By	Daniel Hurley (Chesapeake, VA.) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Well written book by Native Americans who write an objective history of the 60's style Indian movement that merged into Dennis Banks' American Indian Movement. The first section about the Alcatraz take over is very informative about the Bureau of Indian Affairs plan to move Indians off the reservation to assimilate them in Cities. Unfortunately, many of the Indians that relocated off the reservation ended up in their own Ghettos in poverty. However, these urban Indians such as the Mohawk Russell Oakes get personally involved in the take over of Alcatraz. The authors define well how the plans to take over landmarks comes about, the value of publicity and they bluntly
describe the failures in organization. The failures botch attempts to take Ellis Island and leave the Trail of Tears caravan virtually without shelter which inadvertently results in the take over of the BIA building. Unfortunately, the movement seems to falter with acts of vandalism, burning of a building in Custer, South Dakota and the destructiuon of buldings at the seige of Wounded knee and the unfortunate circumstance of kidnapping. The damage to property, reports of alchol abuse such as the get together in Warrenton, VA. undermines the movement in my mind. Thse acts seemed to diminish the goals of the Indian Movement although the authors make a point that even Martin Luther King could not control all the elements of his movement. Although the actions of AIM do obtian publicity and sympathy for their movement, the authors ironically note that their followers never materialize in large numbers. The book peaks with the reoccupation of Wounded Knee that succeeds as a great reminder of the mistreatment Indians in the past and invoking tribal rivalry between the current council President and AIM. In the finale, the authors note the failure of AIM to maintain itself after many of its leaders such as the charismatic Russell Means are put on trial or in some cases put in jail. The authors quote admirers and critics of the movement which is punctuated with the lack of concrete ideas that could translate to realistic acheivable goals and a lack of organization. Overall a very fascinating book that I wish spent more time on the transition of its main leaders to "Reborn Capatalists" (Banks)
and movie Stars (Means - Pochohontas and "the Last of the Mohicans). In addition, I wish the book provided more detail on the desires of reservation Indians, their problems and ideas for positive change. Very unfortunate that Clyde Warrior, one of the main leaders of the 60's rebirthing of an idealistic Indian movement, dies in the late 60's at the youthful age at 29. If he could have maintained his health and vision, his impact on AIM might have led to greater organization and acomplishments.

It was interesting to note that the authors refer to Sitting Bull as a Oglala Sioux when in fact he was a Hunkpapa Sioux (page 190).