In the Spirit of Crazy Horse: The Story of Leonard Peltier and the FBIs War on the American Indian Movement

Synopsis

On a hot June morning in 1975, a fatal shootout took place between FBI agents and American Indians on a remote property near Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Four members of the American Indian Movement were indicted on murder charges for the deaths of two federal agents killed that day. Leonard Peltier, the only one to be convicted, is now serving consecutive life sentences in a federal penitentiary. Behind this violent chain of events lie issues of great complexity and profound historical resonance. In this controversial book, Peter Matthiessen brilliantly explicates the larger issues behind the shootout, including the Lakota Indians historical struggle with the U.S. government, from Red Clouds war and Little Big Horn in the nineteenth century to the shameful discrimination that led to the new Indian wars of 1970s.