Variable winds carry the stench of burned flesh up to the promontory where I, General Jos Mara Rangel, sit atop my nervous horse. It occurs to me that the smell is not unlike that of an asado I sampled in Buenos Aires some years ago. Meat, after all, is meat, whether animal or human. From time to time the animal beneath me shies and dances when a rolling cloud reaches high enough to engulf us. Below, the village of Tomchic smolders, nearly leveled. The last stronghold was the church. I see smoke billowing out of its windows and around the steeple, signaling the end of the last of them, as if they could win a challenge against me and my mission to rid the north of insurgent vermin. No, we will not honor the village corpses. Those not incinerated will be left to rot. It will be a lesson. Another lesson. * * * Tomchic Blood At the turn of the nineteenth century, each of the countries of North America--Canada, the United States and Mexico--determined to crush opposition throughout their lands with military force, if need be. InManitoba, Louis Riel, the leader of the Mtis, was hanged in 1885. The massacre by the US Cavalry of the Sioux at Wounded Knee in the Dakotas took place in 1890. And in the Sierra Madre of Mexico, the village of Tomchic in Chihuahua was razed by federal troops in 1892. The Mtis, the Indians, and the Mestizos incurred the wrath of their governments by defying attempts make them surrender their lands, their cultures, and their autonomy. There were survivors, however, those who escaped the devastation and those who are descendants and relatives of the victims. The spirit of self-determination yet lives among them. This is a story of one lone writer and teacher who did notabandon the demand for justice.

"Uncovers the origins of the Red Power movement"

During the 1960s, American Indian youth were swept up in a movement called Red Power--a civil rights struggle fueled by intertribal activism. While some define the movement as militant and others see it as peaceful, there is one common assumption about its history: Red Power began with the Indian takeover of Alcatraz in 1969. Or did it?

In this groundbreaking book, Bradley G. Shreve sets the record straight by tracing the origins of Red Power further back in time: to the student activism of the National Indian Youth Council (NIYC), founded in Gallup, New Mexico, in 1961. Unlike other 1960s and '70s activist groups that challenged the fundamental beliefs of their predecessors, the students who established the NIYC were determined to uphold the cultures and ideals of their elders, building on a tradition of pan-Indian organization dating back to the early twentieth century. Their cornerstone principles of tribal sovereignty, self determination, treaty rights, and cultural preservation helped ensure their survival, for in contrast to other activist groups that came and went, the NIYC is still in operation today. But Shreve also shows that the NIYC was very much a product of 1960s idealistic ferment and its leaders learned tactics from other contemporary leftist movements.

By uncovering the origins of Red Power, Shreve writes an important new chapter in the history of American Indian activism. And by revealing the ideology and accomplishments of the NIYC, he ties the Red Power Movement to the larger struggle for human rights that continues to this day both in the United States and across the globe.

"Uncovers the origins of the Red Power movement"

During the 1960s, American Indian youth were swept up in a movement called Red Power--a civil rights struggle fueled by intertribal activism. While some define the movement as militant and others see it as peaceful, there is one common assumption about its history: Red Power began with the Indian takeover of Alcatraz in 1969. Or did it?

In this groundbreaking book, Bradley G. Shreve sets the record straight by tracing the origins of Red Power further back in time: to the student activism of the National Indian Youth Council (NIYC), founded in Gallup, New Mexico, in 1961. Unlike other 1960s and '70s activist groups that challenged the fundamental beliefs of their predecessors, the students who established the NIYC were determined to uphold the cultures and ideals of their elders, building on a tradition of pan-Indian organization dating back to the early twentieth century. Their cornerstone principles of tribal sovereignty, self determination, treaty rights, and cultural preservation helped ensure their survival, for in contrast to other activist groups that came and went, the NIYC is still in operation today. But Shreve also shows that the NIYC was very much a product of 1960s idealistic ferment and its leaders learned tactics from other contemporary leftist movements.

By uncovering the origins of Red Power, Shreve writes an important new chapter in the history of American Indian activism. And by revealing the ideology and accomplishments of the NIYC, he ties the Red Power Movement to the larger struggle for human rights that continues to this day both in the United States and across the globe.

Variable winds carry the stench of burned flesh up to the promontory where I, General Jos Mara Rangel, sit atop my nervous horse. It occurs to me that the smell is not unlike that of an asado I sampled in Buenos Aires some years ago. Meat, after all, is meat, whether animal or human. From time to time the animal beneath me shies and dances when a rolling cloud reaches high enough to engulf us. Below, the village of Tomchic smolders, nearly leveled. The last stronghold was the church. I see smoke billowing out of its windows and around the steeple, signaling the end of the last of them, as if they could win a challenge against me and my mission to rid the north of insurgent vermin. No, we will not honor the village corpses. Those not incinerated will be left to rot. It will be a lesson. Another lesson. * * * Tomchic Blood At the turn of the nineteenth century, each of the countries of North America--Canada, the United States and Mexico--determined to crush opposition throughout their lands with military force, if need be. InManitoba, Louis Riel, the leader of the Mtis, was hanged in 1885. The massacre by the US Cavalry of the Sioux at Wounded Knee in the Dakotas took place in 1890. And in the Sierra Madre of Mexico, the village of Tomchic in Chihuahua was razed by federal troops in 1892. The Mtis, the Indians, and the Mestizos incurred the wrath of their governments by defying attempts make them surrender their lands, their cultures, and their autonomy. There were survivors, however, those who escaped the devastation and those who are descendants and relatives of the victims. The spirit of self-determination yet lives among them. This is a story of one lone writer and teacher who did notabandon the demand for justice.