In this latest work by the prominent historian, Deloria turns his audacious intellect and fiery indignation to an examination of modern science as it relates to Native American oral history and exposes the myth of scientific fact, defending Indian mythology as the more truthful account of the history of the earth. Deloria grew up in South Dakota, in a small border town on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. There he was in a position to absorb the culture and traditions of Western Europeans, as well as of the native Sioux people. Much of the formal education he received about science, including how the earth and its people had formed and developed over time, came from the white, Western world; he and his fellow students accepted it as gospel, even though this information often contradicted the ancient teachings of the Native American peoples. As an adult, though, Deloria saw how some of these scientific "facts", once readily accepted as the truth, now began to run against common sense as well as the teachings of his people. For example, the question of why certain peoples had lighter or darker skins posed an especially thorny problem - one that mainstream journals and books failed to answer in a way that was satisfactory to this budding skeptic. When he began to reexamine other previously irrefutable theories - of the earth's creation, of the evolution of people, of the acceptance of the notion that the Indians themselves had been responsible for slaughtering and wiping out certain large animals from their habitat over time - he also began to reconsider the value of myth and religion in an explanation of the world's history and, in the process, to document and record traditionalknowledge of Indian tribes as offered by the tribal elders.

After five centuries of Eurocentrism, many people have little idea that Native American tribes still exist, or which traditions belong to what tribes. However over the past decade there has been a rising movement to accurately describe Native cultures and histories. In particular, people have begun to explore the experience of urban Indians--individuals who live in two worlds struggling to preserve traditional Native values within the context of an ever-changing modern society. In Genocide of the Mind, the experience and determination of these people is recorded in a revealing and compelling collection of essays that brings the Native American experience into the twenty-first century. Contributors include: Paula Gunn Allen, Simon Ortiz, Sherman Alexie, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Maurice Kenny, as well as emerging writers from different Indian nations.

A 50th anniversary revised edition of the beloved classic, God is Red. First published in 1972, Vine Deloria Jr.'s God Is Red 50th Anniversary Edition remains the seminal work on Native religious views, asking new questions about our species and our ultimate fate. Celebrating three decades in publication with a special 30th-anniversary edition, this classic work reminds us to learn "that we are a part of nature, not a transcendent species with no responsibilities to the natural world." It is time again to listen to Vine Deloria Jr.'s powerful voice, telling us about religious life that is independent of Christianity and that reveres the interconnectedness of all living things.

'I think the strength of this volume lies in the sustained attention Deloria himself has given to religious matters over 30 years. His unique perspective offers our western mindsets a bit of 'shock therapy' thus opening up new horizons for us all to think differently about what really matters.' - Valerie Lesniak, Modern Believing Vol.40.4 Oct. 1999'

'one of the most stirring and articulate voies in America today'

A foundational work of radical anticolonialism, back in print Originally published in 1974, The Fourth World is a critical work of Indigenous political activism that has long been out of print. George Manuel, a leader in the North American Indian movement at that time, with coauthor journalist Michael Posluns, presents a rich historical document that traces the struggle for Indigenous survival as a nation, a culture, and a reality. The authors shed light on alternatives for coexistence that would take place in the Fourth World-an alternative to the new world, the old world, and the Third World. Manuel was the first to develop this concept of the "fourth world" to describe the place occupied by Indigenous nations within colonial nation-states. Accompanied by a new Introduction and Afterword, this book is as poignant and provocative today as it was when first published.

A growing controversy in recent years has arisen around the use and abuse of Native American team mascots. The Cleveland Indians, Atlanta Braves, Washington Redskins, Kansas City Chiefs, Florida State Seminoles, and so forth—these are just a few of the images and names popularly associated with Native Americans that are still used as mascots by professional sports teams, dozens of universities, and countless high schools. This practice, a troubling legacy of Native–Euro-American relations in the United States, has sparked heated debates and intense protests that continue to escalate. Team Spirits is the first comprehensive look at the Native American mascots controversy. In this work activists and academics explore the origins of Native American mascots, the messages they convey, and the reasons for their persistence into the twenty-first century. The essays examine hotly contested uses of mascots, including the Washington Redskins, the Cleveland Indians, and the University of Illinois's Chief Illiniwek, as well as equally problematic but more complicated examples such as the Florida State Seminoles and the multitude of Native mascots at Marquette University. Also showcased are examples of successful opposition, including an end to Native American mascots at Springfield College and in Los Angeles public schools.

In their homelands in what is now New York state, the Iroquois have assumed a prominent role in public debate as residents of the region seek ways to resolve multibillion-dollar land claims. The initial dispute over territorial title has grown to encompass gambling, treaties, taxation, and what it means to claim Native sovereignty.
Written from an Iroquois perspective, "Iroquois on Fire" is an in-depth study of the historical and social issues raised during the Iroquois' long struggle over disputed territorial titles. Douglas M. George-Kanentiio, a member of the Mohawk Nation and an activist for Native American claims, details the history of his nation from initial contact with the Europeans through the casino crises. As a key figure in the events of the last two decades, he uses his personal story to highlight issues of public interest: the land, family and community, geography, federal interference in tribal affairs, religion, political activism, land use/claims, and connections to organized crime. Though the story he tells is important in and of itself, it is rendered even more so because the interaction between New York and the Iroquois will surely affect the ways in which other states and the Natives who live in them address similar issues.

Author of more than thirty books of poetry, Western history, stories, fiction, biography, criticism, and Native studies, John G. Neihardt (1881-1973) was born in Illinois, taught for many years at the University of Missouri, and was named by act of legislature Poet Laureate of Nebraska and the Prairies. Neihardt was devoted to his ideals of art, spirit, humanity, and understanding. This volume brings together fourteen lifelong admirers, who each contribute a portrait or an appreciation of this American original. Best known for his 1932 classic "Black Elk Speaks," done in collaboration with the Lakota holy man Nicholas Black Elk, Neihardt is also justly regarded as an epic poet, travel writer, newspaperman, teacher, mystic, and spokesman for the beauty of the Great Plains and the drama of ordinary and exceptional lives.

We Talk, You Listen is strong, boldly unconventional medicine from Vine Deloria Jr. (1933–2005), one of the most important voices of twentieth-century Native American affairs. Here the witty and insightful Indian spokesman turns his penetrating vision toward the disintegrating core of American society. Written at a time when the traditions of the formerly omnipotent Anglo-Saxon male were crumbling under the pressures of a changing world, Deloria’s book interprets racial conflict, inflation, the ecological crisis, and power groups as symptoms rather than causes of the American malaise: “The glittering generalities and mythologies of American society no longer satisfy the need and desire to belong,� a theory as applicable today as it was in 1970.  American Indian tribalism, according to Deloria, was positioned to act as America's salvation. Deloria proposes a uniquely Indian solution to the legacy of genocide, imperialism, capitalism, feudalism, and self-defeating liberalism: group identity and real community development, a kind of neo-tribalism. He also offers a fascinating cultural critique of the nascent “tribes� of the 1970s, indicting Chicanos, blacks, hippies, feminists, and others as misguided because they lacked comprehensive strategies and were led by stereotypes rather than an understanding of their uniqueness.