In the Spirit of Crazy Horse (Hardcover, New edition)

After eight years in the American courts, this book examines the shoot-out between FBI agents and American Indian activists which erupted on a reservation in South Dakota. The confrontation ended with the death of three men, two of them FBI officers. Eventually, four Indians were indicted on murder charges. One of them, Leonard Peltier, is still serving two consecutive life sentences. The story of these murders and of Leonard Peltier's part in them forms the central narrative of Peter Matthiessen's book. The author has no doubt that Peltier is innocent. In addition, the author reveals the larger issues behind the Pine Ridge shoot-out with a history of what American Indian activists have been doing to bring these issues to light. Much of that history is told in the Indians' own voices - those of the angry younger generation, drawn into armed political action, and those of the elders, who wish to preserve traditional ways of life.