The Politics of Hallowed Ground: Wounded Knee and the Struggle for Indian Sovereignty Paperback - 1998

First line

When I called Democratic senator Tom Daschle's office in Washington, D.C., his assistant Sara Yager said she was too busy to talk and would get back to me this afternoon or Monday.

From the rear cover

This riveting account of hope, anger, and the pursuit of honor centers around the efforts, beginning in 1985, of the Wounded Knee Survivor's Associations to obtain legal redress for the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee. Interweaving entries from the diary of Oglala attorney Mario Gonzalez and historical commentary by Santee/Yankton writer Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, The Politics of Hallowed Ground traces the Survivors' Association's struggle to secure from the U.S. government a formal apology and recognition of the massacre site as a National American Monument.

Surveying both recent and historical events, Gonzalez and Cook-Lynn address critical issues of cultural bias and collective memory. Their observations expose not only the seemingly unbridgeable gap between white and Native cultures but also impassioned dialogue among various tribes affected by the Wounded Knee Massacre.

Heartbreaking and inspiring by turns, The Politics of Hallowed Ground reveals the bitter and ongoing struggle of a Native people to recover its history and its sacred lands -- and to achieve justice once and for all.