Choice Review

In this thoroughly researched and convincingly written analysis of Native American cultures and colonization, LaDuke demonstrates the manners in which native peoples face a constant barrage of attacks that threaten their very existence. Drawing on a variety of data sources, including summary statistics, interviews, and personal experience, LaDuke organizes the book so that each chapter serves as a case study of a particular region and/or people. Chapters cover the Akwesasne of the Mohawk nation, Seminoles, Nitassinan, Northern Cheyenne, Western Shoshone, the White Earth reservation in Minnesota, Buffalo Peoples, Hawai'i, and the Hopi. Through a careful analysis of native relations with the land, LaDuke demonstrates how economic expansion and government actions are largely responsible for the historic and ongoing destruction of native cultures. She exposes the manner in which the severing of ties between Native Americans and their lands constitutes an attack on the health of native peoples and threatens to destroy the foundations and history on which their cultures are sustained. LaDuke demonstrates beyond a doubt that ecocide and genocide are simultaneous processes brought on by the increasing commodification of nature by a modern commercial/industrial economy. An "A+" book. All levels. E. J. Krieg Buffalo State College