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Warrior Nation: A History of the Red Lake Ojibwe by Anton Treuer

Book Launch Celebrations to be Held at St. Paul, Red Lake

"The tribal council at Red Lake wanted Warrior Nation to identify and document the evolution of Red Lake's political culture. They want their tribal citizens to have a new and powerful tool for understanding their political patrimony, history and culture. They also wanted to document not just stories of loss and trauma, but the collective achievements of their people." ~Anton Treuer in Warrior Nation: A History of the Red Lake Ojibwe

Book launch celebrations for "Warrior Nation: A History of the Red Lake Ojibwe" will be held at the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul on Tuesday, October 20, 2015 and at the new Red Lake Nation College the following Tuesday, October 27, 2015 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Dr. Anton Treuer, professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University at the request of the Red Lake Tribal Council, authored the book. Red Lake Tribal dignitaries and Treuer are expected to be at both events, which are free and open to the public. Books will be available for purchase and signings at both events as well.

"The story is a political history organized in seven main chapters each a biography of an important Red Lake leader at a different point in time. There were many great leaders and concentrating on the seven is not meant to diminish the others. The leaders should be looked at as not the most important but rather as a window into the evolving political culture of Red Lake Nation," writes Treuer in the book's "Author's Note."

Book Chapters

The Spark: White Thunderbird and the Seven Clans; The Strategist: Moose Dung and the Old Crossing Treaty; The Nation Builder: He Who is Spoken To and the Nelson Act; The Uniter: Noodin Wind and the War on Culture; The Reformer: Peter Graves and the Modernization of Red Lake Politics; The Revolutionary: Roger Jourdain and Self-Determination; and The Dreamer: Anna Gibbs and Red Lake Shaping Indian Country.

The Red Lake Nation of Ojibwe is a nation of warriors who hold their land in common, maintain their system of hereditary chiefs and retain their cultural identity and traditional ways of life, despite centuries of disputes over their land and sovereignty by fending off those repeated assaults on their land and governance. The reservation is home to the highest number of Ojibwe-speaking people in the state.

The Red Lake Nation has a unique and deeply important history. Unlike every other reservation in Minnesota, Red Lake holds its land in common-and, consequently, the tribe retains its entire reservation land base. The people of Red Lake developed the first modern indigenous democratic governance system in the United States, decades before any other tribe, but they also maintained their system of hereditary chiefs. The tribe never surrendered to state jurisdiction over crimes committed on its reservation.

Warrior Nation covers four centuries of the Red Lake Nation's forceful and assertive tenure on its land. Ojibwe historian and linguist Anton Treuer conducted oral histories with elders across the Red Lake reservation, learning the stories carried by the people. And the Red Lake band has, for the first time, made available its archival collections, including the personal papers of Peter Graves, the brilliant political strategist and tribal leader of the first half of the twentieth century, which tell a startling story about the negotiations over reservation boundaries.

This fascinating history offers not only a chronicle of the Red Lake Nation but also a compelling perspective on a difficult piece of U.S. History.

Dr. Anton Treuer is a professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University and is a fluent speaker of the Ojibwe language. The book became available for purchase in early October. The 6 x 9 paperback book sells for $19.95, has 456 pages, 30 black & white photos, notes, index, appendices, and bibliography. It's also available in E-Book at $9.99.

Book Launch Celebrations for Warrior Nation

St. Paul:

Tuesday, October 20, 2015 from 7:00 pm-8:00 pm History Lounge

Minnesota History Center

345 W. Kellogg Blvd. St. Paul, MN 55102

Event is free and open to the public.

Book signing to follow. (MNHS Parking lot is $6)

Red Lake:

Join students and Red Lake dignitaries on the campus of Red Lake Nation College for a presentation by Anton Treuer, author of the new book, Warrior Nation: A History of the Red Lake Ojibwe. Books will be available for purchase from the college bookstore. Free and open to the public. All are invited.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015 from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm.

Red Lake Nation College Campus, Bremer Student Union

15480 Migizi Drive, Red Lake, MN 56671

Books will be available for sale and signing.

Buy now on-line from the Minnesota Historical Society Press http://www.mnhs.org/mnhspress/books/warrior-nation

Amazon in paperback or kindle http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_10?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=warrior+nation+treuer&sprefix=Warrior+Na%2Caps%2C163

 

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