Where White Men Fear to Tread

Last updated
Where White Men Fear to Tread: The Autobiography of Russell Means
Where White Men Fear to Tread.jpg
Author Russell Means
Marvin J. Wolf
Country United States
LanguageEnglish
Genre Autobiography
Published1996
Publisher St. Martin's Press [1]
Pages573 pp [2]
ISBN 9780312147617

Where White Men Fear to Tread: The Autobiography of Russell Means is the autobiography of Oglala Lakota activist Russell Means. Published in 1996 and written in collaboration with Marvin J. Wolf, the book examines his childhood, his activism for the rights of Native Americans, including his role in the famous standoff with the FBI at Wounded Knee in 1973, and his later forays into politics, film and television.

Reception

The book received mixed reviews. Publishers Weekly called the book a blunt and "absorbing epic" which demonstrates his "resourceful activism", while making no attempt to whitewash the messier aspects of Means' life, such as his drinking, failed marriages, and anger issues. [1]

The Los Angeles Times called it a self-congratulatory "exercise in propaganda and polemic" which grinds an axe against a white-dominated society. [3]

The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Means plays so much at being the warrior king that the commoners among us are turned off and shut out." [2]

Related Research Articles

Porcupine, South Dakota CDP in South Dakota, United States

Porcupine is a census-designated place (CDP) in Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 1,062 at the 2010 census.

Dennis Prager American writer, speaker, radio and TV commentator

Dennis Mark Prager is an American conservative radio talk show host and writer. He is the host of the nationally syndicated radio talk show The Dennis Prager Show. In 2009, he co-founded PragerU, which creates five-minute videos from an American conservative perspective.

Frank Pierson American screenwriter and film director

Frank Romer Pierson was an American screenwriter and film director.

<i>Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee</i> 1970 non-fiction book by Dee Brown

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West is a 1970 non-fiction book by American writer Dee Brown that covers the history of Native Americans in the American West in the late nineteenth century. The book expresses details of the history of American expansionism from a point of view that is critical of its effects on the Native Americans. Brown describes Native Americans' displacement through forced relocations and years of warfare waged by the United States federal government. The government's dealings are portrayed as a continuing effort to destroy the culture, religion, and way of life of Native American peoples. Helen Hunt Jackson's 1881 book A Century of Dishonor is often considered a nineteenth-century precursor to Dee Brown's book.

Russell Means Oglala Lakota activist (1939–2012)

Russell Charles Means was an Oglala Lakota activist for the rights of Native Americans, libertarian political activist, actor, musician, and writer. He became a prominent member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) after joining the organization in 1968 and helped organize notable events that attracted national and international media coverage.

Adam Parfrey American writer (1957 – 2018)

Adam Parfrey was an American journalist, editor, and the publisher of Feral House books, whose work in all three capacities frequently centered on unusual, extreme, or "forbidden" areas of knowledge. A 2010 Seattle Weekly profile stated that "what Parfrey does is publish books that explore the marginal aspects of culture. And in many cases—at least back when his interests were almost exclusively transgressive—he sheds light on subjects that society prefers to leave unexplored, carving a niche catering to those of us with an unseemly obsession with life's darkest, most depraved sides."

Paul Monette American author, poet, and activist (1945 – 1995)

Paul Landry Monette was an American author, poet, and activist best known for his essays about gay relationships.

Great Spirit Supreme being in many Native American cultures

The Great Spirit is the concept of a life force, a Supreme Being or god known more specifically as Wakan Tanka in Lakota, Gitche Manitou in Algonquian, and by other, specific names in a number Native American and First Nations cultures. While the concept is common to a number of indigenous cultures in the United States and Canada, it is not shared by all cultures, or necessarily interpreted in the same way. According to Lakota activist Russell Means, a more semantically accurate translation of Wakan Tanka is the Great Mystery.

Frank Fools Crow

Frank Fools Crow was an Oglala Lakota civic and religious leader. 'Grandfather', or 'Grandpa Frank' as he was often called, was a nephew of Black Elk who worked to preserve Lakota traditions, including the Sun Dance and yuwipi ceremonies. He supported Lakota sovereignty and treaty rights, and was a leader of the traditional faction during the armed standoff at Wounded Knee in 1973. With writer Thomas E. Mails, he produced two books about his life and work, Fools Crow in 1979, and Fools Crow: Wisdom and Power in 1990.

Wounded Knee Occupation 1973 American Indian occupation protest

The Wounded Knee Occupation, also known as Second Wounded Knee, began on February 27, 1973, when approximately 200 Oglala Lakota and followers of the American Indian Movement (AIM) seized and occupied the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, United States, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The protest followed the failure of an effort of the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization (OSCRO) to impeach tribal president Richard Wilson, whom they accused of corruption and abuse of opponents. Additionally, protesters criticized the United States government's failure to fulfill treaties with Native American people and demanded the reopening of treaty negotiations to hopefully arrive at fair and equitable treatment of Native Americans.

Phill Wilson

Phill Wilson is an American activist who founded the Black AIDS Institute in 1999, and served as its CEO, and is a prominent African-American HIV/AIDS activist.

Cathleen "Cathy" Scott is a Los Angeles Times bestselling American true-crime writer and investigative journalist who penned the biographies and true crime books The Killing of Tupac Shakur and The Murder of Biggie Smalls, both bestsellers in the United States and United Kingdom, and was the first to report Shakur's death. She grew up in La Mesa, California and later moved to Mission Beach, California, where she was a single parent to a son, Raymond Somers Jr. Her hip-hop books are based on the drive-by shootings that killed the rappers six months apart in the midst of what has been called the West Coast-East Coast war. Each book is dedicated to the rappers' mothers.

Occupation of Alcatraz American Indian protest in 1969 - 1971

The Occupation of Alcatraz was a 19-month long protest when 89 Native Americans and their supporters occupied Alcatraz Island. The protest was led by Richard Oakes, LaNada Means, and others, while John Trudell served as spokesman. The group lived on the island together until the protest was forcibly ended by the U.S. government.

<i>Buckskin Brigades</i> 1937 Western novel by L. Ron Hubbard

Buckskin Brigades is a Western novel written by L. Ron Hubbard, first published July 30, 1937. The work was Hubbard's first hard-covered book, and his first published novel. The next year he became a contributor to Astounding Science Fiction. Winfred Blevins wrote the introduction to the book. Some sources state that as a young man, Hubbard became a blood brother to the Piegan Blackfeet Native American tribe while living in Montana, though this claim is disputed. Hubbard incorporates historical background from the Blackfeet tribe into the book.

<i>To the Stars: The Autobiography of George Takei</i>

To the Stars: The Autobiography of George Takei, Star Trek's Mr. Sulu is an autobiography by actor George Takei, first published by Pocket Books in 1994. Takei describes his early childhood and the time his family spent in Japanese American internment, and experiences which shaped his motivation towards political activism. He initially entered University of California, Berkeley with the plan to attend architecture school, but later told his parents he wanted to be an actor and graduated with a degree in drama. He discusses his early acting roles and his experiences on Star Trek, including conflicts with William Shatner. Takei was pleased when his character Sulu had a prominent role as Captain of the starship Excelsior in the movie Star Trek VI.

Guardians of the Oglala Nation Paramilitary organizations based in the United States

The Guardians of the Oglala Nation (GOONs) was a private paramilitary group established in 1972 by the elected tribal chairman, Dick Wilson under authority of the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council. It operated on the Oglala Sioux Pine Ridge Indian Reservation during the early 1970s. It was disbanded after a new chairman was elected in 1976.

<i>The Great Sioux Nation</i> (book)

The Great Sioux Nation: Sitting in Judgment on America is a book edited by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, "An Oral History of the Sioux Nation and Its Struggle for Sovereignty", that documents the 1974 "Lincoln Treaty Hearing". Testimony produced during that hearing has been cited by the International Indian Treaty Council in advocating for Indigenous sovereignty and treaty rights, efforts which eventually saw the 2007 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Paul Chaat Smith

Paul Chaat Smith (Comanche) is an author and an associate curator at the National Museum of the American Indian. He writes and lectures frequently on American Indian art and politics.

Anarchist bookfair Exhibition for anti-authoritarian literature and anarchist cultural events

An anarchist bookfair is an exhibition for anti-authoritarian literature often combined with anarchist social and cultural events. They have existed since at least 1983, beginning in London, and are held either annually or sporadically. Some have speakers or other events related to anarchist culture.

Indigenous activists in Cleveland, Ohio, have advocated Indigenous issues and rights since the early 1900s. After the removal of the last American Indians from their traditional territory in Ohio in 1842, Cleveland, and the greater Cuyahoga County, had an almost nonexistent Indigenous population. However, in the early 1900s, an Osaukee man named Chief Thunderwater engaged in activism, protesting the displacement of the Erie Street Cemetery and creating the Supreme Council of Indian Nations, which advocated for Indigenous peoples' right to cross the United States–Canada border in the Supreme Court Case, McCandless v. United States. Later in the century, the Indian Relocation Act of 1956 moved a variety of Native Americans from their different reservations in the West into Ohio, specifically metropolitan areas like Cleveland. With the resurgent population came a wave of activism, as the Cleveland American Indian center was created and the national American Indian Movement established a chapter in the city in 1970. Annual mascot protests in Cleveland began in 1972, with local groups AIM and the Committee of 500 Years of Dignity and Resistance participating. An important Ohio Supreme Court case, Bellecourt v. City of Cleveland, protected protestors first amendment rights in court. The Cleveland Indians ended the use of their old mascot, Chief Wahoo, in 2019 and in 2020 announced that they would consider changing their team name, in response to ongoing protests. In July 2021, the Cleveland baseball team announced their new name: The Cleveland Guardians. Mascot protests also extend to local schools in the Cleveland area, where the Oberlin School District ended their use of Indians as their mascot.

References

  1. 1 2 "Where White Men Fear to Tread: The Autobiography of Russell Means". Publishers Weekly. October 2, 1995. Retrieved 2013-08-10.
  2. 1 2 Staples, Brent (October 15, 1995). "Wounded Knee and Beyond". The New York Times .
  3. Olds, Bruce (January 21, 1996). "'Irreconcilable Differences' : WHERE WHITE MEN FEAR TO TREAD: The Autobiography of Russell Means". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 6 Mar 2016. Retrieved 2021-08-27.