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Opinion: Book raises touchy issues about tribal casino industry

Writer says The Curse: Big-Time Gambling's Seduction of a Small New England Town raises "touchy issues" about Indian gaming in Connecticut:

Are Indian casinos the just revenge against the white man for the genocide of Native Americans?

This point of view is not dismissed easily.

The tension and interplay of race, money and politics in the tribal recognition process, however, can make the search for truth a murky process. Who is really descended from Native Americans? Does genealogy count? Jeff Benedict’s book published in 2000, “Without Reservation,” raised those issues and challenged the legitimacy of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation.

Even then, what could we reasonably expect from records kept by the occupiers who certainly displaced the indigenous people, time and time again?

As the casino and internet gambling industries evolve in a fragile economy, a companion narrative to “Without Reservation” has emerged. This time it’s an historical novel, written from the point of view of an old-line Connecticut family. “The Curse: Big-Time Gambling’s Seduction of a Small New England Town,” is former Congressman Bob Steele’s vehicle to put a lot of touchy issues back on the table.