"Mark Trahant’s slim volume, The Last Great Battle of the Indian Wars, is a fascinating read—so much so that Indian Country Today Media Network’s Rob Capriccioso gave the author a chance to expand upon some of the subjects that were particularly interesting. The review follows.

ICT: The Last Great Battle of the Indian Wars talks about the beginning of federal understanding of Indian self-determination. Did you come to any new understandings while writing it?

Trahant: Absolutely. Writing is a great discovery process. I liked seeing firsthand how some tribes and organizations have taken the concept of self-determination and found practical applications. If you look back, at the beginning of this era the largest employer in Indian country was the Bureau of Indian Affairs. It was the essential government service. That’s no longer true. You look at the infrastructure of tribal governments today, and it’s stunning how much growth there has been.

ICT: Indians, of course, understood self-determination long before the federal government was ever involved. Was it frustrating for Indians of the not-too-long-ago era you write about to have to explain, over and again, a basic foundation of their identities in a way that finally helped the federal government begin to understand?

Trahant: Sort of. When I wrote the book, I thought the idea of self-determination was incorporated into our national (and tribal) DNA. I think that’s still mostly true. But there are a group of leaders at the national level, and more often at the local level, who cling to the past and the idea of termination. This wouldn’t be an issue except that as the nation’s fiscal issues heat up, I suspect a new form of termination will again be on the agenda."

Get the Story:
Reading Between the Lines of Trahant’s Last Great Battle (Indian Country Today 8/11)