Celebrated novelist David Treuer has gained a reputation for writing
fiction that expands the horizons of Native American literature. In Rez
Life, his first full-length work of nonfiction, Treuer brings a
novelist's storytelling skill and an eye for detail to a complex and
subtle examination of Native American reservation life, past and
present.
With authoritative research and reportage, Treuer illuminates
misunderstood contemporary issues like sovereignty, treaty rights, and
natural-resource conservation. He traces the convoluted waves of public
policy that have deracinated, disenfranchised, and exploited Native
Americans, exposing the tension and conflict that has marked the
historical relationship between the United States government and the
Native American population. Through the eyes of students, teachers,
government administrators, lawyers, and tribal court judges, he shows
how casinos, tribal government, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs have
transformed the landscape of Native American life.
A member of the Ojibwe of northern Minnesota, Treuer grew up on the
Leech Lake Reservation, but was educated in mainstream America. Treuer
traverses the boundaries of American and Indian identity as he explores
crime and poverty, casinos and wealth, and the preservation of his
native language and culture. Rez Life is a strikingly original work of
history and reportage, a must read for anyone interested in the Native
American story.
