Excavating the Past to Analyze the Present: The Savage Mind: an American Legacy by David Treuer

 The Savage Mind: An American Legacy 

by David Treuer

The Savage Mind book cover

Author and anthropologist David Treuer

Pete Hegseth, the embattled Secretary of Defense, recently announced a new spectacle for Americans. While his stewardship of the largest department in the government has been marked by firings, sharing classified information, leaks, and presentations that border on bizarre. Yet he made the announcement that convicted killer Nidal Malik Hasan, whose brutal murders of 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009 rocked the country, would be executed by firing squad. Hasan’s execution by firing squad will mark the first carried out by the military since 1945, but what is even more shocking is that Hegseth said he plans to broadcast the execution, making the death available to watch live for Americans. Hegseth, who purports to be a Christian and regularly invokes Jesus’s name in his speeches, has claimed that broadcasting the execution will act as a deterrent, despite no evidence that public executions or other forms of punishment deter people from committing crimes. As one of the most brutal attacks committed on an American military base, Hasan’s violence surely stands out, and its also possible that Hegseth’s purported religious beliefs call for the kind of old testament idea of an eye-for-an-eye type justice, not necessarily the same turn-the-other-cheek philosophy that Jesus and early Christians espoused. Rather, it’s a brutal and barbaric reminder of what David Treuer deems The Savage Mind, a mindset that “is American violence” that often used violence as a policy to remind others of America’s uniqueness, its power, and its strength. I couldn’t help but think about Treuer’s book when Hegseth made this awful announcement since the call to broadcast a live death follows on the heals of countless social media videos showing militarized henchmen chasing suspected immigrants, breaking windows, slamming people to the ground for an obvious reminder of America’s power. It follows on the taxpayer funded spectacle of the UFC fights at the White House, where opponents not only fought one another, but also dehumanized one of its former residents. David Treuer’s reflective and timely new book The Savage Mind: An American Legacy comes at an important time, when it seems like “the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world…The ceremony of innocence is drowned;” In fact, Treuer quotes Yeats’ poem to remind us that this kind of violence and upheaval is part of a cycle, and in the words of Gil Scott Heron, it “ain’t no new thing.” Nevertheless, Treuer’s The Savage Mind is one of those books that I’m going to start recommending to all my friends and family. It’s an important and urgent book, and much like his earlier book The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present invites readers to reconsider their conceptions of stereotypes and ideas from the past that persist in the present. However, unlike the hopeful and sanguine tone of The Heartbeat, where Treuer identified stories of resilience and survival across Indian reservations and tribal communities in America, The Savage Mind examines the frontier and the history of American violence that has contributed to making American what it is. As I was reading The Savage Mind, I couldn’t help but also think about Eddie Glaude Jr’s recent America, U.S.A. and how his tone towards the ideas have shifted from his earlier book Begin Again, which took a hopeful tone in reexamining racism and false myths. While violence, racism, intolerance, and political divisiveness continue to be at the forefront of the news, Treuer’s book reminds readers that this is part of the frontier mentality that has helped to push not only the physical boundaries of America’s geography but also extended the boundaries of what is acceptable to attain these advantages and privileges. Both books call for readers to reexamine the past, but to also consider how past myths, stereotypes, and belief systems have encouraged the present divisions and inequalities that continue to persist. The Savage Mind, like America, U.S.A., is also an important book to read to not only consider what is happening today, but how we can make changes that promote more healing and acceptance, to lessen our divisions and work towards promoting more equality.

While it’s not always an easy book to read, I love how Treuer frames the book as a kind of letter or dialogue with his children, interrogating his own complicated feelings as the son of an Ojibwe mother and a Jewish immigrant father and what America’s history of violence, slavery, stolen land, and bad faith treaties, among other disparate practices means to him. Like Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me, Treuer presents the history and his own ideas like a dialogue with his children, framing his experiences, family, and concerns not only as hopes and fears for his children, but also a part of the multitudes of American life.

I loved the way this book was written, with careful consideration for each line. I also learned that Treuer studied with Toni Morrison (he calls her Professor Morrison) while he was an undergrad at Princeton, and I can see that influence in each line, carefully wrought word choices with repetition, inversions, and the kind of mirrored syntax that creates a reflective and critical mood in readers. He also referenced one of Morrison’s greatest quotes that I was not aware of: “If you can only feel tall if someone else is on their knees, then you’ve got a serious problem.” This line resonated with me, especially in how so much of the current administration’s approach to governing requires that kind of submission.  I found myself going back over lines to think more about the history, events, and ideas that Treuer was excavating and analyzing. Although he’s trained as an anthropologist, as he recounted on his first day of class with Professor Morrison, she informed him that he wrote better than most anthropologists, which was good. Although Treuer examines history and current events throughout the book, the personal parts recounting his memories of working with Professor Morrison or learning how to fence while at Princeton were some of my favorite parts of the book. He even makes a reference to his kids as his “best thing,” which I found both heartwarming and brilliant in later learning about Morrison’s influence on his writing. Treuer connects these experiences, feeling like an outsider, possibly experiencing a kind of imposter syndrome, with his own desire to challenge the stereotypes of Indians. There’s also a great story about meeting Clifford Geertz, arguably the most significant figure in 20^th century anthropology, and not allowing Geertz to get a word in, challenging him about fencing. As these stories entertain, Treuer eventually brings readers back to the violence, and how its not just embedded in American culture or the frontier mindset, but possibly even a part of human nature. From examining Geertz’s analysis of deep play in Balinese cock fighting, where the roosters are extensions of the man, to Freud’s cynical later work Civilization and Its Discontents, Treuer provides evidence of the influence of the frontier on American and European conquests to expand land and property at any cost, even if it means denying the humanity of others.

I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect with this book, and I was amazed at how it straddles many different genres and styles- it’s part memoir, part historical analysis, part instructions to his children, and all heart, where Treuer helps readers understand the implications of The Savage Mind and the legacy of American colonialism, stolen land, broken treaties, starvation, paternalism, and the other forms of physical and symbolic violence on Indians, the enslaved, and others denied rights, opportunities, and equality. I was amazed at how deftly Treuer moves from the past to the present to personal connections, whether it was through his parents’ or grandparents, his brothers or cousins, and how these experiences all serve to represent elements of The Savage Mind and the frontier, the purportedly unknown land and space that allows for lawlessness, greed, and the rapacious development of the manifest destiny. As Treuer demonstrates throughout the book, this kind of cyclical violence is often condoned through the calls for progress and growth, and is often justified as part of the entitlement of this progress. The Savage Mind is a book that all Americans should read, and its an especially important book for students to read to confront many of the myths about American exceptionalism that often skirt the kind of systemic violence and displacement that have bloated our land. I was aware of many of the events, but Treuer’s analysis and revisiting these events throughout history, both American and world history, allows readers to reconsider the consequences of colonialism and imperialism and the calls for expansion and domination, especially from a cultural and human perspective that we often do not confront in textbooks. Whether it was learning about Columbus’s crimes against humanity or Andrew Jackson’s attempts to exterminate Indians in America (and how these laws and Jim Crow laws influenced the Nuremberg Laws in 1930s Germany), The Savage Mind offers much for readers to consider and reconsider. Although there is a lot to confront and wrestle with throughout the book, Treuer framing these historical atrocities challenging situations as a letter and dialogue with his children also brings readers into the conversation, making it feel more dialogic and inviting them to not only consider the perspectives and experiences of others, but also to empathize with them and our shared history of violence, even if we may not have experienced the violence in similar ways. Furthermore, Treuer ends the book with stories of hope and redemption, sharing how the Big Drum Ceremony originated for his Ojibwe tribe. Interestingly, it was brought to the Ojibwe by a Dakota Sioux woman who survived an attack by the US army and received a vision of the ceremony during her time hiding. Part of the vision instructed her to share the ceremony with the Ojibwe, who had fought with the Dakotas for years. Although the Dakotas shared the ceremony, it became an Ojibwe tradition where members who were touched by violence led the ceremony. Treuer explains it much better, but he spends time with two Ojibwe veterans who recount how the Big Drum Ceremony has helped them heal their trauma from war. It’s an incredible story of healing, and especially how community like the Ojibwe tribe can help to shoulder grief and sorrow so that individuals do not need to feel this heavy burden. Treuer once again weaves the past, the present, and the personal to offer insights into how we continue to feel the ramifications of the past, but this experience is much different from the incidents of violence that are continuously revisited on American people. Rather, it’s about healing, peace, community, and recognizing our shared humanity. It’s a beautiful ending to a complicated legacy of violence, stolen land, broken treaties, and mistreatment. And while Treuer doesn’t call for forgetting and moving forward, he does recognize the significance of community in helping to forge forward. The Savage Mind is an important and engaging read. Thank you to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for allowing me to preview and advanced copy of this amazing book. Highly recommended! 

The Battle of Little Bighorn retold in Tom Clavin's Vengeance

 Vengeance: The Last Stands of Custer, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull by Tom Clavin

Vengeance book cover

Author Tom Clavin

A corrupt government is populated with friends and relations of the president who seem to plunder and take advantage of lax oversight in the bureaucracy. The government displays animosity and weaponizes the military towards a disempowered minority, attempting to silence critics and minority factions that resist attempts at command and control. American society has been torn apart by serious issues of race, identity, and the economy, while politicians and people grapple with the future direction of the country.

Although these events seem like they may be ripped from today’s salacious headlines, it’s really a summary of some of the events that gripped America nearly 150 years ago 1876, as America grappled with westward expansion and removing the indigenous plains Indians from their roaming ways and proposing a more farmer like existence for these nomadic people. Tom Clavin’s excellent new book, Vengeance: The Last Stands of Custer, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull, captures much of the turmoil and resentment that festered between the government and the Plains Indians, resulting in one of the most stunning military defeats in American history.

I’m generally fascinated by this time period, and have read some other books about Indigenous People, but Clavin’s book was one of the more compelling and engaging books I’ve read about the frontier expansion. Maybe because he focuses on three of the primary characters in the Battle of Little Bighorn, Clavin is able to create a story where three distinct individuals collide in a violent fashion in this epic battle of the plains when America was still expanding its western territory, frequently making and breaking treaties. Clavin acknowledges that he’s not the first to write about this battle, and some of the other authors who he references throughout the book have wrote distinct and significant books outlining and analyzing the factors leading up to the battle and its aftermath. However, Clavin likens the story to a myth, where we recount the deeds of epic heroes, seeming to result in tragedy, whether through hubris or ignorance, and learn something new every time we recount the story. Thus, his contributions to this epic battle frame the battle by following the paths of Custer, Sitting Bull, and Crazy Horse, and how they all ended up converging in June 1876 on this field in the territory that would become Montana.

I loved how Clavin organizes the chapters to focus on each individual, and he keeps them brief, which kept me reading. The book is organized into 6 parts- The Invaders, The Defenders, The Expeditions, The Searchers, The Avengers, and the Last Stands. Each section focuses on events leading up to the battle, and Clavin’s keen eye for details limits overwhelming readers with too much information about how the Indian Plains Wars against the Sioux especially started. Nevertheless, he provides a fair amount of information to let us know about how Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse eventually came to power, as well as how Custer, a lackluster West Point graduate, leveraged some heroics and bravado during the Civil War to eventually become a general. Through Clavin’s recounting and analysis of the events, it seems like some of Custer’s meteoric rise and bravado created a kind of arrogance that brought about his violent end. Interestingly, I learned that Crazy Horse, while exalted as a great Lakota warrior, also experienced his own downfall in claiming the wife of another man before they were officially divorced. It’s these kinds of little details that provide a broader idea of the decisions and strategies that Custer, Sitting Bull, and Crazy Horse may have implemented during other events, giving us a sense of the kind of flawed heroes that our textbooks or high school history don’t always present to us for various reasons.

Clavin not only isolates these individuals but provides some important background in the policies of the US around the time of the Civil War, and how the focus was off westward expansion, during this time. When the war ended, it seemed like there was a large army in need of work and vast lands where gold and other resources were with people looking to move out of overcrowded cities for new opportunities and adventure. This led to threats and attacks on settlers, necessitating the building of forts and protection of the US Army on certain routes, like the Oregon Trail. It was fascinating to learn more about how these events and policies boiled tensions between different plains Indian tribes and the federal government. Along with broken treaties, reduced rations, and disease and illness, readers can also learn how the plains Indians were reduced in numbers and spirit, and yet leaders and warriors like Sitting Bull and Red Cloud arose to challenge the authority of the US government and the great father in DC.

Clavin’s recap of the battle alternates between the US forces, and the divisions of Custer’s men, who split up into separate groups, which ultimately led to their demise, and the warriors who followed Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. Clavin’s even-handed research presents much of the arrogance and mismanagement, including the drinking from Major Reno, and the friction with Captain Benteen, which also seemed to factor into the poor decisions and fractured strategy in this campaign. Although there were no survivors in Custer’s actual group, Clavin referenced other books and the Sioux and Cheyenne survivors who participated and provided accounts of what exactly happened. It presents an important recounting that challenges many of the myths and heroic portraits of Custer that were pumped out as propaganda after the battle. As Clavin notes, Custer was considered a potential presidential candidate and was set to speak in Philadelphia for the Centennial celebration about a week later. However, due to the vast distance and limited reporting at the time, people were unsure of where he was or what happened in the battle. This kind of limited access to information allowed the military and Custer’s widow, Libbie, to reshape the narrative, which ultimately painted Custer as a hero and victim, a view that persisted for many years.

The last section of the book went by quickly, and it moves from the summer of 1876 to the aftermath in the next few years, and how this led to the last stands of Crazy Horse shortly after and Sitting Bull more than a decade later. Clavin also frames this idea of the government and military continuing to seek and harass these tribes for the defeat at Little Bighorn. Sadly, it ends with the slaughter at Wounded Knee, where nearly 300 Lakota people, mostly women and children, were murdered by the military. Clavin notes like Little Bighorn, the limited information available at the time worked to the military’s advantage, allowing them to frame this as another battle like Little Bighorn, but that was ultimately prevented from major military casualties. In fact, there were several commendations and awards given. Tying these events to the present, Clavin notes that there have been recent attempts to rescind these awards and commendations, although the current administration has fought that, despite legislation that has authorized taking these awards away from the unjust murder of hundreds of Lakota women and children.

Clavin has written a compelling and important story detailing the history and facts of a inflection point in American history, one which has been mythologized and used to create a kind of narrative about American exceptionalism while denigrating the role of Indigenous people in American history, and has helped to educate and reframe the narrative. I learned a lot from this book. Furthermore, Clavin’s clear and engaging prose and his focus on the main protagonists in this tragedy, Custer, Sitting Bull, and Crazy Horse, creates a compelling story of three flawed men who converge on a hot battlefield in June of 1876. The story still resonates today, and it serves an even more important lesson in understanding the truth in history, and how events can be twisted and propagandized to either avoid accountability or to create American heroes. This is a really important and engaging read. Highly recommended! Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for sharing an advanced copy of Tom Clavin’s latest historical book Vengeance: The Last Stands of Custer, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull.