Cronon reconstructs what the plant, animal, and human landscapes were like before 1600 and chronicles how European ideas of farm, field, civilization, and property rapidly transformed that. Michigan State University, 1998. Americans who read this book will gain a unique insight into the viewpoint of a different society within their midst. The viewpoint emerges in the first chapter when a girl's body is discovered at the reservation reservoir, the popular swimming hole. An off-reservation buddy expresses local assumptions.
Outsiders have a tendency to want to do their dirty work on our lands.
We always got the blame there, and it appeared we inherited whatever happened in what remained of our boundaries. It occurred to me that if I couldn't convince outside people there was no logic in us stealing cars and bringing them back to our houses to strip and burn, I sure wasn't going to be able to convince them that we didn't bring dead bodies to our favorite places. I didn't say anything. Through vignettes on the 'Ballad of Plastic Fred' and the classroom antics of 'The Graduation Canoe' the author weaves us into his tale to its revealing conclusion. Native youth must not only experience that angst, but must define their cultural identity.