The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee Summary
David Treuer

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee Overview

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee by David Teuer is a history of Native America that seeks to relate the creative resilience of American Indians since the Wounded Knee massacre in 1890. Using the life stories of contemporaneous Indians, Treuer reframes the detrimental story of Indians as an unchanging people who have been surpassed by the events of the modern world. He explores how race, religion, and capitalist economics have contributed to that false narrative. Traveling across Native homelands throughout the United States, Treuer conducts interviews with people from many tribal nations to demonstrate that in the face of great adversity, Indians have not only survived, but they have thrived, and continue to make significant and lasting contributions to American culture and civic life.