Gerald Vizenor, named to Utne Reader's list of one hundred "people who could change your life," has been a significant force in Native American literature and criticism for over thirty years. In this, his classic first book of essays, Vizenor presents a stark but vital view of reservation life in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a collection that Studies in American Indian Literatures called "memorable portraits of real people who defied yet finally were overcome by the dominant society."

Focusing on the people of the northern reservations, particularly the White Earth Reservation where he grew up, Vizenor puts a human face on those desperate and politically charged times that saw frequent government intervention and the emergence of the American Indian Movement (AIM). In his trademark style, Vizenor juxtaposes these snapshots of contemporary life against images and dream sequences from Anishinabe folktales and ceremonies. As the Chronicle of Higher Education has observed, Vizenor's "paradoxical achievement has been to garner a reputation as an innovative avant-garde writer by embracing, and revitalizing, ancient oral storytelling traditions."

In his new introduction, composed especially for this edition, Vizenor reflects on the changes that have occurred on the reservations in the last three decades and updates the lives of this fascinating and various cast of characters.