[.ca] All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life (ISBN 0896085996)

Written by a True Patriot:
To think this woman could be our Vice President today. Most people don't even know that Winona LaDuke ran for Vice President on Ralph Nader's ticket. An articulate and passionate writer, LaDuke presents an awareness of the plight of America unsurpassed by any other. She knows what's wrong. She knows what needs to be done. She knows who is doing the work, how and why. She presents her advocacy as human, heartfelt and real. I learned things about what is happening to this country that I would never have known otherwise. You certainly don't see it in the news, and you don't learn about it in school. We're in trouble, folks, and it's not too late to do something about it. With more power she could have made such a difference! But she continues to work on the issues, and it is so important that more people are aware of her work. Please, please, please read this book. It is the most important book you will read all year.

Truth, told with powerful clarity:
Winona Laduke ran as vice president alongside Ralph Nader. It would be truly amazing if this woman had become our vice president (for many reasons). It is my hope that some day she will be our vice president (or president). Her views on the environment and its effect upon animals and people (particularly babies, children and pregnant/nursing mothers) are exactly how I feel. She expresses these views eloquently in these quotes by Lil'wat grandmother Loretta Pascal, "Where did you get your right to destroy these forests? How does your right supercede my rights? These are our forests, these are our ancestors."(p.5), by Ted Strong, "If this nation has a long way to go before all of our people are truly created equally without regard to race, religion, or national origin, it has even further to go before achieving anything that remotely resembles equal treatment for other creatures who called this land home before humans ever set foot upon it...."(p.5), and by Katsi Cook, "Why is it we must change our lives, our way of life, to accommodate the corporations, and they are allowed to continue without changing any of their behavior?"(p.12). Reading this book you will feel sorrow, and be inspired to action. Most of what was said in this book I already knew a little about, but through this book I understood the depth and complexity of all the factors. I can not recommend this book enough. She tells the truth of our world with a powerful clarity. She tells the stories of many Native American Tribes throughout North America (Canada and the United States, including a chapter on Hawaii). She ends the book with the optimism that it is possible for us to make change, but it is up to us.

I liked this book a lot.:
All Our Relations, Winona LaDukes book about native struggles for land and life, is very informative. It tells the stories of people whom she knows, showing how her friends the political activists connect to their communities, and following their stories back to where the history books I read as a youngster left off. In addition to the stories that everybody has heard at least a little about (the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Seminole), there are some to which the book introduced me for the first time. Winona deals with many painful topics in some detail. The activists she writes about are grandchildren or great grandchildren of the people that fought the Indian wars. The lessons these people learned about the White Man's language are shared with the reader. For example, in one chapter she explains that when the newspapers wrote "Settle the Indian question", what that meant in practice on the ground was "killing all the buffalo as efficiently as possible." In this way the book exposes many "Orwellian language games" without pointing fingers in any offensive judgmental ways. The tone is one of ongoing struggle, where understanding is the key to progress. There are several types of struggle that occur over and over. Toxic waste stories like the one told in the movie Erin Brockovich happen to mothers in the Mohawk and Nitassinanian tribes. White mans greed for energy causes problems for Northern Cheyenne (coal on their lands) and Northern Shoshone ("good site" for a Nuclear Waste dump). Racism and extreme double standards put natives in precarious situations where they have to deal with deep poverty (Hawaii, White Earth, and Buffalo Nations). The underlying theme of the book is hopeful progress and continuing struggle. The White Earth Recovery Project is slowly rebuilding the forests of Minnesota. The Hopi are finding much value in solar power, a White Man technology that actually makes sense in their world. Walt Bresette's Seventh Generation Amendment (The right of the citizens of the U.S. to enjoy and use air, water, sunlight, and other renewable resources determined by the Congress to be common property shall not be impaired, nor shall such use impair their availability for use by the future generations.) has given many diverse groups "a great optimism for the potential to make positive change." Reading this book gave me a deeper understanding that Green Values are profoundly useful.

Environmentalism is about People, too.:
I think in light of other reviews it makes some sense to underscore that this book is not about environmentalism in the traditional sense, but about the connection between the environment and people. LaDuke's great contribution to the environmental debate is her all-too-rare understanding that there is a connection between the earth and the people that live on it. Not in some hocus-pocus new age way, but a real, scientific connection between people (particulary Native people, because of their lifestyle) and polution. My lone criticism is the charicaturization of corporations in this book. GM does pollute, but consumers are also to blame. Nevertheless, LaDuke is undoubtedly correct in connecting the dots between industrialization, militarism and environmental pollution and she does so in a way that few authors have ever done. A fantastic book that stands in stark contrast to Earth in the Balance as a real manifesto for true environmentalists.

Becoming Native to America:
Spoon-fed news by large media corps, few were aware that Winona LaDuke ran for the vice presidency under Ralph Nader in the 2000 elections. Even fewer know that she is also a Native American eco-philosopher with a critical perspective on the health and future prosperity of America. All Our Relations is particularly instructive, in that LaDuke surveys the entire American landscape (and by landscape, I am not merely referring to the political landscape), showing the deep connections that exist between local cultures, their environments, and the corporate-governmental giants that often compromise their health. Although LaDuke has specifically focused on Native American communities, the stories are engaging and instructive for Americans in general. Informative, powerful, and transformative, LaDuke here provides an antidote for our increasing alienation from the land and biota that sustain us. A must read for any conscious American.