"Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses Leonard Peltier's lessons from his long period of incarceration. This paper first discusses the writing style of Peltier's book, "Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance", and then gives an account of the history that lead to the events of the book. In particular, the paper discusses the incident of Wounded Knee at Pine Ridge during February of 1973, which put Peltier on the FBI's radar. The paper then describes the book's account of the spirituality and prison experiences that Peltier acquired during his time in prison.

From the Paper:

"Peltier's book fails to give much detail about the incidents that led to his incarceration. This could be because he has rehashed the past so many times--both for reporters and for his supporters. The book instead addresses his quest for spirituality, his prison experience, and his poetry and art. He does not deny that he was there that day; he does, however, deny that he was the shooter. While the book does not address many of the issues that would keep a historically-minded reader satisfied, it does achieve one goal--it makes the reader very aware of the plight of the American Indian in the modern United States. It also gives one a chilling and disturbing impression of life in prison."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Anderson, Scott. "The Martyrdom of Leonard Peltier", Outside Online, July, 1995.
• Matthiesen, Peter. In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, New York: Penguin Books, 1992.
• Peltier, Leonard. Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999.
• www.freepeltier.org
• www.wisdomkeepers.com

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