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Wild Justice: The People of Geronimo Vs. the United Statesby Lieder, Michael; Page, Jake
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Book DescriptionNorman, Oklahoma, U.S.A.: Univ of Oklahoma Pr, 1999. very good trade paperback, no markings, HP505041. 1st Print. Paperback. Very Good. Book summaryThe Chiricahua Apache lived in what is now called southeastern Arizona until Geronimo's uprising in 1866, after which they were removed by the federal government as prisoners of war. Forcibly relocated first to Florida, then Alabama and Oklahoma, the Chiricahuas were ultimately merged with the Mescalero Apache in southern Mexico, where they were forgotten until the Indian Claims Commission, established by Truman in 1946, began the long process of adjudicating Indian claims to lost territory. The authors recount this extraordinary tribunal--the first time any national government established a court to redress grievances of its native people--and the efforts made by hundreds of other tribes to gain restitution.Media Reviews"A well-shaped, detailed history of an Apache band tested in battle and in the courtroom....Lieder and Page relate the complex story of the Chiricahua's legal odyssey well....[in this] worth addition to the history of the struggle for Native American rights." -- Kirkus "Despite the authors' combined efforts the blow-by-blow account of evolving commission doctrine can be hard slogging." -- Washington Post Book World "An illuminating study....written in an unpretentious, nontechnical style." -- New York Times Book Review Publisher NotesIn 1886, after a year of fierce fighting against encroaching settlers and the U.S. Army throughout the Southwest, Geronimo and the Chiricahua Apaches surrendered. For the next twenty-three years they were held as prisoners of war in Florida, Alabama, and Oklahoma. Consequently in 1947, after Harry S. Truman had established the Indian Claims Commission to redress the grievances of American Indians, the Chiricahua Apaches pressed for restitution. When the government misdated the taking of Apache lands and left an opening for legal wrangling, the tribal lawyers pounced, resulting in a $22 million settlement, forty times what the tribe had asked for. It proved a bittersweet victory, however, when divided among several thousand Apaches. Furthermore, such redress compensated only for the loss of land ownership -- a concept foreign to the Indians. The Claims Commission failed to address the destruction of religion, tribal sovereignty, and whole cultures, issues that plague U.S.-Indian affairs to this day. Other Recommended Books
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