Rez Life

"An affecting portrait of his childhood home, Leech Lake Indian Reservation, and his people, the Ojibwe."--"The New York Times" "[Rez Life] is not, for all its intimacy, just as it is not exactly a work of reportage or a work of history. Rather, it is a nuanced hybrd, a memoir, broken into six chapters, each of which begins in the personal, then expands outward to a larger theme. Sovereignty, fishing, treaty rights, the tribal justice system, education, language and assimilation - Treuer examines all of it, finding associations between the broadest stories and the most individual."--David Ulin, "Los Angeles Times" "[Treuer's] upbringing on an Ojibwe reservation in Minnesota makes him adept at delving behind stereotypes of Indian life and infuses his account with passion and meticulousness."--"The New Yorker" "Smartly, this book blends journalism, history and memoir... to provide both anecdotes of present-day reservation life and history... Treuer's message - the picture he gives of Indian reservation life today - is not one of defeat or demise but of miraculous survival."--Greg Sarris, "San Francisco Chronicle" "Rez Life is a fascinating, air-clearing look at Native American reservation life, strengthened in equal measure by its anecdotes and its scholarly attention."--Jonathan Messinger, "Time Out Chicago" "Blends memoir and history to reveal what life on a reservation is really like - neither the festival of dysfunction nor the oasis of noble, nature-loving stoics that many non-Indians imagine. ... [A] blistering, illuminating, ultimately hopeful book."--Kate Tuttle, "Boston Globe" "In a book that is part memoir, part journalistic expose and part cultural history, novelist Treuer offers a movingly plainspoken account of reservation life... Powerful, important reading."--"Kirkus Reviews" "An invaluable study and vivid account of problematic life on our reservations by a writer--a very good writer!--raised 'on the rez