Buried Indians: Digging Up the Past in a Midwestern Town

Description

In Buried Indians| Laurie Hovell McMillin presents the struggle of her hometown| Trempealeau| Wisconsin| to determine whether platform mounds atop Trempealeau Mountain constitute authentic Indian mounds. This dispute| as McMillin subtly demonstrates| reveals much about the attitude and interaction – past and present – between the white and Indian inhabitants of this Midwestern town. McMillin’s account| rich in detail and sensitive to current political issues of American Indian interactions with the dominant European American culture| locates two opposing views: one that denies a Native American presence outright and one that asserts its long history and ruthless destruction. The highly reflective oral histories McMillin includes turn Buried Indians into an accessible| readable portrait of a uniquely American culture clash and a dramatic narrative grounded in people’s genuine perceptions of what the platform mounds mean.