Synopses & Reviews
From White Shield to Washington DC, new Indian wars are being fought by Ivy League-trained lawyers called Coyote Warriors—among them a Mandan/Hidatsa named Raymond Cross.
Coyote Warrior tells the epic story of the three tribes that saved Lewis and Clarks Corps of Discovery from starvation, those tribes' century-long battle to forge a new nation, and the extraordinary journey of one man to redeem a fathers dream and the dignity of his people.
Cross graduated from law school and, following his fathers death, returned home to resurrect his fathers fight against the federal government. His mission would lead him to Congress, which his father had battled forty years earlier, and into the hallowed chambers of the U.S. Supreme Court. There the great-great-grandson of Chief Cherry Necklace would lay at the feet of the nations highest court the case for the sanctity of the United States Constitution, treaty rights, and the legal survival of Indian Country.
Review
“Coyote Warrior is a poignant, compelling, and profoundly effective effort to convey a broader understanding of those personal, micro-level effects and the larger historical context that gives rise to them. . . . Part complex legal history and part inspiring family chronicle, VanDevelders work challenges the reader to confront powerful and troubling realities concerning both the nature of the American historical experience and the future of American resource allocation.” —Mark R. Scherer, Nebraska History Nebraska History
Synopsis
- In the tradition of A Civil Action, COYOTE WARRIOR is the inspirational story of one man who went up against powerful interests and won. This landmark work combines riveting courtroom drama with an epic and true American history.- The Garrison Dam was the linchpin of a 110-dam irrigation and flood control system planned by the Army Corps of Engineers that, 50 years later, has cost U.S. taxpayers $20 billion and has yet to produce a single drop of irrigated water for the farmers who lobbied for it.- Raymond Cross's great-great-grandfather Chief Cherry Necklace sheltered Lewis and Clark during the frigid winter of 1804, saving them from freezing and certain starvation.- VanDevelder's work on native issues was awarded first-place honors by the Native American Journalists Association.
Synopsis
"A Civil Action" meets Indian country, as one man takes on the federal government and the largest boondoggle in U.S. history--and wins.
About the Author
Paul VanDevelder has been an investigative reporter, photojournalist, and documentary filmmaker for more than twenty years. His award-winning work has appeared in the New York Times, National Geographic Traveler, Audubon, Esquire, and the Seattle Times.