Rewriting Native American history

Guest: David Treuer

The story of Native Americans that is told in schools, in books, and in popular culture is usually one of endless suffering, of massacres, of hopelessness on reservations.  But Ojibwe writer and anthropologist DAVID TREUER says that is not an accurate depiction of Native American people, who have survived and thrived despite tragedies. In his new book, The Heartbeat at Wounded Knee, which starts with the 1890 massacre, Treuer writes a counternarrative to the story that has been told, focusing on “Indian life rather than Indian death.” He joins us to talk about his new history and what’s been missing from the stories of the past.