Peter Matthiessen (1927-2014): Leonard Peltier and In the Spirit of Crazy Horse

[G_j]

Last edited Tue Apr 8, 2014, 08:31 AM - Edit history (1)

http://thestringer.com.au/peter-matthiessen-1927-2014-leonard-peltier-and-in-the-spirit-of-crazy-horse/#.U0Pb16a9LCS

Peter Matthiessen (1927-2014): Leonard Peltier and In the Spirit of Crazy Horse

by Colin Penter
April 7th, 2014

‘Whatever the nature and degree of his participation at Oglala, the ruthless persecution of Leonard Peltier had less to do with his own actions than with underlying issues of history, racism, and economics, in particular Indian sovereignty claims and growing opposition to massive energy development on treaty lands and dwindling reservations.’

Peter Matthiessen

Author, writer, environmentalist and political activist Peter Matthiessen has died, aged 86, after a short illness. Pieces written is his memory are here, here, here, here and here.

Matthiessen is best known for his fiction work, his writings on the natural world and his writing and activism on environmental causes.

However, it is his non-fiction books that I value the most. These include In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, which chronicles the story of Native Indian political activist Leonard Peltier and the FBI and US Government’s war on the American Indian Movement and his book about the legendary farm worker, union organizer and activist Ceser Chavez.
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse is one of the finest examples of a book that exposed historical and political injustice and gave force to a political campaign that continues to this day.

In In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,

Matthiessen documents the massive number of crimes committed against Native American people and the genocidal nature of the US authorities in their destruction of Native cultures and people. He documents a long string of historical injustices, ranging from mass slaughter to the takeover and reapportionment of sacred or Native lands, including the forced appropriation of Indian lands for mining use.

The key figure in Matthiessen’s book is Leonard Peltier, who has spent 37 years in American prisons for the alleged murder of 2 FBI agents on the the Pine Ridge Indian Reserve in South Dakota in 1975.

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http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/04/06/books/peter-matthiessen-author-and-naturalist-is-dead-at-86.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0&referrer

Peter Matthiessen, Lyrical Writer and Naturalist, Is Dead at 86

By CHRISTOPHER LEHMANN-HAUPT
April 5, 2014

Peter Matthiessen, a roving author and naturalist whose impassioned nonfiction explored the remote endangered wilds of the world and whose prizewinning fiction often placed his mysterious protagonists in the heart of them, died on Saturday at his home in Sagaponack, N.Y. He was 86.

His son Alex said the cause was leukemia, which was diagnosed more than a year ago.

Mr. Matthiessen’s final novel, “In Paradise,” is to be published on Tuesday by Riverhead Books.

Mr. Matthiessen was one of the last survivors of a generation of American writers who came of age after World War II and who all seemed to know one another, socializing in New York and on Long Island’s East End as a kind of movable literary salon peopled by the likes of William Styron, James Jones, Kurt Vonnegut and E. L. Doctorow.

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[G_j]

1. Jailed AIM activist Leonard Peltier reacts to author Peter Matthiessen's death

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/16840313-jailed-aim-activist-leonard-peltier-reacts-to-author-peter-matthiessens-death

Sagaponack : NY : USA | Apr 07, 2014 at 9:37

<snip>

This is the same man whose case I highlighted in March, with examples of questionable evidence and false witness testimony that were used to convict him of killing two FBI agents in the summer of 1975. Matthiessen conducted meticulous research into the book, pouring over documents, witness accounts, and even meeting with Peltier himself to glean as much information as he could to draw the conclusion that Peltier was innocent.

For his part, Leonard has been in jail for 38 years, waiting for a day that may never come when he is finally freed. Upon learning of Matthiessen’s death, the Lakota activist released a statement from his Florida jail, expressing sorrow over his friend’s death.

“Man, I thought he was going to live forever. Peter was one-of-a-kind. Truly -- ONE that will go down in history. He fought for the poor and the weary, the sick, and anyone who had problems that were brought to his attention. He took time from his own life to try to help them in whatever way he could. He ALWAYS gave freely when someone needed anything, fought for those who were being mistreated. I mean, this man's life was like a movie script.”
He called Matthiessen brother and a hero and suggested that Hollywood should make a movie about his life because “Hollywood needs some real heroes, not the fake ones you see every day in movies.”

Matthiessen’s research and subsequent book about Peltier came at a high cost: The FBI and the governor of South Dakota sued him and Viking publishing in separate cases for libel damages, effectively banning the book from the public until both cases were dismissed.

The cases cost the defendants about $2 million in legal fees. Peltier wrote that Matthiessen received threats against his life and his family, but “in true warrior form, Peter told them (the FBI) to get off his property.”

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[Eleanors38]

2. Matthiessen didn't take no crap...

His Watson Trilogy really squared away a lot of what this country is about. Truly majestic literature.

[G_j]

4. absolutely

majestic is a good term.

[bemildred]

3. Some people you cannot replace. nt