Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto (Civilization of the American Indian) (original 1969; edition 1988)

by Vine Deloria

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1,140	13	17,476	(4.06)	16
History. Sociology. Nonfiction. Standing Rock Sioux activist, professor, and attorney Vine Deloria, Jr., shares his thoughts about U.S. race relations, federal bureaucracies, Christian churches, and social scientists in a collection of eleven eye-opening essays infused with humor. This "manifesto" provides valuable insights on American Indian history, Native American culture, and context for minority protest movements mobilizing across the country throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. Originally published in 1969, this book remains a timeless classic and is one of the most significant nonfiction works written by a Native American.… (more)

▾Book information

Member:	constant09
Title:	Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto (Civilization of the American Indian)
Authors:	Vine Deloria
Info:	University of Oklahoma Press (1988), Paperback, 278 pages
Collections:	Your library
Rating:
Tags:	Native/Indigenous studies, American studies, colonial studies, American Indian

Work Information

Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto by Jr. Vine Deloria (1969)

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Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown (Sandydog1)
Sandydog1: Both are excellent overviews of US policy towards Native Americans.

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Interesting as a time capsule. Lots of names dropped and scores settled. Not quite an entry level book, this clearly assumes at least passing familiarity with the current events of the mid 60s in both the civil rights movement and Indian affairs. Engagingly written and makes compelling points about both history and what Deloria sees as next steps for the movement. (

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jscape2000 | Jan 29, 2023 |

Finally sat down with a copy of this after, uh, 12 years. There are definitely parts of this that haven't aged well, but those are pretty minimal compared to the parts that have aged shockingly well. Deloria is an extremely charming, thoughtful writer that I hope to read more of. (

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skolastic | Feb 2, 2021 |

Modern plight of the American Indian

We are familiar with much of the story of the American Indian prior the 1890. This is the story where the history books left off. After the American Indian left the stage as part of American Folklore. (

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tkgbjenn1 | Jan 29, 2019 |

Although the book is nearly 50 years old much of it is still painfully relevant. I agree with the blurb on the back says it should be required reading for all Americans. Now I have to go and read up on what has changed since he wrote it. (

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clmerle | Jul 22, 2017 |

Read in 2016 -- dated now but worth the read for Deloria's wit and philosophy. A window into a period of time. Upsetting how little has changed for many tribes.

sparemethecensor | Dec 4, 2016 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Deloria, Vine, Jr.	—	primary author	all editions	confirmed
Schwab, Kaipo	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Inspired

Indians and Anthropologists: Vine Deloria, Jr., and the Critique of Anthropology by Thomas Biolsi

▾Awards and Honors

Awards

Anisfield-Wolf Book Award (Nonfiction – 1970)

Notable Lists

CounterPunch's Top 100 [and a few more] Non-fiction Works of the 20th Century

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Canonical title

Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

1969

People/Characters

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

First words

Indians are like the weather.

Quotations

The truth is that practically the only thing the white man ever gave the Indian was disease and poverty. To imply that Indians were given land is to completely reverse the facts of history. (p 35)

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Please do not list as part of a series. Only the recent reprint is part of a series.

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

970.1

973

Canonical LCC

E93

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (3)

Custer Died For Your Sins

Native American disease and epidemics

Vine Deloria Jr.

▾Book descriptions

History. Sociology. Nonfiction. Standing Rock Sioux activist, professor, and attorney Vine Deloria, Jr., shares his thoughts about U.S. race relations, federal bureaucracies, Christian churches, and social scientists in a collection of eleven eye-opening essays infused with humor. This "manifesto" provides valuable insights on American Indian history, Native American culture, and context for minority protest movements mobilizing across the country throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. Originally published in 1969, this book remains a timeless classic and is one of the most significant nonfiction works written by a Native American.

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Book description

In his new preface to this paperback edition, the author observes, "The Indian world has changed so substantially since the first publication of this book that some things contained in it seem new again." Indeed, it seems that each generation of whites and Indians will have to read and reread Vine Deloria’s Manifesto for some time to come, before we absorb his special, ironic Indian point of view and what he tells us, with a great deal of humor, about U.S. race relations, federal bureaucracies, Christian churches, and social scientists. This book continues to be required reading for all Americans, whatever their special interest.

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