This books takes as its backdrop a movement in the 1950s to "emancipate" Native Americans by terminating tribes' recognition as such by the federal government. The idea, according to its proponents was that this status had made indigenous peoples dependent upon the federal government and therefore held them back from their full economic potential. Of course, behind the scenes was a more dubious intent -- it was an opportunity, if successful, to wrest valuable lands away from Native Americans and put them in the hands of whites. It strikes me that this is another example of economic profiteers beginning with greed and then working backwards to come up with a justification; recently, many have pointed out that the same thing happened with racism. It's not that whites enslaved black Africans because they were racist, at least not at first. Rather, they enslaved black Africans because they wanted freed labor. Then, understanding, it seems, that enslaving another human being for personal gain is a bit...unrefined(?), they went through a lot of trouble mining the Bible, Greek philosophy, and pseudo-science to develop and spread the idea that people of African descent were inferior to whites. Racism. Basically, the white establishment has been terribly effective at enriching themselves economically, socially, and politically at the expense of the "other."
As Erdrich tells it, Mormon views on Native Americans evolved in the same way. Mormons apparently believe that Native Americans were one of four ancient groups who settled in the Americas; they are called the Lamanites in the Book of Mormon. The Lamanites were not a good people, and it was the job of the so-called Latter-Day Saints to bring them back to the Lord. I might be getting that wrong, but Erdrich through her characters seems to be indicating that this belief system ingrained the idea of Native American inferiority in the Mormon church, which encouraged its congregations to take land from indigenous peoples. It just so happens that the architect of tribal termination was a Mormon whose family's wealth came from their accrual of formerly Native lands.
I will say that this part of history is a rather small part of the book. It is always in the background, but that is where it mainly stays. That disappointed me. I had heard Erdrich speak about termination on Fresh Air, and was fascinated by this here-to-fore unknown part of our past. I thought it would play a more prominent role. What Erdrich does really well, though, is bring the Turtle Mountain Tribe reservation of the 1950s to life. She makes you feel with the characters in a way that draws you into the story -- even if the plot is rather thin.
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