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(More customer reviews)Stanley Lyman, longtime BIA employee, offers us his posthumous journal which covers the occupation of Wounded Knee in 1973. Whether one agress or disagrees with Lyman, this book is definately an important addition to the overall literature surrounding this event. This was written in 1973, Lyman died in 1979, and the book was first published in 1993.
We have copious works on the AIM point of view, the Lakota point of view, biographies on Banks, Means, and Crow Dog, but this is the first account that I have read which gives a detailed look at the BIA side along with looks at the U.S. Marshall's and the Oglala tribal government under Dick Wilson.
Lyman states over and over that whites can not understand the Lakota, or their ways, or the things they do. He comes across as a man who means well and wants to do what is best for the tribe, but his lack of understanding is blatantly obvious. He comments that Leonard Crow Dog (Brule Lakota medicine man) has no place or purpose in visiting Pine Ridge because Crow Dog is from Rosebud (that is Lyman's arguement. he should have just said he didn't want Crow Dog to be there as AIM's medicine man). I wonder if the Crazy Horse, Red Cloud, and the other Oglalas turned away Sitting Bull based on the fact that he was a Hunkpapa medicine man and not Oglala.
There was obviously great tension on the reservation during this whole affair, but Lyman plays it cool and comes across as a man who is unafraid to stand up for his thoughts. He has very interesting views of both Dick Wilson's group and the AIM group. He felt victorious seeing Russell Means handcuffed and taken away and he felt disparaged to learn that Means was out on bail 2 days later. We get to see hints of conversations with government officials and Dick Wilson. He speaks often of people (mostly full-bloods) whose friendships he has lost over time - we were once friends, now we are not. It is sometimes hard to understand why he remained at Pine Ridge as long as he did.
If you are overtly interested in Wounded Knee II, I would say that this is a book that should be added to your library. As with any touchy subject, you may not agree with a thing Lyman says, but it is nice to see what was going on on that side of the bunkers. Give it a read and see what you think.
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