Ghost dancing the law : the Wounded Knee trials

Summary: After the siege ended at Wounded Knee the real battle had yet to be fought. The 1973 standoff in South Dakota between Oglala Lakota Indians and federal lawmen led to the criminal prosecution of American Indian Movement leaders Dennis Banks and Russell Means. The ten month trial had all the earmarks of a political tribunal; with the defense led by William Kunstler and the prosecution backed by the Nixon administration, it became a media battle for public opinion. This first book-length study of the Wounded Knee trials demonstrates the impact that legal institutions and the media have on political dissent. It also shows how the dissenters as defendants can influence these institutions and the surrounding political and cultural climate.

Record details

ISBN: 0674354338
ISBN: 9780674354333
ISBN: 0674001842
ISBN: 9780674001848
Physical Description: print
ix, 310 pages ; 24 cm
Publisher: Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1997.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-303) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	The road to Wounded Knee -- The buildup to the trials -- The Saint Paul trial begins -- The opening statements -- The government's case gets derailed -- Month five and counting -- The defense case and the government's rebuttal -- The closing arguments -- Judge Nichol's decision and its aftermath -- Retelling stories of history and power.