Rating: 
Summary: No longer our invisible minority!
Review: Thanks to writters like Russell Means, Vine Deloria Jr., Paula Gunn and Sherman Alexie - just to name a few - American Indians are no longer invisible to the dominant society. This powerful book should be required reading in our country's schools. Hopefully, because of books like this one - that may one day be possible.
Rating: 
Summary: okay, but not GREAT
Review: The entire time reading this book, I couldn't help but think: Russell Means is doing a good job of marketing Russell Means.Means needs to knock the chip off his shoulder, and quit the 'poor, poor pitiful me' routine. His attitude and outlook as 'victim' just doesn't cut it here. Means has done well for HIMSELF. I don't think he's done much to help 'his people.' PARTS of this book are worth looking into, but whatever you do, DON'T buy the book. Check it out at the public library. And save your cash for something better.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful, masterful, courageous, a MUST READ for Americans
Review: The most powerful book I have ever read. Russell Means has at least 9 lives as he takes us through his own struggle and the struggle of the Lakota and other Nations to be treated like decent American people. The story behind the battle to rid the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the story of Wounded Knee encampment and the American Indian Movement, but most of all the story of a true leader of his people Enough action in here to make at least 10 movies. Go Oliver Stone!
Rating:
Summary: Honest and Raw
Review: This book is a good source of education about the Natives of TODAY, their struggles of TODAY, and their victories of TODAY. The problem is, it's usually the people who need this sort of education the most who fail to seek it, let alone find it. It is an inspirational story and a must-read.
Rating: 
Summary: Superior and Inspiring
Review: This book was the final straw. After reading it, I decided for sure that I wanted to support the American Indian Movement. I also realized that American Indians are the ethnic group that recieves the most racial stereotyping. The only way to truly understand how I feel about this book is to pick it up and read it yourself.
Rating:
Summary: An education, pure and simple
Review: This is a big, heavy book that carries a message equally substantial. For every textbook about Indians written by anthropologists there should be one that comes straight from Indian Country, written (told) by those whose experiences we do not hear about often enough. Credit goes to Russell Means here for telling a story that rings with authority, grit, and, finally, hope. Yet it is not only a story: Means's many opinions about aspects of white society--and of his own--had me marking numerous pages for later reference. And his most famous speech, included in the book's appendix, is a razor-sharp indictment of the (European) worldview that has in many ways yet to earn a respectful place in this world. Ultimately this book is about just that: Respect. "Indians are dying of sympathy," Means says. "What we want is RESPECT." WHERE WHITE MEN FEAR TO TREAD, though long, is never tedious, doesn't tip-toe, and continues to pull the reader along. This is an important book, and I hope its message--rough edges and all--makes an impact.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful Book
Review: This is one of the greatest books I've ever read. It has humor, sorrow, everything. Russell Means has written a great book depicting what the U.S. government has done to the American Indians. My eyes were already opened to what they have done, but Russell has widened them even more.
Rating: 
Summary: A work of enormous political and historical consequence
Review: WHERE WHITE MEN FEAR TO TREAD is as much a superb examination of racism in America as it is a hugely important document that chronicles Native American history as seen through one man. Means is a great narrator and storyteller, and his accounts of the seizure of Mount Rushmore and the stand-off at Wounded Knee, among dozens of other historical events, present a version of late twentieth-century history that is virtually never told in conventional history books. While WHERE WHITE MEN FEAR TO TREAD is work that reflects the anger and heated passion of most charismatic Native American leader of this century, it is ultimately a work of great spirituality and redemption, for Means, whose immense respect for the written word is reflected on almost every page of this riveting biography, uses the book as a personal way of coming to terms with the past. Anyone who spends time with this book will come away forever changed by his or her understanding of both American and Native American history.
Rating:
Summary: A Brutal Life Story Not to be Missed
Review: Where White Men Fear to Tread, the autobiography of American Indian Movement founder and activist Russell Means, is perhaps the most brutal life story one will ever read. From a youth steeped in the degredation of racial discrimination, poverty, violence and displacement, Means finds redemption and purpose channeling his intellect and great personal strength in fighting for preservation of the rights and culture of American Indians everywhere. You may not like him or his tactics (often-times violent protest, the occupation of Alcatraz Island and Mount Rushmore, the siege at Wounded Knee, the seizing of BIA offices, etc.), but Means is likely untroubled by that - and for damn good reason: he's had plenty of exposure to white European culture and concludes his people have little benefitted. He may not share many readers' "values", but that is because Means is pure Lakota in heart and mind - and no apologies are forthcoming. But that Russell Means is a deeply spiritual man cannot be questioned, no more than his courage denied. Against the backdrop of the "placid" 1950's, turbulent 60's & 70's, and into today, Means' causes include the bitter struggle against the incompetent and corrupt Bureau of Indian Affairs, self-determination for the people of Pine Ridge, legal redress for repeated violation of treaty rights, destruction of the environment, and more. All have been fought at great personal cost: beatings, jailings, multiple attempts on his life, loss of friends and family - all described in heart-wrenching detail. Hard reading that is not for the meek, but then the fight against racial injustice has never been the domain of moderates. Some great persons are recognized as such in their time: Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, and Nelson Mandela instantly come to mind. Others' greatness is revealed only through time. Russell Means' work on behalf of the Lakota, indeed all American Indians (North, Central, and South), is ultimately work on behalf of all who strive for dignity in the face crushing poverty, discrimination, and voicelessness. Means' life story is a struggle and (perhaps soon?) victory worth knowing, and this reviewer is glad he told it.
Rating:
Summary: A Brutal Life Story Not to be Missed
Review: Where White Men Fear to Tread, the autobiography of American Indian Movement founder and activist Russell Means, is perhaps the most brutal life story one will ever read. From a youth steeped in the degredation of racial discrimination, poverty, violence and displacement, Means finds redemption and purpose channeling his intellect and great personal strength in fighting for preservation of the rights and culture of American Indians everywhere. You may not like him or his tactics (often-times violent protest, the occupation of Alcatraz Island and Mount Rushmore, the siege at Wounded Knee, the seizing of BIA offices, etc.), but Means is likely untroubled by that - and for damn good reason: he's had plenty of exposure to white European culture and concludes his people have little benefitted. He may not share many readers' "values", but that is because Means is pure Lakota in heart and mind - and no apologies are forthcoming. But that Russell Means is a deeply spiritual man cannot be questioned, no more than his courage denied. Against the backdrop of the "placid" 1950's, turbulent 60's & 70's, and into today, Means' causes include the bitter struggle against the incompetent and corrupt Bureau of Indian Affairs, self-determination for the people of Pine Ridge, legal redress for repeated violation of treaty rights, destruction of the environment, and more. All have been fought at great personal cost: beatings, jailings, multiple attempts on his life, loss of friends and family - all described in heart-wrenching detail. Hard reading that is not for the meek, but then the fight against racial injustice has never been the domain of moderates. Some great persons are recognized as such in their time: Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, and Nelson Mandela instantly come to mind. Others' greatness is revealed only through time. Russell Means' work on behalf of the Lakota, indeed all American Indians (North, Central, and South), is ultimately work on behalf of all who strive for dignity in the face crushing poverty, discrimination, and voicelessness. Means' life story is a struggle and (perhaps soon?) victory worth knowing, and this reviewer is glad he told it.
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