Ceremonies of Innocence: Essays from the Indian Wars - Tapa blanda

Ceremonies of Innocence updates and collects Steve Russell's commentaries on the contemporary Indian Wars in the United States. Early versions of these essays appeared in Indian Country Today. These essays assume less background in political science, history, and economics than Russell's first book on tribal governance, Sequoyah Rising (Carolina Academic Press 2010). Still, there is much food for thought here not just for tribal voters and officials in tribal government, but also for non-Indians who care about the aggressions against Indian property and self-government that continue in their name.

Steve Russell is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, born and raised in the Creek Nation. He dropped out of Bristow, Oklahoma High School in the ninth grade. After serving in the U.S. Air Force from 1964 to 1968, he graduated magna cum laude from the University of Texas at Austin, and went on to earn a law degree from the same school. He also received a master of judicial studies degree from the University of Nevada at Reno. His first career was as a Texas trial court judge, first on the Austin Municipal Court and then Travis County Court at Law No. Two. His second career was as a criminal justice professor, first at the University of Texas at San Antonio and then at Indiana University, Bloomington. He is currently Associate Professor Emeritus of Criminal Justice at Indiana University and retains his judicial status in Texas as well. Twice retired, Russell lives with his wife Tracy in Georgetown, Texas, where he spends time with his four children and nine grandchildren and writes a regular column on tribal affairs for Indian Country Today. Russell is the author of Sequoyah Rising: Problems in Post-Colonial Tribal Governance (Carolina Academic Press (2010) and Wicked Dew (Dog Iron Press 2012), winner of the Poetry First Book Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas in 2008.