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3 books match the query 'Fixico, Donald L.'
Indian Resilience and Rebuilding
Indigenous Nations in the Modern American WestDonald L. Fixico
University of Arizona Press, 2013
Fixico identifies the tools to this empowerment such as education, navigation within cultural systems, modern Indian leadership, and indigenized political economy. He explains how these tools helped Indian communities to rebuild their nations. Fixico constructs an Indigenous paradigm of Native ethos and reality that drives Indian modern political economies heading into the twenty-first century.
This illuminating and comprehensive analysis of Native nation’s resilience in the twentieth century demonstrates how Native Americans reinvented themselves, rebuilt their nations, and ultimately became major forces in the United States. Indian Resilience and Rebuilding, redefines how modern American history can and should be told.
Life of Black Hawk
A New EditionDonald L. Fixico
Westholme Publishing, 2026
Born in 1767 at Saukenuk on the Rock River in western Illinois, Black Hawk of the Sauk and Fox Nation rose from young warrior to fierce defender of his people as the United States pushed relentlessly westward. His autobiography, originally dictated in 1833, is one of the earliest Native American life narratives recorded: a warrior’s unfiltered account of betrayal, resistance, and the patriotic fight to protect his homeland. In 1832, Black Hawk led his people to reclaim Saukenuk. Settlers had destroyed their homes and crops and illegally occupied their land that had been recognized as Sauk and Fox by treaty. After winning the first two battles against the U.S. military and volunteer militia in Wisconsin, Black Hawk’s band lost the final one at Bad Axe. Black Hawk’s people were forced to accept permanent removal to the west, and he became a prisoner of war at the Fort Jefferson barracks near St. Louis. It was there that he dictated his autobiography to an interpreter.
Introduced and edited by historian Donald L. Fixico, this new edition of Life of Black Hawk brings fresh context and cultural depth to Black Hawk’s words, illuminating the Sauk and Fox worldview, the sacred traditions of the Thunder Clan, and the spiritual life that shaped this remarkable leader. Black Hawk's account conveys what it was like to be a Sauk warrior in the early 1800s. He explains the Medicine Way of his people and how the traditional worldview of Black Hawk was quickly changing from a harmonious relationship with nature to unavoidable frontier hostilities with an expanding United States. You feel the frustrating dilemma of Black Hawk, who knows that defending his people and fighting to save his homeland is morally right. Timely, intimate, and essential, this volume is both a vivid window into the Indigenous experience on the frontier and a testament to a man who stands alongside the great Native patriots. For readers of Native American history, military history, and American biography, this is an extraordinary story that has never been more important to hear.
Understanding Tribal Sovereignty
Federal Indian Law and Self-GovernanceDonald L. Fixico
University of Arizona Press, 2026
What does tribal sovereignty really mean—and why does it matter today?
Accessibly written for the nonspecialist, acclaimed historian Donald L. Fixico unpacks the complex history and legal foundations of tribal sovereignty in the United States. From traditional Native governance to landmark treaties, federal laws, and court cases, Fixico guides readers through the evolution of tribal self-rule and its modern expressions—from tribal constitutions to license plates and casinos. Designed for students, educators, tribal members, and professionals alike, this book offers a clear, compelling introduction to one of the most important—and often misunderstood—concepts in American Indian affairs.
This book is a go-to source for understanding the federal Indian laws, treaties, and court cases simplified to explain tribal sovereignty.