June 16, 1975: Two FBI agents and an Indian die as a result of a shooting. Of the four initially charged Indians, only Leonard Peltier was sentenced to two life sentences, although their own accusers withdrew the only eyewitness statement because it was made under duress.

April 1982: Peltier's lawyers asked that a new process is carried out and accuse the government of having concealed documents and falsifying evidence for the conviction of Indian activist.

January 1983: this book is published in the United States. The following year, the author and publisher are denounced for defamation Price FBI agent and former prosecutor general of South Dakota, William Janklow.

1986: Peltier receives the prize of the Spanish commission of

human rights.

1988: Mikhail Gorbachev delivers a signed copy of his book Perestroika Peltier, and twelve million Soviet citizens ask the White House amnestied Peltier.

June 7, 1991: Senator Daniel Inouye sent to President Bush's second request for review of the judgment of Peltier, citing, among other evidence, the "exculpatory" of the guilty plea made by X.

1993: two life sentences are confirmed against Leonard Peltier, precisely during the declared by the United Nations 'indigenous peoples' year.

A hot morning of 1975 there was a shootout between FBI agents and a group of American Indians on a reservation near Wounded Knee, South Dakota. They killed two policemen and an Indian. Four Indians, all members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) were charged with murder. Only one of them, Leonard Peltier was convicted. Peltier remains in prison, serving two life sentences. The story of what really happened and why Matthiessen believes Peltier's innocence is the central body of this book, a classic of literature research. But Matthiessen also reveals more fundamental problems behind the shooting of Pine Ridge: systematic discrimination of the Indians by the authorities; the determination of large industrial corporations to exploit uranium deposits of the Black Hills -the sacred mountains of the Sioux,; breach of treaties; FBI and hostility towards the AIM, born precisely to defend the rights of the Indians.

This book, based on rigorous research and unsentimental testimony, evidence and affidavits of those involved, was banned for eight years in the United States. While highlights Matthiessen's commitment to the cause of American Indians, unmasks the hypocrisy and severe guilt of society and the political system of the white man in the genocide have been-and are subject indigenous peoples.