All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life, 1999.

• Author: Clemens, Byron
• Position: Review

Winona LaDuke's All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life, 1999. 200 pages, 22 illustrations and photographs, paper. South End Press, $16.

Winona LaDuke knows how to tell a story and tell it well. LaDuke's latest non-fiction work, All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life" adds a forceful and inspirational voice to Native peoples' resistance to environmental devastation. The book comprises 10 chapters detailing in environmental, spiritual and human terms the struggles of indigenous peoples from Awkwesasne to Hawai'i.

LaDuke's introduction notes that the last 150 years have witnessed the largest extinction of species since the Ice Age as well as the loss of more than 2,000 nations of native peoples in the western hemisphere. She then gives evidence that cultural diversity helps to ensure biodiversity. Where indigenous people maintain their traditions one can often find an enclave of biodiversity. This is one of the unifying themes of the book. LaDuke ends the chapter with the description of a ceremony and the resolve of native peoples to continue their commitment to the land and the people of the land.

Chapter One in All Our Relations presents a brief history of the Mohawk legacy in the Great Lakes region and contrasts it with the industrial pollution of Akwesasne that has led to PCB contamination of mothers' milk. The book then details the work of Katsi Cook and others analyzing the local food chain and ultimately forcing General Motors to clean up its contamination of the Great Lakes region. LaDuke notes that GM is listed by the Multinational Monitor as one of the 10 worst corporations in the world. GM is also potentially responsible for more than 200 superfund sites and releases three times as much pollution into the environment as Ford Motor Company (its major competitor). Cook plans to build on the Mothers' Milk Project and open a new midwifery center. She...