The Unquiet Grave: The FBI and the Struggle for the Soul of Indian Country

About this book

In 1976 the body of Anna Mae Aquash an American Indian luminary was found frozen in the Badlands of South Dakota or so the FBI said. After a suspicious autopsy and a rushed burial friends had Aquash exhumed and found a .32-caliber bullet in her skull. Using this scandal as a point of departure The Unquiet Grave opens a tunnel into the dark side of the FBI and its subversion of American Indian activists. But the book also discovers things the Indians would prefer to keep buried. What unfolds is a sinuous tale of conspiracy murder and cover-up that stretches from the plains of South Dakota to the polished corridors of Washington D.C. First-time author Steve Hendricks sued the FBI over several years to pry out thousands of unseen documents about the events. His work was supported by the prestigious Fund for Investigative Journalism. Hendricks who has freelanced for The Nation Boston Globe Orion and public radio is one of those rare reporters whose investigative tenacity is accompanied by grace with the written word.