The novel references battles involving General Philip Sheridan, who is rumored to have proclaimed that “the only good Indian is a dead Indian,” General George Wright, who fought against the Spokane tribe in the Pacific Northwest, and George Armstrong Custer, who is most famous for his participation in the Battle of Little Big Horn-these three figures appear in the book in the thinly-veiled guise of Cavalry Records executives, but experience flashbacks from their time in the wars. More specifically, though, the novel makes many references to the period of the Indian Wars, particularly those that took place west of the Mississippi River in the nineteenth century. Reservation Blues examines the way that the past sufferings of Native Americans contribute to the hard conditions of life on the reservation today, so the historical context of the novel really begins with the arrival of Christopher Columbus to America in 1492-the beginning of a slow but systematic genocide perpetuated by white Europeans against Native Americans.
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