Crossbloods: Bone Courts, Bingo, and Other Reports

Not even a worthwhile subject and Vizenor's ( Bearheart ; see review below) occasional audacity overcome the lack of editing that thrusts this essay collection into mediocrity. ``Crossbloods and the Chippewa,'' one of the few recent works, is a meandering essay that all but obscures its own themes, though it remains interesting in some particulars: federal boarding schools that separate Indian children from their parents, high-stakes bingo that grosses millions for the Shakopee Sioux, Vizenor's contempt for ``bourgeois white liberals'' and their romantic notions about tribal people (Vizenor is part Cherokee). Furthermore, most of the pieces have been published previously (many in Tribal Scenes and Ceremonies , an earlier, long out-of-print version of this book) and are rerun here without being brought up to date. One essay was written in the course of a hotly contested Sioux tribal election held 16 years ago. Who won? Did it matter? There's no way to tell here. Vizenor also recycles ideas and text within these pieces, giving the collection a certain repetitiveness. ( May )