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Review: Redbone: The True Story of a Native American Rock Band by Christian Staebler, Sonia Paoloni, and Thibault Balahy

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Redbone: The True Story of a Native American Rock Band by Christian Staebler, Sonia Paoloni, and Thibault Balahy

Redbone: The True Story of a Native American Rock Band
Christian Staebler and Sonia Paoloni
Illustrated by Thibault Balahy
IDW
Published October 28, 2020

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About book

Experience the riveting, powerful story of the Native American civil rights movement and the resulting struggle for identity told through the high-flying career of West Coast rock ‘n’ roll pioneers Redbone.

You’ve heard the hit song “Come and Get Your Love” in the movie Guardians of the Galaxy, but the story of the band behind it is one of cultural, political, and social importance.

Brothers Pat and Lolly Vegas were talented Native American rock musicians that took the 1960s Sunset Strip by storm. They influenced The Doors and jammed with Jimmy Hendrix before he was “Jimi,” and the idea of a band made up of all Native Americans soon followed. Determined to control their creative vision and maintain their cultural identity, they eventually signed a deal with Epic Records in 1969. But as the American Indian Movement gained momentum the band took a stand, choosing pride in their ancestry over continued commercial reward.

Created in cooperation of the Vegas family, authors Christian Staebler and Sonia Paoloni with artist Thibault Balahy take painstaking steps to ensure the historical accuracy of this important and often overlooked story of America’s past. Part biography and part research journalism, Redbone tells a vivid story about this neglected chapter of American history.

My Review

Reading this book was a spur-of-the-moment decision, but I’m so glad I did. The title and subtitle caught my eye. I hadn’t heard of Redbone, and the history surrounding this Native American rock band intrigued me.

The foreward gives some context, and I knew reading it that I would enjoy the book. The author’s enthusiasm for the band is infectious.

The book begins with a present-day scene that leads to an interview with Redbone band member Pat Vegas. From there, the narrative flashes back, showing scenes from the 1960s and 1970s. The scenes depict events in the lives of the band members.

To be honest, I have a LOT of catching up to do about Native American history in the US. This book helped identify some of the holes that still remain in my understanding. The text mentions Indian Boarding Schools (one band member grew up in one of these) which were in effect in some places until the 1970s. We think of these things as having happened so long ago, and that’s… really not so long ago.

I was also unfamiliar with the protest at Wounded Knee and its connection to Standing Rock. The book briefly explains the connection and the band’s decision to support the protest. I loved learning about Redbone’s history and especially the ways they stood up for Indigenous people.

This is a really fun book to read and a pretty quick one as well. There are a few pages with a lot of dialogue in one panel that were a little bit confusing at first. Overall, this is really well done. I think music fans and readers interested in learning more about Indigenous history will find lots to love in this book.

“We Were All Wounded at Wounded Knee”

The book talks about a song that the band wrote in support of the protest at Wounded Knee. Here is a link to a video of the song called “We Were All Wounded at Wounded Knee.”

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief, vague reference that someone had sex. Nothing on scene.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Reference to Indian Boarding Schools and the harm they caused. Reference to the battle at Wounded Knee. (Battle not shown.) References to racism against BIPOC, particularly Indigenous people.

Drug Content
Adult characters visit a bar and perform at nightclubs.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.

Review: Killers of the Flower Moon: Adapted for Young Readers by David Grann

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Killers of the Flower Moon: Adapted for Young Readers: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
David Grann
Crown Books for Young Readers
Published November 16, 2021

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About Killers of the Flower Moon

A young reader edition of the New York Times bestseller and National Book Award finalist about one of history’s most ruthless and shocking crimes, the Reign of Terror against the Osage people.

In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.

Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. As the death toll surpassed more than twenty-four Osage, the newly created F.B.I. took up the case, in what became one of the organization’s first major homicide investigations. An undercover team, including one of the only Native American agents in the bureau, infiltrated the region, struggling to adopt the latest modern techniques of detection to bring an end to the deadly crime spree. Together with the Osage they began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.

In this youngification of the adult bestseller, critically acclaimed author David Grann revisits the gripping investigation into the shocking crimes against the Osage people. It is a searing indictment of the callousness and prejudice toward Native Americans that allowed the murderers to continue for so long and provides essential information for young readers about a shameful period in U.S. history.

My Review

This book promises to shock readers, and it absolutely delivered on that promise to me. Wow. My jaw dropped several times as I read about the calculated, brazen murders of Osage Tribe members in the 1920s. I don’t remember learning anything about this in my history classes, though the Teapot Dome scandal and Edgar Hoover’s rise to the top of the FBI were events I had a little familiarity with.

One of the things the book does really well is to present the facts about how laws requiring indigenous people to have a court-appointed guardian (white person) managing their wealth directly led to the swindling and murder of the Osage. Shocking and terrible.

This chapter in US history deserves to be much more widely known. I listened to the book as an audiobook and read the whole thing in less than a week. It was so compelling. The whole thing is divided into three parts. The first part centers around Mollie Burkhart. The second follows federal law enforcement officer Tom White, and the third part follows a journalist who begins looking back at the murder cases in the early 2000s.

I’m really glad I read this book. It makes me realize that there are so many parts of American history that I don’t know nearly enough about. This book is a great resource for young readers who, like me, want to learn more about parts of history that we don’t acknowledge nearly enough.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
The narrative focuses on Mollie Burkhart, her family, and Osage tribe members. Several prominent people in the book are white, including law enforcement and high-profile people in the town.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Mentions of marriage and divorce.

Spiritual Content
Brief references to Osage spiritual traditions and celebrations. Mollie Burkhart celebrated holidays and feasts with her tribe and also attended the Catholic church and valued her Catholic faith.

Violent Content
Systemic racism. For example, the book chronicles how the Osage people were required to have a “guardian” (read: white person) who was in charge of their bank accounts. This led to rampant financial abuse. The book quotes newspaper articles and historical figures, noting when they’ve used racist terms.

Brief mentions of Mollie’s generation being forced to attend a boarding school where they were required to stop speaking their native language. The book doesn’t use the term residential schools, but I think that’s what it’s talking about.

Several scenes briefly describe a murder scene. They’re never overly gory. Just the facts, stated as briefly as possible.

Drug Content
This happened during prohibition, but several characters drank alcohol anyway. In one chapter, the author describes a woman who arrives drunk at a family dinner and makes a scene.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.