Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to American Prison Writing and Mass Incarceration
- The Cambridge Companion to American Prison Writing and Mass Incarceration
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Foreword: Messages from the American Prison
- Acknowledgments
- Chronology
- Introduction
- Part I Forerunners
- Part II Revolutionaries
- 3 No More Brothers in Jail
- 4 George Jackson and the Afterlives of “Full Revolt”
- 5 Angela Davis
- 6 Liberate Assata Shakur
- 7 Leonard Peltier’s Sun Dance
- 8 Mumia Abu-Jamal on Death Row
- Part III Witnesses
- Part IV Survivors
- Guide to Further Reading
- Index
- Cambridge Companions To Literature
7 - Leonard Peltier’s Sun Dance
from Part II - Revolutionaries
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 October 2025
Edited by
Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to American Prison Writing and Mass Incarceration
- The Cambridge Companion to American Prison Writing and Mass Incarceration
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Foreword: Messages from the American Prison
- Acknowledgments
- Chronology
- Introduction
- Part I Forerunners
- Part II Revolutionaries
- 3 No More Brothers in Jail
- 4 George Jackson and the Afterlives of “Full Revolt”
- 5 Angela Davis
- 6 Liberate Assata Shakur
- 7 Leonard Peltier’s Sun Dance
- 8 Mumia Abu-Jamal on Death Row
- Part III Witnesses
- Part IV Survivors
- Guide to Further Reading
- Index
- Cambridge Companions To Literature
Summary
Leonard Peltier was convicted in 1977 for the killing of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Despite allegations of governmental misconduct and questionable legal rulings, the conviction was affirmed on appeal by several federal courts. After nearly fifty years in prison, Peltier was granted clemency by President Biden in 2025 and allowed to finish his sentence under home confinement. This chapter recounts Peltier’s background, his involvement with the American Indian Movement, and the events surrounding the incident at Pine Ridge. His memoir, Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance, was published in 1999. The chapter examines the book’s experimental, transgressive form and its subversion of standard memoir style and structure. Prison Writings utilizes a nonlinear structure, multiple voices, surreal elements, and political and legal analyses, as well as the inclusion of poetry and photographs. Peltier also incorporates Native history and social issues as well as a critique of carceral standards in the federal prison system.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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