David Treuer traces America's relationship with violence back to the frontier
Summary
David Treuer discusses his new book, *The Savage Mind*, arguing that America’s frontier violence remains embedded in its institutions and collective psyche. Treuer shares personal stories from his Ojibwe upbringing on the Leech Lake Reservation, including a traumatic childhood incident that shaped his view of inherited fear. He also reflects on his time at Princeton, where the Menendez case shattered his perception of elite institutions as inherently safe. The episode concludes with a review of Stevie Wonder’s 50th-anniversary EP of unreleased tracks from *Songs in the Key of Life*.
Topics discussed
Introduction to David Treuer and The Savage Mind
Reading the opening scene: terror on the reservation
Reflecting on that night and the failure of imagination
His father's Holocaust survival and its impact on parenting
Fear for his children after the San Bernardino shooting
Describing life on the Leech Lake Reservation
The 'End of the Trail' painting and Native stereotypes
The difficulty of writing the book as a letter to his children
Defining the American frontier and its legacy of violence
Urgency of the book and a moment of parental resentment
Leaving for Princeton and the concept of narrative scarcity
The Menendez murders and shattering the 'good place' myth
How outsiders perceive the reservation and Native identity
First class with Toni Morrison and a classmate's stereotype
Morrison's advice on avoiding ethnographic writing
What Treuer hopes his children will imagine for the future
Ken Tucker reviews Stevie Wonder's new EP
Preview of next episode and show credits
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