‘The Savage Mind’ author says America’s violent past is embedded in its present

Writer David Treuer’s Ojibwe mother saw America as a country that tried to destroy her people. For his father, a Jewish refugee, the U.S. was the country that saved his life.

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TONYA MOSLEY, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. I’m Tonya Mosley. There’s a familiar line in writer David Treuer’s new book that sounds almost like a warning – the call is coming from inside the house. He’s talking about America and this belief that the violence we associate with our country’s past isn’t simply