by Tom Maulson with Larry Nesper

A prominent activist during the tribal spearfishing rights struggle between the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians and the State of Wisconsin, Tom Maulson recounts his colorful life during those trying times and as a former tribal president. Larry Nesper, emeritus professor of Anthropology and American Indian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, conducted several interviews with Maulson over the years, which he has curated here to preserve Maulson’s frank words and speaking style and a story that must be told.

REVIEWS

“From his emergence as a ‘Walleye Warrior’ during the Ojibwe treaty rights struggles, to his growth into Lac du Flambeau tribal leadership positions, Tom Maulson became one of the most provocative, outspoken defenders of Indian treaty rights.  Larry Nesper compiled hours of interviews to give us unique insights into a complex individual who embraced both progressive business principles and traditional cultural values as a way forward for his tribal nation.”

Patty Loew, Ph.D, Professor Emerita, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension

“I’ve known Tom since 1986. He’s a remarkable plain-spoken man who looks you in the eye. This is a transcript of Tom thinking out loud, free-flowing and “grammatically Tom,” with an old friend he trusts and respects. It’s a raw and unscripted telling of his life stories, which some observers might say has been complicated and riddled with contradictions. But those characteristics have never kept Tom Maulson from pursuing what he sees as right… and he’s been successfully right about a lot. What might occur to others as contradictory occurs to Tom as ‘injunuity’ — and on he goes.”

James Botsford, Director of the Indian Law Office of Judicare 1991-2013