ALLIANCE – David Fierst isn’t out to rewrite history.

Rather, he’s out to show that the history was never recorded properly in the first place in his first book, Hidden Disgrace: Revealing the Distress Signals Covered by North American Indian Myths.

He will discuss his book, sell copies and sign them when he visits Rodman Public Library on Monday, Nov. 10 at 6:30 p.m. as part of the 2025 Fogle Author Series.

Registration is required to attend the event.

An attorney living in Dayton, the book is the result of a visit to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota in April 2014, after which he grappled with understanding the reasons for the harsh living conditions there.

It is further the result of researching the history of Indians generally in the United States and gauging whether that history is accurately depicted. It also incorporates the views of Indian writers and intellectuals, both men and women, whose views often seem to be drowned out by those failing to understand the challenges of Indians in the United States as unique.

Through meticulous research, Hidden Disgrace pierces through the veil of descriptions of Indians as either savages or “Noble Savages” and describes them as real people with both strengths and weaknesses. Likewise, it takes a hard look at the notion the conquest of North and South America by Europeans was “inevitable” and was, in reality, the result of deliberate choices.

Books such as Hidden Disgrace, which dive beneath the superficial explanations of Westward Expansion, are often criticized as being “revisionist history,” says Fierst. Such claims ignore the obvious explanation that aspects of history cannot be “revised” if they were never reported properly in the recording of history, he contends.

David Fierst graduated from Indiana University in January 1979 and in July of that same year, enlisted in the United States Army. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1981, and left the United States Army in 1987. He received a Master of Science Degree from the University of Louisville in December 1987 and a law degree from the University of Dayton in January 1990. Fierst worked for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office from February 2007 to October 2021.

Currently, he is in private practice law. He is married with two adult children.

Q: Hidden Disgrace was written as a result of a visit to Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. What prompted your visit and what was the catalyst for writing the book?

A: The visit to Pine Ridge was almost an afterthought regarding a place to see during my visit to South Dakota in 2014. The main purpose of the trip was to spend some time with my oldest son and to see what I knew then as “Devil’s Tower.” I had no idea at the time the Lakota people considered this geographic structure a sacred area and that in their culture it was known as “Bear’s Lodge” or “Bear’s Table.” We then visited Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monument after seeing “Bear’s Lodge.” The next day was Good Friday and we had nothing else in mind to visit, so we decided to see Pine Ridge, especially the Wound Knee Massacre site. Again, prior to seeing the Pine Ridge Reservation in person, about the only thing I knew about it was the “Occupation” of 1973 took place there.

What really fueled my curiosity about the reservation was viewing the poverty and obvious dysfunction in a place which is actually the geographic center of the United States. When I saw the Wounded Knee burial site, it struck me that the massacre wasn’t an abstraction and actually happened. On the way back to Ohio, I was determined to try to understand how such a place as Pine Ridge could exist and how it came into existence. I also wanted to know more about the background of the massacre. I started reading everything I could get my hands on and after more than five years, the book was produced.

Q: Your book looks at how history has depicted Native Americans. Can you talk about your research process in writing the book?

A: When I got back to Ohio, one of the first books I read was In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, which was an account of the firefight between Indian activists and the FBI on June 26, 1975. As you probably know, Leonard Peltier was convicted in 1977 of killing two FBI agents during that incident and was just recently pardoned by Biden. I had tried reading the book before, but I wasn’t able to get through it. After the trip to Pine Ridge, I read the over 600-page book in three days. After reading quite a few books, I realized I needed to check out some original source material. I was thrilled to find out the Lilly Library on the Bloomington Campus of Indiana University had original source documents related to the Wounded Knee Massacre. I attended Indiana University, and was a fairly serious student, but I never had occasion to go through that facility. As far as the research itself at the library itself, it confirmed my suspicion

that the Indians killed at the Wounded Knee Massacre itself had no intention of fighting Federal troops. I will go into what my research about that event disclosed in some detail during my talk.

Generally, my research was an attempt to gain information to fairly portray events in Indian history and an attempt to describe events from the point of view.

Q: What do you hope readers take away after reading your book?

A: I hope readers of my book ultimately are able to see Indian people as neither “Noble Savages” nor just “savages.” During my initial visit to Pine Ridge, I had a conversation with a man named Pierre, who said, “Dave, we’re just people like you.” I had that thought in mind throughout the research and writing process. It was a major part of how I interpreted the writing in such books as Empire of the Summer Moon, which I thought was a particularly vile and racist depiction of Comanche Indians. The author, S.C. Gwynne, essentially described those people as demon-possessed, Stone Age pagans. Apparently, it never occurred to him they were just fighting for their survival like any other people would.

Q: What can patrons expect if they attend your visit?

A: What has become increasingly apparent to me as I prepare for these talks, and I hope patrons take this thought away, is that what I’m talking about is not “Indian” history, it’s just history. And as I mentioned before, I also hope I get across the point that Indian people are just people. One of the things I learned throughout my research process is that many Indian people do not get concerned about whether they are called Indians, Native Americans, etc. For example I learned that “Sioux” is actually a negative label and that the proper names for those people are generally Lakota. I asked a librarian at the Oglala Lakota College on Pine Ridge why so many signs on the reservation said “Sioux” and she said there are much bigger problems there than that. I heard similar responses when I asked some folks whether they wanted to be called Native Americans or Indians.

Q: Are there any comments that you would like to make?

A: Unlike most countries in this world, the United States is willing to face up to its past to some extent. With that thought in mind, I love this country and my hope is that we can continue this process and face the past head on.