by Michael Dorris

Michael Dorris was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1945. Of Modoc Indian descent, Dorris was actively involved in a variety of American Indian issues. Also, he taught anthropology and American Indian studies in his career as a professor. As a writer, Dorris authored first nonfiction and then fictional works dealing with the American Indians. A Yellow Raft in Blue Water, his first novel, features three generations of Indian characters, bringing into focus some of the difficulties in contemporary Indian life.

Events in History at the Time of the Novel

Life on the reservation. A Yellow Raft in Blue Water takes place for the most part on and around an unnamed Indian reservation in northern Montana. There are 90 million acres of reservation land in the United States, roughly half of which are situated in Alaska. When reservation land was...