"In deeply personal fashion, Lisa Morris takes you inside her family to illustrate the plight of native people. Lisa and Roland’s story is like too many families’ stories in Indian country. She masterfully weaves individual accounts of addiction, abuse, and permanent dependency, as part of the larger history of widespread corruption among tribal leaders, while exposing serious flaws in national policy. Morris dares say what many people believe but lack the fortitude to risk reputation, and even life, to tell the truth about. Dying in Indian Country serves as testimony to the harm caused by apathy, and as a call for public servants willing to lead where most fear to go.

Whether you are interested in federal Indian policy, social justice, or a good love story, you will find this book gripping. It will take you on an emotional roller-coaster ride that runs from Minnesota to Montana to Washington DC. One need not agree with every political conclusion of the author to admire her courage for exposing obvious shortcomings in national and tribal policies that serve more to keep people down than lift them up.

I encourage you to read this book with an open mind, challenge its conclusions if you like, and search your heart and mind for how you will respond to Dying in Indian Country.

-Congressman Kevin Cramer, North Dakota, At Large

"Truly gripping, with good pace. The emergence of the 'public' of political significance, as opposed to the autobiography, is gradual but effective.

-W. B. Allen, Dean Emeritus, James Madison College; Emeritus Professor of Political Science, Michigan State University; former Chair of the US Commission on Civil Rights (1989)

"Lisa Morris pours out her heart in Dying in Indian Country, as she chronicles the life of just one family caught in the tragic web of history. Having worked with native people in Canada and having three native children in our family, I know that what she writes is all too true and commonplace. I commend her book to you and pray that somehow through the telling of this story, you might be moved to help remedy this terrible scandal, which shames both our nations.

Morris’s book is a compassionate and honest portrayal of one couple’s journey through hardship and pain, sorrow, and triumph. Lisa Morris has her feet in both worlds, native and non native; because of that, she has unique insights. The whole issue she addresses in the book, the caring for native children has become so politicized, it hardly seems that much bureaucracy does is in the best interest of the child. Her strong faith in God comes through loud and clear as the one constant, sustaining factor. She has dedicated her life to make the lot of native children better. I highly recommend it."

-Reed Elley Former member of the parliament, Vancouver Island, British Columbia; former Chief Critic for Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Official Opposition, Canada; Baptist pastor, and father of four native and Metis children

"Everyone should read this. I’ve had personal experience with a Native American tribe, and sadly I see why what happened, happened to me and my family. It was wrong. What is being done to Native American people, by their own government as well as by our government, is wrong too, and it’s not helping or making amends for the past. People don’t believe or know what is really going on. Today, the average person only sees reservations with casinos. There is so much more happening. We can be a voice, and this book is a great way to start. Thank you, Lisa Morris, for putting your heart on the line to share your family’s story."

-Jodi A.

"As a third-generation reservation resident, I’m often asked why I am concerned about Indian reservations. Lisa Morris provides the clearest explanation available to date. Short of living there, reading this book will give you the best feel you’re likely to find for what it’s like to live on a modern American Indian reservation. At times, you will feel confused, discouraged, hopeless, depressed, and angry. Welcome to the rez. Many people have their aspirations destroyed here. Too many have their lives and health damaged. More than a few lives end prematurely here.

What is exciting about this book is that it doesn’t end there. Lisa and her family find hope emerging from despair. They are finding solutions, both for their own lives and for those around them. This is a story about an amazing life journey. Read it and weep. Read it and rejoice."

-Darrel Smith, writer; rancher, South Dakota

"Those of us who have lived our lives among American Indians within the reservation system have seen firsthand the disastrous consequences of socialism and paternalism perpetrated on Indian tribes by the federal government. This very readable book is Lisa Morris’s brutally honest telling of her family’s life and experience on reservations, including direct personal experience with the Indian Child Welfare Act, and tribal government jurisdiction over her husband and children—even though they have no vote in that government.

The reader who is not hopelessly entrenched in political correctness and the politics of guilt and pity will find this book a tremendous resource and compelling argument for drastic change to federal Indian policy, away from paternalism to freedom and dignity for the individual Indian citizen."

-Rick Jore, former Montana representative, House District 73

"The ending had me putting the book down and saying, 'Wow!'”

-Ann Ubelis, radio talk show host, South Carolina