Walking the Rez Road Book

In his premiere book, Jim Northrup presents a collection of his poems and short fiction. The result is a rich and detailed tapestry of the lives of the Native peoples on a northern Minnesota reservation.

Northrup's stories feature Luke Warmwater, a veteran of the Vietnam War and reservation life. Though Luke and his wife live the traditional way of the Chippewa, life is anything but simple. The continual struggle to survive is a given on a reservation where everyone is broke, and where the tribal government seems to work against, not for, the interests of the reservation folk. Throughout, it is humor, wry and tough, that holds the people and their community together.

Northrup's poems tell of Vietnam and its aftermath. The beautiful and honest language gives us a view of life on the reservation and deft commentary on the world that surrounds it.