Native American author James Welch published his first novel in 1974; Winter in the Blood was so well-received that Welch was immediately considered to be one of the founding authors of the Native American Renaissance. His best-known novel, Fools Crow, tells the story of a young Blackfeet Indian known as White Man's Dog; the novel's first chapters tell of a young man finding his feet within his tribe and challenging a rival tribe, the Crow, in whose village he earns his new name by killing their tribal chief. When the coming of white settlers starts to threaten the traditional Blackfeet way of life, the tribe realizes that it can fight, or it can give in. Fools Crow is shown the future and although he struggles to come to terms with the changes that are coming he realizes that the tribe must adapt in order to survive and preserve the ancient teachings of their ancestors.
The central theme of the novel is colnialization and the way in which it brought destruction to the indigenous community. The novel received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers' Association Award and the American Book Award.
James Welch co-wrote the screenplay for the Emmy Award-winning documentary Last Stand at Little Bighorn which was aired as part of The American Experience on the PBS network. He re-united with co-writer Paul Stekler a second time a few years later, the pair penning the history book Killing Custer : The Battle of Little Bighorn and the Fate of the Plains Indians.
