As can be seen in People of the Whale, Linda Hogan writes in great detail about Native American culture, environmentalism, and the impact of history. A member of the Chickasaw tribe, Hogan has an acute eye for the impact that colonization has had on indigenous people and has made it a central focus of her novels and stories. Additionally, as she herself has noted, her strong views about the exploitation of natural resources have also informed her work, which often deals with the desecration of the natural world. Her narratives place characters in the context of historical struggle and show the difficulties that are faced by characters who try to preserve their traditions and rituals.
In her 1990 novel Mean Spirit, Hogan writes about a real series of murders that occurred within the Osage tribe in the 1920s. The Osage became famously wealthy after oil was discovered on their reservation. The book deals with the sudden death of Grace Blanket, who had recently come into money from various land contracts. Her sister, Nola, is taken in by the Graycloud family, who all suddenly start to die under suspicious circumstances as well. A Lakota tribe member and government agent named Stace Red Hawk comes to the reservation to work the case and is caught in a web of threats and conspiracies. At the same time, Nola tries to move away from her money and come to a more natural relationship with the land that is not based on profit.
Hogan's novel Solar Storms (1995) is about Angela, a young Native American woman, returning to her hometown, an island between Canada and Minnesota. Having grown up in the foster care system, Angela is nervous to reunite with her biological mother. However, she feels compelled to do so after writing a letter to a woman she believes is her grandmother and receiving a response that tells her to "come at once" to Adam's Rib. When she gets there, she learns that a greedy developer is planning to build a hydroelectric dam that will destroy a great deal of precious land. Angela joins together with several other people from the town to fight the developer's plans. In the process, she learns more about her family background and reconnects with her roots.
For Hogan, protecting the environment and preserving tribal customs are deeply intertwined. Characters like Angela and Nola simultaneously try to help the people around them while also redefining their connection to the natural world. They resist the efforts of white oil prospectors and dam developers because they believe their land is more than a base for the exploitation of natural resources. Hogan's passion for these issues is reflected through her work, as her characters attempt to safeguard their world as it was before colonial rule.
