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American Indian Stories, Legends, and Other Writings (Penguin Classics) by Zitkala-Sa
A thought-provoking collection of searing prose from a Sioux woman that covers race, identity, assimilation, and perceptions of Native American culture
Zitkala-Sa wrestled with the conflicting influences of American Indian and white culture throughout her life. Raised on a Sioux reservation, she was educated at boarding schools that enforced assimilation and was witness to major events in white-Indian relations in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Tapping her troubled personal history, Zitkala-Sa created stories that illuminate the tragedy and complexity of the American Indian experience. In evocative prose laced with political savvy, she forces new thinking about the perceptions, assumptions, and customs of both Sioux and white cultures and raises issues of assimilation, identity, and race relations that remain compelling today.
Zitkala-Sa wrestled with the conflicting influences of American Indian and white culture throughout her life. Raised on a Sioux reservation, she was educated at boarding schools that enforced assimilation and was witness to major events in white-Indian relations in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Tapping her troubled personal history, Zitkala-Sa created stories that illuminate the tragedy and complexity of the American Indian experience. In evocative prose laced with political savvy, she forces new thinking about the perceptions, assumptions, and customs of both Sioux and white cultures and raises issues of assimilation, identity, and race relations that remain compelling today.
Unknown Binding
First published February 25, 2003
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About the author
Zitkála-Šá
44 books190 followersZitkála-Šá (Dakota: pronounced zitkála-ša, which translates to "Red Bird") also known by the missionary-given name Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, was a Sioux writer, editor, musician, teacher and political activist. She wrote several works chronicling her struggles in her youth as she was pulled back and forth between the influences of dominant American culture and her own Native American heritage, as well as books in English that brought traditional Native American stories to a widespread white readership for one of the first times. With William F. Hanson, Bonnin co-composed the first American Indian opera, The Sun Dance (composed in romantic style based on Ute and Sioux themes), which premiered in 1913. She founded the National Council of American Indians in 1926 to lobby for the rights of Native Americans to American citizenship, and served as its president until her death in 1938.
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November 30, 2022
American Indian Stories, Legends & Other Writings by Zitkála-Šá, meaning "Red Bird" but also known as Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, represents an anthology of writings, including essays, poems, fables & biographical details that illustrate the life of a woman with a mixed racial background, born in 1876, who persevered against great odds to fashion a hybrid identity that gave testimony to her Native-American roots.
There is little that is cohesive about this anthology but the impact of it in its entirety is formidable. For it takes a maximum amount of curiosity about the outside world merged with an equal amount of determination for a Lakota-Sioux girl born on an Indian reservation in South Dakota 150 years ago to make it eastward to Earlham College, a Quaker school in Indiana & then to the New England Conservatory of Music.
We begin with a series of fables that seem almost universal, tales about tricksters & images from the spirit-world but also including a spider fairy, a coyote, bears & badgers & even a toad. Always it seems, humans take lessons from animals & lower forms of life; just as often tribal solidarity is needed to prevail over the forces of iniquity.
A 2nd section includes biographical details, as early in life, Zitkála-Šá learns from her mother about the horrors committed on her people by "pale faces", seemingly ravenous white settlers eager to take hold of tribal lands & move her people ever-farther from the land they have known for generations.
In time the girl is counseled to head east via a series of "iron horses" so that she can attend a boarding school & learn the rules of life from those who seem increasingly dominant over America's native population. There, she is shorn of her long braids & even her traditional name, becoming in effect a dual-national, though at that point the reader is reminded that America's Native Americans were not considered citizens of the country in which they were born.
To her, it seems as if the Statue of Liberty has turned its back on the Indian people. Nonetheless, it is clear throughout the book that the author takes great pride in being an American. Beyond that, she comments:
In 1913, she composed an opera, The Sun Dance, the first by a Native-American, performed in New York in 1938, the year of her death. Interestingly, the tribal version of the Sun Dance had been banned by U.S. military administrators, viewed as a dance-anthem that might incite her people to rebellion.
As the founder of the National Council of American Indians, the author devoted much of her later life to political activism & advocacy work on behalf of Native Americans. Amidst a largely unhappy narrative, there is ample cause for celebration on the life of a very gifted & courageous American woman.
*Within my review are images of Zitkála-Šá at various stages of her life. **The book includes an introduction with biographical details on the author by Cathy Davidson & Ada Norris at Duke University.
There is little that is cohesive about this anthology but the impact of it in its entirety is formidable. For it takes a maximum amount of curiosity about the outside world merged with an equal amount of determination for a Lakota-Sioux girl born on an Indian reservation in South Dakota 150 years ago to make it eastward to Earlham College, a Quaker school in Indiana & then to the New England Conservatory of Music.
We begin with a series of fables that seem almost universal, tales about tricksters & images from the spirit-world but also including a spider fairy, a coyote, bears & badgers & even a toad. Always it seems, humans take lessons from animals & lower forms of life; just as often tribal solidarity is needed to prevail over the forces of iniquity.
A 2nd section includes biographical details, as early in life, Zitkála-Šá learns from her mother about the horrors committed on her people by "pale faces", seemingly ravenous white settlers eager to take hold of tribal lands & move her people ever-farther from the land they have known for generations.
In time the girl is counseled to head east via a series of "iron horses" so that she can attend a boarding school & learn the rules of life from those who seem increasingly dominant over America's native population. There, she is shorn of her long braids & even her traditional name, becoming in effect a dual-national, though at that point the reader is reminded that America's Native Americans were not considered citizens of the country in which they were born.
Alone in my room, I sat like the petrified Indian woman of whom my mother used to tell me. I wished that my heart would turn to unfeeling stone. Alive in my tomb, I was destitute.This book is quite certainly a lament but it is also a tale of the myriad influences that become part of Zitkála-Šá's dual identity. What follows are poems, speeches & memoir-like essays, including one entitled "America's Indian Problem", from a magazine she edited that encapsulate the depths of her feelings about life in America. She asks how, having been scattered to the 4 winds, the Indian people will ever manage to organize in a meaningful way?
For the white man's papers I had given up my faith in the Great Spirit. For those same papers I had forgotten the healing of trees & brooks. On account of my mother's simple view of life & my lack of any, I gave her up also.
I made no friends among the race of people I loathed. Like a slender tree, I had been uprooted from my mother, nature & God. I was shorn of my branches, which had waved in sympathy & love for home & friends. The natural coat of bark which had protected my oversensitive nature was scraped off to the very quick & I seemed to be planted in a strange earth.
To her, it seems as if the Statue of Liberty has turned its back on the Indian people. Nonetheless, it is clear throughout the book that the author takes great pride in being an American. Beyond that, she comments:
To Jesuit, Quaker, to all that kept their faith in us, the Indian loyalty never failed. America, I love thee. Thy people shall be my people & thy God my God.American Indian Stories by Zitkála-Šá also includes manifestos & speeches. For me, part of the beauty of American Indian Stories is Zitkála-Šá's (Gertrude Bonnin's) expression of her sense of a Godlike-presence in her life & within that expression, I sensed something both uplifting & universal.
In 1913, she composed an opera, The Sun Dance, the first by a Native-American, performed in New York in 1938, the year of her death. Interestingly, the tribal version of the Sun Dance had been banned by U.S. military administrators, viewed as a dance-anthem that might incite her people to rebellion.
As the founder of the National Council of American Indians, the author devoted much of her later life to political activism & advocacy work on behalf of Native Americans. Amidst a largely unhappy narrative, there is ample cause for celebration on the life of a very gifted & courageous American woman.
*Within my review are images of Zitkála-Šá at various stages of her life. **The book includes an introduction with biographical details on the author by Cathy Davidson & Ada Norris at Duke University.
August 9, 2015
I am writing about American Indian Stories and Old Indian Legends together because I read them together. Discussions can be found here and here
As a child, Zitkala-Sa remembers, she and her playmates would beg for stories of Iktomi. These tales are amusing and didactic, freighted with moral and spiritual instruction. Iktomi 'the trickster' is a cautionary figure, object of ridicule and disdain rather than awe. He is lazy, selfish and dishonest, and his tales seem shaped to inculcate enthusiasm for helpful activities of social reproduction, generosity and integrity treasured among the Dakota people. Iktomi is also stupid, and is regularly outwitted in his scheming The more sinister character Iya, the 'camp eater' seems to represent disaster on a large scale, while Iktomi is a kind of enemy within; an uncultivated, sociopathic person unable to share life with others.
While in her memoir Zitkala-Sa speaks of eating unleavened bread, sweet roots and herbs as well as hunted animals, in the tales food is always meat! The stories almost always centre around hunger and hunting, suggesting these to be especially dramatic features of Dakota life, while the parts of the memoir among the Dakota relate more to peaceful social activities.
Zitkala-Sa's account of the missionary school she attended is extremely fragmented, and she writes about the bizarre, disturbing discipline rather than the curriculum. It seems, since she elected to continue it and to become a teacher and to recruit Indians from the plains for schools herself, that she did not find the material of this education uncongenial, as opposed to the separation from her mother and culture, which was extremely upsetting to her. I was struck by her discomfort when, on arrival at the missionary school, a friendly adult picked her, a small child, up in the air and bounced her up and down. USian and UK whites would consider this behaviour a normal way of affectionately playing with a child, but the author shares this contrast 'my mother had never made a plaything of her wee daughter' to explain why she experienced this contact as a violation of her body and space. I strongly believe that my society urgently needs to build consent culture at the level of respect for children's bodily autonomy, so this comment was very thought-provoking.
Zitkala-Sa's writing and translation (she herself has translated the Legends) have a formal quality that reminded me of Frederick Douglass, presumably because I have read so little American literature of the period and cannot distinguish among its authors! The way she renders speech seems very skilful and sensitive, giving enough of the original to suggest the sounds and enough explanation to make clear what is signified clear. The word 'How!' is surely beyond translation, but I was able to catch a scent of what it conveys. She also explains how words and actions fit into custom with, generally, a light and easy touch.
The tales in Legends belong to a world that is shown convulsed in anguish due to the depredations of the paleface in the essays and stories of the Stories. The paleface operates without humanity: he does not respond to any attempt to rouse sympathy or moral sense. He is as heartless and stupid as Iktomi, and more disastrous than Iya. Zitkala-Sa writes visions of hope into her stories, and her brave, fighting spirit stands tall and strong from her work.
As a child, Zitkala-Sa remembers, she and her playmates would beg for stories of Iktomi. These tales are amusing and didactic, freighted with moral and spiritual instruction. Iktomi 'the trickster' is a cautionary figure, object of ridicule and disdain rather than awe. He is lazy, selfish and dishonest, and his tales seem shaped to inculcate enthusiasm for helpful activities of social reproduction, generosity and integrity treasured among the Dakota people. Iktomi is also stupid, and is regularly outwitted in his scheming The more sinister character Iya, the 'camp eater' seems to represent disaster on a large scale, while Iktomi is a kind of enemy within; an uncultivated, sociopathic person unable to share life with others.
While in her memoir Zitkala-Sa speaks of eating unleavened bread, sweet roots and herbs as well as hunted animals, in the tales food is always meat! The stories almost always centre around hunger and hunting, suggesting these to be especially dramatic features of Dakota life, while the parts of the memoir among the Dakota relate more to peaceful social activities.
Zitkala-Sa's account of the missionary school she attended is extremely fragmented, and she writes about the bizarre, disturbing discipline rather than the curriculum. It seems, since she elected to continue it and to become a teacher and to recruit Indians from the plains for schools herself, that she did not find the material of this education uncongenial, as opposed to the separation from her mother and culture, which was extremely upsetting to her. I was struck by her discomfort when, on arrival at the missionary school, a friendly adult picked her, a small child, up in the air and bounced her up and down. USian and UK whites would consider this behaviour a normal way of affectionately playing with a child, but the author shares this contrast 'my mother had never made a plaything of her wee daughter' to explain why she experienced this contact as a violation of her body and space. I strongly believe that my society urgently needs to build consent culture at the level of respect for children's bodily autonomy, so this comment was very thought-provoking.
Zitkala-Sa's writing and translation (she herself has translated the Legends) have a formal quality that reminded me of Frederick Douglass, presumably because I have read so little American literature of the period and cannot distinguish among its authors! The way she renders speech seems very skilful and sensitive, giving enough of the original to suggest the sounds and enough explanation to make clear what is signified clear. The word 'How!' is surely beyond translation, but I was able to catch a scent of what it conveys. She also explains how words and actions fit into custom with, generally, a light and easy touch.
The tales in Legends belong to a world that is shown convulsed in anguish due to the depredations of the paleface in the essays and stories of the Stories. The paleface operates without humanity: he does not respond to any attempt to rouse sympathy or moral sense. He is as heartless and stupid as Iktomi, and more disastrous than Iya. Zitkala-Sa writes visions of hope into her stories, and her brave, fighting spirit stands tall and strong from her work.
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November 18, 2023American Indian Stories, Legends, and Other Writings is a collection of works by Zitkála-Šá, including legends she wrote down, semi-autobiographical stories, allegories, speeches, essays, and more. It's split into sections that group similar content together and includes a long introduction and a few explanatory notes.
Overall, the writing quality is good. It's also easy to understand for modern readers. The legends in particular reminded me very much of the fairytales I was told as I child, and it didn't surprise me to learn that the author had herself been told them as a child. I could easily imagine parents choosing to read these to their own children or teachers including them in a school curriculum even today. The other sections clearly have an adult audience in mind, and the style becomes a bit more sophisticated as a result, but overall I would describe it as being very straight-forward.
My favorite parts were the legends and the semi-autobiographical stories. The latter in particular were extremely powerful and incredibly interesting given the time period in which the author lived. These stretch from early childhood through her life as a teacher and her ultimate decision to resign that position, but it does not go far beyond that. My biggest disappointment was that there were no more sections continuing her story. My second biggest was that some of her decision making is not explained in greater depth. If she had written a full memoir, I can only imagine how enlightening it would have been.
As for the other selections, I definitely liked some more than others. In general, I wished that a short section of context would have been given as an introduction to each rather than one giant introduction being given at the beginning of the book. I didn't read that introduction until the end, at which point I couldn't decide whether that had been a good decision or not. On one hand, it contained some spoilers I wouldn't have appreciated, and it drags on so long before the book has given you any stories that make you care to learn more about their author. On the other hand, it would have given me some of that context I was craving when I got to the essays and articles and other miscellaneous pieces. Either way, I would have appreciated even more historical context for some of the pieces, but perhaps this book was intended to be read in a more academic manner by people already studying the history.
I can't give my opinion of this book as a scholar or as an expert on the pertinent history or as anything more than what I am, but as a reader near the beginning of my learning process, I can say this book contributed a lot. Modern readers should be aware that Zitkála-Šá uses the terminology that was in use during her time, and at some points I felt as if she was unintentionally expressing some degree of internalized racism, but I do believe it's incredibly valuable when viewed in the proper historical context. I don't see this as the one book you should read to gain an understanding but rather one step on a journey that should include modern voices also. Learning history from those who lived through it can help us understand how situations evolved over time to create the world in which modern people live and modern authors write from, so I'm looking forward to building on the knowledge I've gained by reading this book. I would recommend it (or at least the autobiographical stories) to anyone who wants the same experience.
Overall, the writing quality is good. It's also easy to understand for modern readers. The legends in particular reminded me very much of the fairytales I was told as I child, and it didn't surprise me to learn that the author had herself been told them as a child. I could easily imagine parents choosing to read these to their own children or teachers including them in a school curriculum even today. The other sections clearly have an adult audience in mind, and the style becomes a bit more sophisticated as a result, but overall I would describe it as being very straight-forward.
My favorite parts were the legends and the semi-autobiographical stories. The latter in particular were extremely powerful and incredibly interesting given the time period in which the author lived. These stretch from early childhood through her life as a teacher and her ultimate decision to resign that position, but it does not go far beyond that. My biggest disappointment was that there were no more sections continuing her story. My second biggest was that some of her decision making is not explained in greater depth. If she had written a full memoir, I can only imagine how enlightening it would have been.
As for the other selections, I definitely liked some more than others. In general, I wished that a short section of context would have been given as an introduction to each rather than one giant introduction being given at the beginning of the book. I didn't read that introduction until the end, at which point I couldn't decide whether that had been a good decision or not. On one hand, it contained some spoilers I wouldn't have appreciated, and it drags on so long before the book has given you any stories that make you care to learn more about their author. On the other hand, it would have given me some of that context I was craving when I got to the essays and articles and other miscellaneous pieces. Either way, I would have appreciated even more historical context for some of the pieces, but perhaps this book was intended to be read in a more academic manner by people already studying the history.
I can't give my opinion of this book as a scholar or as an expert on the pertinent history or as anything more than what I am, but as a reader near the beginning of my learning process, I can say this book contributed a lot. Modern readers should be aware that Zitkála-Šá uses the terminology that was in use during her time, and at some points I felt as if she was unintentionally expressing some degree of internalized racism, but I do believe it's incredibly valuable when viewed in the proper historical context. I don't see this as the one book you should read to gain an understanding but rather one step on a journey that should include modern voices also. Learning history from those who lived through it can help us understand how situations evolved over time to create the world in which modern people live and modern authors write from, so I'm looking forward to building on the knowledge I've gained by reading this book. I would recommend it (or at least the autobiographical stories) to anyone who wants the same experience.
August 4, 2011
Zitkala-Sa knows (knew if you really want to get literal) what she's doin'. The first trickster book I picked up was rather stark, and unloving in storytelling. If anything, it was jammed with information, narrative seemed to be going extinct (like Doritos seem to be on a Friday night).
I started with hair of all things. It's something I have been feeling guilty about, and what is left is just a symbol of an antagonistic rebellion (long story). But instead of death "taking" her hair, it was a pinch-faced white woman. The Bible says a woman's long hair is her glory, and a shorn head is symbolic of her shame. The Native Americans seem to take it a step further. Their hair is their soul, and the "civilization" tactics imposed crushed it.
I started with hair of all things. It's something I have been feeling guilty about, and what is left is just a symbol of an antagonistic rebellion (long story). But instead of death "taking" her hair, it was a pinch-faced white woman. The Bible says a woman's long hair is her glory, and a shorn head is symbolic of her shame. The Native Americans seem to take it a step further. Their hair is their soul, and the "civilization" tactics imposed crushed it.
February 25, 2025
the "PALEFACES" need to take a moment for self reflection
August 18, 2015
Good as an introduction to the person: her beginnings, her work in preserving oral traditions, her creative work, as well as her role in advocacy for all nations, beyond the Sioux. There are a couple of poems that I really like.
September 13, 2022
3.5 stars. I love the first half of this book maybe in part because of how chaotic the structure of the collection is. it's episodic like she's physically synthesizing fragments of her memories into these bite-sized snippets that follow the tales of her people, almost like she's made her life into a legend with its own underlying message. gorgeous.
January 23, 2025
this was incredible. i genuinely love Zitkala-Ša so much and learning more about her and her culture has been eye opening and BEAUTIFUL. her writing is so so immensely powerful too. some of the parts in this book made me cry fr. i love her i love her and i think everyone should learn about her and the impact that she had and continues to have !!!!!!!!!!!!!
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July 11, 2024really good first hand account of life at an american indian boarding school!
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December 14, 2024good collection.
October 3, 2018
About:
American Indian Stories, Legends, and Other Writings is a collection of writings written by an author of Native American descent, Zitkala-Sa. The writings in here were written between the end of the 19th century to the 1920’s. Zitkala-Sa was a woman of Sioux descent and her legends and stories stem from that culture. Some of her journal articles and other pieces talk about other tribes and the Native American experience and problems in general.
Did I Like It?:
Overall I did like this collection of writings and found it very informative. At times the stories were immersive and the writing lovely.
The first section in the book is the Native American legends. I enjoyed this section, but not as much as I thought I would. They were mostly stories involving the trickster Iktomi and were of a moral and cautionary nature. Iktomi is a selfish and dishonest character and warns the reader about what happens to people who display these traits. I felt they were similar to other folktales or fairytales of the world in that they seem to teach children the best and most moral way to behave. These stories were interesting and it was nice to get a bit of the Native American oral storytelling tradition in the written format. I bet so many wonderful legends and stories of theirs have been lost to time and were never written down. I could imagine them being told around a fire late at night by elders with the stars blanketing the sky overhead and because of this I feel like a bit of their magic was lost on paper. Therefore I didn’t enjoy them as much as I would have wished to, but am grateful to have read them still.
The second section, American Indian Stories, was my favorite. It started out with semi-autobiographical stories inspired by the author’s early life on a reservation and early schooling. Those stories were very interesting and also sad. Just explored the clash between two cultures and how sad it is that the US tried to assimilate or let’s be honest, strip the Native Americans of their cultures and ways. The other stories in this section ranged from some more traditional stories of her culture and tribe and also a great one about her spiritual beliefs and then rather sad ones about her people trying to assimilate.
The third and fourth section were pieces of her nonfiction writing published in magazines and elsewhere. Also, some speeches are included. Some of these were interesting and really brought to life certain problems and issues of the time. I was glad that some of the articles were included, but others were a bit too dry or repetitive. I feel like to make the collection a little more interesting they should have been a bit more selective with that section. Still very enlightening however. You see what a dilemma the Native Americans were facing because the US wanted them to assimilate and were banning some parts of their culture (like tribal dances?!!!) and yet weren’t really supporting schools enough and what not so that assimilating was hard to do. Also, I learned that the Native Americans were not granted citizenship till the 20’s! Yet, many of them served in World War 1, which I learned more about and never before considered. I’m glad I learned more about Native American culture and the trials they faced. Makes me so sad though what the white settlers did to them, words cannot express what I feel about that. When they did what they did and continued to do, they tore this country away from it’s fantastic roots, away from nature, away from a society that was supportive and filled with wonderful community.
Anyways, I’m glad I read this collection. I wish that more of Native American culture and history was taught in schools, so since I feel like my education was lacking, I’m glad that I was able to find such a wonderfully informative collection of writings such as this.
Do I Recommend This?:
Yes! If you are looking for an older collection of Native American writings look no further! This collection that Penguin has put together has a lot of different things and I do recommend it. The best section was the American Indian Stories and that has been published separately, so if you’re really just looking for some fictional stories, I recommend you check that out.
American Indian Stories, Legends, and Other Writings is a collection of writings written by an author of Native American descent, Zitkala-Sa. The writings in here were written between the end of the 19th century to the 1920’s. Zitkala-Sa was a woman of Sioux descent and her legends and stories stem from that culture. Some of her journal articles and other pieces talk about other tribes and the Native American experience and problems in general.
Did I Like It?:
Overall I did like this collection of writings and found it very informative. At times the stories were immersive and the writing lovely.
The first section in the book is the Native American legends. I enjoyed this section, but not as much as I thought I would. They were mostly stories involving the trickster Iktomi and were of a moral and cautionary nature. Iktomi is a selfish and dishonest character and warns the reader about what happens to people who display these traits. I felt they were similar to other folktales or fairytales of the world in that they seem to teach children the best and most moral way to behave. These stories were interesting and it was nice to get a bit of the Native American oral storytelling tradition in the written format. I bet so many wonderful legends and stories of theirs have been lost to time and were never written down. I could imagine them being told around a fire late at night by elders with the stars blanketing the sky overhead and because of this I feel like a bit of their magic was lost on paper. Therefore I didn’t enjoy them as much as I would have wished to, but am grateful to have read them still.
The second section, American Indian Stories, was my favorite. It started out with semi-autobiographical stories inspired by the author’s early life on a reservation and early schooling. Those stories were very interesting and also sad. Just explored the clash between two cultures and how sad it is that the US tried to assimilate or let’s be honest, strip the Native Americans of their cultures and ways. The other stories in this section ranged from some more traditional stories of her culture and tribe and also a great one about her spiritual beliefs and then rather sad ones about her people trying to assimilate.
The third and fourth section were pieces of her nonfiction writing published in magazines and elsewhere. Also, some speeches are included. Some of these were interesting and really brought to life certain problems and issues of the time. I was glad that some of the articles were included, but others were a bit too dry or repetitive. I feel like to make the collection a little more interesting they should have been a bit more selective with that section. Still very enlightening however. You see what a dilemma the Native Americans were facing because the US wanted them to assimilate and were banning some parts of their culture (like tribal dances?!!!) and yet weren’t really supporting schools enough and what not so that assimilating was hard to do. Also, I learned that the Native Americans were not granted citizenship till the 20’s! Yet, many of them served in World War 1, which I learned more about and never before considered. I’m glad I learned more about Native American culture and the trials they faced. Makes me so sad though what the white settlers did to them, words cannot express what I feel about that. When they did what they did and continued to do, they tore this country away from it’s fantastic roots, away from nature, away from a society that was supportive and filled with wonderful community.
Anyways, I’m glad I read this collection. I wish that more of Native American culture and history was taught in schools, so since I feel like my education was lacking, I’m glad that I was able to find such a wonderfully informative collection of writings such as this.
Do I Recommend This?:
Yes! If you are looking for an older collection of Native American writings look no further! This collection that Penguin has put together has a lot of different things and I do recommend it. The best section was the American Indian Stories and that has been published separately, so if you’re really just looking for some fictional stories, I recommend you check that out.
July 23, 2013
I feel deeply ambivalent about this book, and with good reason. My facility with indigenous worldview is what I perceive to be "highly lacking". My experience with indigenous story, methodology and decolonization practice comes to me entirely second-hand through my partner (who, himself, does not claim facility - in spite of working in the area for the past five years.) The reason for this is simple - we are white colonials and will never fully understand the violence that continues to occur to the indigenous peoples because of our continued presence in their land. So, when I read Zitkala-Sa I don't know whether to take her oral histories as preservation of her culture (Sioux) or to read them as her publications in mainstream white media (like the Atlantic monthly) why might she do that? Especially some of the traditional aspects like the figures of the grandfathers? And the fact that it is written in English - disabling the dynamism of the oral tradition. Further, to put this work on an exam (as it is part of my comprehensive exam reading list) is asking the students who have little to no background in this worldview to appropriate this text and mutilate it.
I must be vigilant to qualify my position if using this work, implicate myself, question it's placement in the exam readings, and then deal with the narrative context of Zitkala-Sa.
Research: transmission of oral into discursive (potentially juxtapose Arnold's ideas of cultural "perfection")
I must be vigilant to qualify my position if using this work, implicate myself, question it's placement in the exam readings, and then deal with the narrative context of Zitkala-Sa.
Research: transmission of oral into discursive (potentially juxtapose Arnold's ideas of cultural "perfection")
November 22, 2021
Essential reading. This collection of Indigenous legends, essays, memoir, poetry, and editorial comment could not be more relevant. On Sept 30th, 2021, Canada observed it’s first official day of Truth and Reconciliation, this volume contains the oldest female first person account of life in residential school that I could find. Though she was Yankton Dakota( and in United States rather than Canada) her experience of abuse and neglect, and being severed from her language/culture and family resonates with the stories we have heard of life in and the impact of Canadian Residential Schools. On Sept. 30th, I heard so many of us white settlers saying that we didn’t know. Maybe we didn’t know. But it’s not because no one told us. Zitkála-Ša first published her childhood memoirs in Atlantic Monthly in 1900, they were widely read. And promptly dismissed. We knew. We chose to forget to teach our children the truth. The fact that we were told and refused to listen must be included in Truth before we try to rush an empty Reconciliation.
July 11, 2025
only read her american indian stories but they were beautiful
January 18, 2026
Zitkála-Šá wrote during the turn of the 20th century, largely as an activist for Native rights in Congress. I found her to be a very interesting woman that I couldn't quite pin down.
The collection opens with her interpretation on Native legends, which I found to be an apt segue to her original short stories, following, in many ways, similar structures to the legends, but where Iktomi the 'wily spider' and Iya the 'camp eater' are replaced by the 'pale faces,' come to deceive her people of their land and rights.
Perhaps the centerpoint of this collection are her semi-autobiographical stories about her time in Native boarding schools. In my own education, I have been taught that these efforts at forced assimilation were one of many terrible actions taken by the US government against Native Americans—families were enticed by the promise of education and a better life (from the very people who stripped them of their land and rights) only for the children to be severed from their families, forced to forget their native language and culture, and often treated violently. What I don't quite understand about Šá was her dedication (if that's the right word) to the education system. When she first arrived at the school, she describes her shock at the sudden severance from her culture, including the cutting of her long hair. Upon graduation, however, she worked as a teacher at the Carlisle school, one of the most notoriously aggressive forced assimilation schools for Native children. She was even sent to recruit new children to attend the school, until she seemed to realize the harm she was doing. I'm confused by the dissonance between her descriptions of early life and her choice upon graduation, and she never expounds on it. At the same time, it doesn't escape me that she felt lured to the school by, like Eve, the promise of red apples, something she had never eaten in her childhood. Perhaps she blamed herself, in a way, for giving in to the temptation, only to realize her sin later in life.
The latter half of the collection contains her activist essays from later in life, largely focused on obtaining citizenship for Native Americans (who, shockingly [or perhaps to no shock at all considering the history of the US government], weren't granted US Citizenship until the 1920's). Her patriotism stood out to me in these essays, as she describes her admiration of American democracy—maybe it's a product of her audience as she appeals to the US government (in their claims of brotherhood, how can they ignore the first American citizen?), but at times it felt genuine. Nevertheless, this patriotism, or act of such, dissipates in later essays, as she becomes increasingly frustrated and directly attacks the racism and injustice of the US government. I particularly liked the three "California Indian" chapters:
"A few weeks ago a party of tourists stood under some big trees and exclaimed about their height, their circumference and their reputed age. I ventured the remark: 'If only we could understand the language of these big trees we might learn interesting things of the past, the experiences of ancient people now gone away to the unknown.' A kind-faced gentleman with iron-grey hair pleased me greatly with his quick reply: 'We are learning. They say, 'Take off your hats.' We obey.' It was then I longed to tell some of the things the big trees in their seeming silence were fairly shouting to me, an Indian woman, but words are stubborn things. They failed to come. [...] Catastrophe it was when both the big trees and the ancient race of red men fell under the ax of a nineteenth-century invasion. Could their every wound find tongue I am sure not only pebbles but mountains of stone would rise up in protest."
The collection opens with her interpretation on Native legends, which I found to be an apt segue to her original short stories, following, in many ways, similar structures to the legends, but where Iktomi the 'wily spider' and Iya the 'camp eater' are replaced by the 'pale faces,' come to deceive her people of their land and rights.
Perhaps the centerpoint of this collection are her semi-autobiographical stories about her time in Native boarding schools. In my own education, I have been taught that these efforts at forced assimilation were one of many terrible actions taken by the US government against Native Americans—families were enticed by the promise of education and a better life (from the very people who stripped them of their land and rights) only for the children to be severed from their families, forced to forget their native language and culture, and often treated violently. What I don't quite understand about Šá was her dedication (if that's the right word) to the education system. When she first arrived at the school, she describes her shock at the sudden severance from her culture, including the cutting of her long hair. Upon graduation, however, she worked as a teacher at the Carlisle school, one of the most notoriously aggressive forced assimilation schools for Native children. She was even sent to recruit new children to attend the school, until she seemed to realize the harm she was doing. I'm confused by the dissonance between her descriptions of early life and her choice upon graduation, and she never expounds on it. At the same time, it doesn't escape me that she felt lured to the school by, like Eve, the promise of red apples, something she had never eaten in her childhood. Perhaps she blamed herself, in a way, for giving in to the temptation, only to realize her sin later in life.
The latter half of the collection contains her activist essays from later in life, largely focused on obtaining citizenship for Native Americans (who, shockingly [or perhaps to no shock at all considering the history of the US government], weren't granted US Citizenship until the 1920's). Her patriotism stood out to me in these essays, as she describes her admiration of American democracy—maybe it's a product of her audience as she appeals to the US government (in their claims of brotherhood, how can they ignore the first American citizen?), but at times it felt genuine. Nevertheless, this patriotism, or act of such, dissipates in later essays, as she becomes increasingly frustrated and directly attacks the racism and injustice of the US government. I particularly liked the three "California Indian" chapters:
"A few weeks ago a party of tourists stood under some big trees and exclaimed about their height, their circumference and their reputed age. I ventured the remark: 'If only we could understand the language of these big trees we might learn interesting things of the past, the experiences of ancient people now gone away to the unknown.' A kind-faced gentleman with iron-grey hair pleased me greatly with his quick reply: 'We are learning. They say, 'Take off your hats.' We obey.' It was then I longed to tell some of the things the big trees in their seeming silence were fairly shouting to me, an Indian woman, but words are stubborn things. They failed to come. [...] Catastrophe it was when both the big trees and the ancient race of red men fell under the ax of a nineteenth-century invasion. Could their every wound find tongue I am sure not only pebbles but mountains of stone would rise up in protest."
November 7, 2025
i kept going back and forth on how to talk about this collection, because really, it resists being held in any single sentiment. zitkála-šá's voice has that rare, immediate clarity that felt realistically bone-close, tonal, and unornamented to speak the facts. the recollected stories she shared first have an assuredness that drove me, speaking from a place that might have predated the violence inflicted upon it. and there ARE moments where that clarity feels almost disarming (specifically with her childhood, with seasonal change, with her learning and listening from her community). she gave a thorough sense of this world whole unto itself while still keeping a natural (and honestly, pretty modern) logic, humor, and moral center.
but then there came the chapters of her time spent at boarding school, which sat differently with me, just complicated-wise, i guess. there's a softness, at times, when she describes her girlhood in the institution, and there's a faint optimism that makes one feel eased. whether that comes from a strategic self-preservation required of her (expected, though i doubt i mark as one of them) audience, or a lingering desire to reconcile with her education being a means of survival, i don't know. i do know, now however (for context: i attend uni nearby a native boarding school that has since been shut down, and i'm surrounded by the clear disparities in that history) what these schools truly were: forced assimilation, violence excused with 'necessity' of childhood learning, and obvious starvations of the native american culture, which all the more make those moments of optimism ring strangely. it's pretty impossible with that to NOT feel the dissonance. but she never quite names it as what it is, which i was a little iffy about. it just didn't feel completely genuine, conditioned? performed? idk. but maybe that was zitkála-šá's intention?
i don't think this is by any means a 'perfect' text, but i also don't think it's meant to be. and i learned from it; that's the simplest way to say it. it helped to shift some assumptions i didn't know i was sitting on, which to me now feels obviously necessary.
but then there came the chapters of her time spent at boarding school, which sat differently with me, just complicated-wise, i guess. there's a softness, at times, when she describes her girlhood in the institution, and there's a faint optimism that makes one feel eased. whether that comes from a strategic self-preservation required of her (expected, though i doubt i mark as one of them) audience, or a lingering desire to reconcile with her education being a means of survival, i don't know. i do know, now however (for context: i attend uni nearby a native boarding school that has since been shut down, and i'm surrounded by the clear disparities in that history) what these schools truly were: forced assimilation, violence excused with 'necessity' of childhood learning, and obvious starvations of the native american culture, which all the more make those moments of optimism ring strangely. it's pretty impossible with that to NOT feel the dissonance. but she never quite names it as what it is, which i was a little iffy about. it just didn't feel completely genuine, conditioned? performed? idk. but maybe that was zitkála-šá's intention?
i don't think this is by any means a 'perfect' text, but i also don't think it's meant to be. and i learned from it; that's the simplest way to say it. it helped to shift some assumptions i didn't know i was sitting on, which to me now feels obviously necessary.
April 7, 2023
This is a collection of stories, speeches, poems, editorials, and pamphlets ranging from 1880s-1920s. It is a good introduction into this period of tremendous transition for the indigenous Americans and what the writer thought about the past, present, and future. She makes pleas for citizenship, her argument being it will end the wardship and allow her people access to voting, education, equality, the courts, and all of America's opportunities. She calls out the injustices and points fingers directly at the perpetrators. She strives through all these pieces to show white America that her people are virtuous, have inherent dignity, and deserve better than what was happening to them. And she calls on her people to organize, learn English, fight for education. I need to read her contemporaries and modern folks and see what they think of her raging patriotism (was it partly a show to appease the white people's fear of "the Indian" as foreigner?) and her push to "Americanize the first Americans." Looking back from this vantage in time, I wonder what she'd think about the happenings of the last century.
December 2, 2020
I wouldn't say that I enjoyed this, but then that's not the point.
This is a fundamentally interesting, but tragic, look at a nation on the cusp of becoming a superpower, but that nonetheless abuses its own people.
(But not citizens; oh no, they are not citizens. That's not allowed.)
The mistreatment of the indigenous Americans is no surprise, but the extent of it is shocking and anger-inducing.
It's also sad, because Zitkála-Šá's tone right up until the last couple of essays is one of, if not integration, reconciliation and partnership. There are acknowledgements that the native Americans must meet the newcomers halfway, there are even exultations of patriotism, that they are all Americans, and it's all so hopeful, and so sad, because history shows us that white America did not reciprocate.
This is a fundamentally interesting, but tragic, look at a nation on the cusp of becoming a superpower, but that nonetheless abuses its own people.
(But not citizens; oh no, they are not citizens. That's not allowed.)
The mistreatment of the indigenous Americans is no surprise, but the extent of it is shocking and anger-inducing.
It's also sad, because Zitkála-Šá's tone right up until the last couple of essays is one of, if not integration, reconciliation and partnership. There are acknowledgements that the native Americans must meet the newcomers halfway, there are even exultations of patriotism, that they are all Americans, and it's all so hopeful, and so sad, because history shows us that white America did not reciprocate.
August 30, 2025
This was categorized as mythology at my library and what I checked the book out for, but only the first quarter was mythology focused, mostly on a trickster spirit witj continuity between most of the tales. Instead, the majority of the book focuses on excerpts of interactions of American Indians with reeducation programs, and clips from an American Indian magazine. While not what I was expecting I found each section well written and informative. Unlike some other folk tales I've read the tales here felt like they had a clear direction they wanted to go, rather than being nonsensical "explanations" of why things are the way they are.
February 8, 2018
Zitkala-Sa is an amazing writer and storyteller. Her memoir style writing gives insight to the Dakota culture, while at the same time sharing her own personal story. American Indian Stories was a mix of personal narrative and Dakota legend. Personally, I found her writing to be extremely beautiful. Her play of the words "savage" and "civilized" really stood out to me. The second half of this novel,Old Indian Legends, was a great retelling of Dakota legends. Very interesting read, I learned a lot.
May 11, 2022
This book has a solid collection of works by Sa and it was interesting seeing a wider context of her writing beyond the excerpts I read in my survey class. I would say that "The Great Spirit" and 'The Soft-Hearted Sioux" are the most interesting stories when it comes to understanding Sa's thoughts on acculturation and Native American identity. Sa aims for a realist style in her works, and that is not my favorite literary movement, but her stories are much more interesting and less depressing than other Realist writers.
August 11, 2025
I liked the variety in this collection. Some pieces are autobiographical, some retell traditional stories, and some are essays. The autobiographical parts show her experiences in both Native and white-dominated spaces, and how hard it can be to move between them. The legends are told with a clear, direct voice that makes them easy to picture. I also liked the essays for the way they argue for cultural preservation and respect. It is a mix of beauty and honesty that stayed with me.
July 12, 2023
The legends and autobiography were interesting. The articles not so much: it's hard to take one seriously when one moment they are lamenting over the cruel behavior of the government bureaucracy and the next moment propose that even more laws be passed to fix it. My libertarian instinct is to mock this naïveté.
October 9, 2024
I recently learned about Zitkála-Ṣ̌á and this was my first book of hers, short stories about the dichotomy of being Indigenous, trying to retain Indigenous identity through the horrors of "Boarding Schools" and the changing landscape of the late 1800s and early 1900s. Def not my last book from this author.
December 22, 2025
What an incredible book. Wow. I love how the book shifts in perspective and point of view from the first person individual to the third person collective and communal. It reflects all of the core values of Native American culture that colonizing powers erased. This book is an important piece of history that I think should be integrated into academic curriculum nationwide.
September 9, 2022
Enlightening on the experience of native peoples during the late 1800s to early 1900s. Her short stories and poems are beautifully written and often touched with the tragic loss pf culture, land, and people.
September 12, 2022
Not my kind of book if I’m being honest. I only read this because I had to for a class haha. But I will say there were some aspects that were really interesting. Specifically in the beginning of the book when we were reading about her upbringing.
April 3, 2024
Pages 66-160. Really moving tale of being caught between two worlds. Enjoyed the perspective of the author because she actually lived through the boarding schools. Liked the telephone pole/stripped tree metaphor.
April 12, 2024
This book is one of those rare finds that everyone should read. Enjoyable short stories and tales from a writer whose native language is not English. It is not a large book, but it is so informative that it should be required reading for university students taking American history studies.
December 13, 2017
Not bad stories. I was expecting more.
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