American Indian Stories

by Zitkála-Šá, Susan Rose Dominguez (Introduction), Gertrude Simmons Bonnin

American Indian Stories, first published in 1921, is a collection of childhood stories, allegorical fiction, and an essay, including several of Zitkála-Šá's articles that were originally published in Harper's Monthly and Atlantic Monthly.

One of the most famous Sioux writers and activists of the modern era, Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Simmons Bonnin) recalled legends and tales from oral tradition and used experiences from her life and community to educate others about the Yankton Sioux. Determined, controversial, and visionary, she creatively worked to bridge the gap between her own culture and mainstream American society and advocated for Native rights on a national level. Susan Rose Dominguez provides a new introduction to this edition.

Genres: Short Stories, Nonfiction, Classics, Indigenous, History, Native American, Memoir

196 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1919

About the author

Zitkála-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.

Reviews

[Zanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a small book. My copy is 89 pages, but is, to me, a very important book. Because it tells the true words of the author's life. In very simple and elegant words, she lets us in on how it felt to be not an Indian and not a white. How she lost her simple but very happy ways, to learn to read and write in a white school.
I think her the most brave, to leave her Mother at such a young age and go off with people she didn't know. It was her choice to go, but one she regretted after she left.
It's about her loosing her connection to her people. It's about her striving forward and going on to college and having her own life.
My over all impression is that she was very happy living the traditional way of her people when she was young, but after leaving there, she seems always sad. I understand that emotion the way she says it. Not feeling like you belong anywhere.
Zitkala-Sa's explanation of getting her hair cut off was heart breaking and an eye opening look at the way the whites took all of her humanity from her. "I cried out, shaking my head all the while until I felt the cold blades of the scissors against my neck, and heard them gnaw off one of my thick braids. Then I lost my spirit. Since the day I was taken from my mother I had suffered extreme indignities. People had stared at me. I had been tossed about in the air like a wooden puppet. And now my long hair was shingled like a coward's! In my anguish I moaned for my mother, but no one came to comfort me. Not a soul reasoned quietly with me, as my own mother used to do for now I was only one of many little animals driven by a herder." Her reference to being a "coward", she explains. "Our Mothers had taught us that only unskilled warriors who were captured had their hair shingled by the enemy. Among our people, short hair was worn by mourners, and shingled hair by cowards!"
My first thought was, why didn't the whites learn the culture of these people before trying to "teach them". It wasn't like they couldn't find out. And I know in my heart, they didn't care to learn because taking their dignity away was the purpose all along.
Thank you to Zitkala-Sa, for letting us in on her life. Your words have helped me understand what I did not before.

[Linda ~ they got the mustard out! ~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a collection of Zitkála-Šá's memoirs, essays and short stories. She relates her early life living among her people, the Dakota, being forcefully taken from them to be indoctrinated by white Christians, and her eventual reunion with her people. The stories and essays address the various trials and issues that befell the Native Americans as white settlers expanded westward and squeeze them off their own land. They're familiar tales, sadly, including how the American government time and time again broke their treaties and how the Native Americans were left to starve on the reservations, as well as how being raised among a different culture, being made to turn against your own beliefs, impacted her and her people.

This is short, under four hours, but impactful.

[Charlotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

“For the white man’s papers I had given up my faith in the Great Spirit. For these same papers I had forgotten the healing in trees and brooks. On account of my mother’s simple view of life and 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, and God.”
This short book is combing Zitkála-Šá’s childhood memories, her short stories, and her poetry, painting the origin story of her activism, political, and writing career. The short stories felt somewhat disjointed and had a rather distant narration style. I was most drawn in by the memories about her childhood, where she leaves her family and reservation to attend a residential school run by Quaker missionaries. I would have been interested to learn more about her growing up and finding her purpose as she seems to be a remarkable woman.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I'm being totally honest this collection of stories does not transition well into audio. It was occasionally confusing and I think that confusion would have been cleared up on the page.

So with that single caveat, the voices of women and the voices of Native American women are not heard nearly enough. Taking it a step further to include Australia, New Zealand, Canada and any nation with an indigenous people, we all need to hear their voices.

But it's challenging. They are a minority in a minority in a minority. As readers it's incumbent on us to do more than just stumble on these books. We need to search them out.

[Never Without a Book · Rating 4 out of 5]

In American Indian Stories, Zitkala-Sa gives us a glimpse of her early life on the Yankton Indian Reservation and her time as a student at White's Manual Labour Institute and Earlham College. The second half of this book is a collection of various essays and traditional stories.

I enjoyed all the stories in this collection but “The School Days of an Indian Girl” broke me. In this story Zitkala-Sa talks about the missionary school that was designed to strip children of their tribal cultures and replace these cultures with knowledge of the dominant one. At first Indians such as her mother thought that the offer of education began "to pay a tardy justice" for the theft of Indian lands and was necessary if their children were to advance in the white world; from
the white culture, however, Gertrude Simmons discovered no compensation for her loss of Sioux culture and habits. Left angry and isolated, she was alienated from her family and decided to create her own name: Zitkala-Sa.

There is so much to learn from these stories I highly recommend you check them out.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Without any historical context, I was a little lost in this collection of stories and poetry that apparently first appeared in 1912 (there is nothing in the book itself to indicate this). There is an introduction, but it is focused primarily on the author's literary merits and controversies and does little to establish the setting or origin of these tales, some of which are (semi?) autobiographical and some of which are fiction.

The stories themselves are okay, if a little dull. The narrative voice is a bit remote, and sometimes the recitation of events don't really add up for me to a story per se.

There are also a few poems in the back, but I found those pretty opaque and had trouble getting through them.

Zitkála-Šá seems like a person who led an interesting life, but I think I would need a biography or some sort of annotated edition to get a full appreciation of her and her writing.

[Sookie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zitkala-Ša leaves her home in Dakota and joins a missionary school in the east. In this book she gives a bird eye view of her childhood and brief look into her entry to western society.
She writes about religion, politics and the future she sees for her people.

[Christy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of several different kinds of writing (autobiography, storytelling, and political activism). It clearly illustrates the ways in which Native Americans have been disenfranchised and their culture dismantled--among which are the creation of reservations, the imposition of missionaries, compulsory schooling in which children are separated from family and tribe and taught to be "white," struggles over land ownership and identity, and the general voicelessness and powerlessness of the Native American within the United States. And all of this is without even discussing the outright violence that was perpetrated against Native Americans.

Occasionally, Zitkala-Sa indicates that there is a hope for the Native American. "A Dream of Her Grandfather" ends with a vision that includes an exhortation to "Be glad! Rejoice! Look up, and see the new day dawning! Help is near! Hear me, every one," followed by the protagonist's joy at this "new hope for her people" (142). Similarly, "The Widespread Enigma Concerning Blue-Star Woman," a story in which Native Americans are taken advantage of by other Native Americans who have been trained in white ways, ends with some hope even in the midst of this abuse of power. Chief High Flier, after having been arrested on trumped up charges, has a vision while in jail:

"A vast multitude of women, with uplifted hands, gazed upon a huge stone image. Their upturned faces were eager and very earnest. The stone figure was that of a woman upon the brink of the Great Waters, facing eastward. The myriad living hands remained uplifted until the stone woman began to show signs of life. Very majestically she turned around, and, lo, she smiled upon this great galaxy of American women. She was the Statue of Liberty! It was she, who, though representing human liberty, formerly turned her back upon the American aborigine. Her face was aglow with compassion. Her eyes swept across the outspread continent of America, the home of the red man.

"At this moment her torch flamed brighter and whiter till its radiance reached into the obscure and remote places of the land. Her light of liberty penetrated Indian reservations. A loud shout of joy rose up from the Indians of the earth, everywhere!" (153)

This "secret vision of hope born in the midnight of his sorrows" gives him the strength to bear the rest of his jailtime and to do so "with a mute dignity" (154).

Zitkala-Sa is able to gesture toward a hopeful future in this way because she is writing a political book in this amalgam of autobiography, storytelling, and activism. The final chapter, "America's Indian Problem," builds on the details provided in earlier chapters to suggest a solution, to show America what should be done to solve the problems she has clearly pointed out. She writes, "Now the time is at hand when the American Indian shall have his day in court through the help of the women in America. The stain upon America's fair name is to be removed, and the remnant of the Indian nation, suffering from malnutrition, is to number among the invited invisible guests at your dinner tables" (156). She attempts here to mobilize a specific group to act on behalf of oppressed Native Americans and to show how improving the lot of Native Americans by according them citizenship and equal rights ("Wardship is no substitute for American citizenship, therefore we seek his enfranchisement," she argues [156].) will also improve the United States as a whole by removing this stain.

[Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I sympathize very strongly with the author's goals and message, my impression of the book itself is mixed. The first part - Zitkala-Sa's memories of her early life both before and after leaving her native home - is by far the strongest and on its own would have rated 4 stars. We can only wish she had felt able to say more. The subsequent stories carry an important message, but are rather weak if judged solely as works of fiction (though I admit I could be missing some subtler strengths). The final essay was no doubt a courageous call for justice and for understanding at the time it was first published. Today it seems comparatively tame, particularly in the light of what we know know of modern American "Indian" history. In sum, I applaud the author with all my heart but can only really recommend the first portion of the book.

[Sean-Paul Kosina · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Tis glimpses of this grand rainbow,
Where moments with good deeds unite,
That gladden many weary hearts,
Inspiring them to seek more Light.

-Zitkála-Šá

[Rebeka · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wigwam of weather-stained canvas stood at the base of some irregularly ascending hills. A footpath wound its way gently down the sloping land till it reached the broad river bottom; creeping through the long swamp grasses that bent over it on either side, it came out on the edge of the Missouri.

So begins Zitkála-Šá's memoir, which is the strongest part of this collection. Born in 1876, during the last and some of the most brutal of the warfare between American Indians and USA forces, Zitkála-Šá is part of a subjugated culture. Her people have been driven from their ancestral lands, many of her relatives dying on the forced march to new lands.

She was only 8 years old when she went to a residential school. There she describes in detail the humiliation and forced assimilation of Indian children. Upon return, she realized that she didn't belong among her people anymore. She also finds that the culture of the American Indian is very quickly evaporating and being replaced with European culture. With one leg in each world, she goes to college and finds success despite racism.

This is a harrowing firsthand account of some of the the injustices suffered by American Indians. However it's not those parts that were the most compelling in this book. It was the childhood among her tribespeople, that window into a different culture that interested me the most and wrenched my heart. It illustrates how much we've lost through the intentional genocide of the native folk of the Americas.

Such as this humorous episode of young Zitkála-Šá, which makes me so curious about the social mores of Indian Americans.

Turning soon to the coffeepot, which would never have boiled on a dead fire had I waited forever, I poured out a cup of worse than muddy warm water. Carrying the bowl in one hand and cup in the other, I handed the light luncheon to the old warrior. I offered them to him with the air of bestowing generous hospitality.
"How! How!" he said, and placed the dishes on the ground in front of his crossed feet. He nibbled at the bread and sipped from the cup. [..] Before the old warrior had finished eating, my mother entered. Immediately she wondered where I had found the coffee, for she knew I had never made any and she had left the coffeepot empty.
Answering the question in my mother's eyes, the warrior remarked, "My granddaughter made coffee on a heap of dead ashes, and served me the moment I came."
They both laughed, and mother said "Wait a little longer, and I shall build a fire." She meant to make some real coffee. But neither she nor the warrior, whom the law of our custom had compelled to partake of my insipid hospitality, said anything to embarrass me. They treated my best judgement, poor as it was, with the utmost respect. It was not till long years afterward that I learned how ridiculous a thing I had done.

The European American attitude of the time was something the economists call a sunk cost fallacy. They were aware of the continuous cruelties inflicted upon the native inhabitants of the Americas, however, they thought it a necessary evil to perpetuate them. As As The Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum wrote: "The Pioneer has before declared that our only safety depends upon the total extermination of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries we had better, in order to protect our civilization, follow it up by one more wrong and wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the face of the earth."

Knowing this puts Zitkála-Šá's efforts as a political activist in a tragic light. A good part of the actual stories in this book are not folk stories in the traditional sense, of myth and legend. They are more like urban legend type of story about current events, and mainly concern the white man in some way hurting the American Indian. While I can definitely appreciate her efforts to educate and persuade folk on the rights of the American Indians, it's painful to know that a large part of those bureaucratic injustices weren't mismanagement or accident as Zitkála-Šá sometimes assumes, but rather fully intentional actions taken to fragment her people and erase their tradition and memory.

Overall, this is a very compelling account of the late 19th century Yankton Dakota life and struggle. If you like reading historical writing from atypical perspectives, this is the book for you. The actual stories are much weaker than the authors memoir, but they still are worthy of reading, as they illuminate the attitudes and opinions of American Indians of that era.

[Kiran Bhat · Rating 4 out of 5]

American Indian Stories is a collection of stories by Sioux activist and author Zitkala Sa. The first half of the collection is autobiographical and the second half is a compilation of mythological tales. Zitkala-Ada’s style is crisp and well structured. The stories are simple and easy to get through. I enjoyed the first half of the book far more which really seemed to have a freshness to the style that kept me turning the page. The legends seem short and don’t really give much depth or narrative arc to their stories. They just seem to be Native American tales retold but nothing more than that.

Overall this is a great book to read if you are interested in writing from indigenous authors. It is short, well written, and offers a gateway to a perspective that doesn’t get a lot of placement in the canon.

[Philina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this collection of short stories and essays. Well written and easy to read.
My favorite story is The Warrior‘s daughter, although the best descriptions of scene and atmosphere are in the first childhood chapters.
I enjoyed learning bits and pieces of her tribe‘s culture, e.g. the cutting of hair or an ordeal by wild pony.

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent short collection of stories, poetry, and one piece of reporting that give an insight into Sioux life as the apocalypse of European settler colonialism took old. It’s powerful, and at times deeply upsetting, but altogether worthy of your time.

[Helainaissosmart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fav story was “The Widespread Enigma Concerning the Blue Star Woman”

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This reminded me of growing up in the midwest surrounded by Indian culture, stories, celebrations, and jewelry.

[april · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zitkala-Ša’s writing is lovely ! Her experience is such an important part of American history and it should not be forgotten. Her poetry was beautiful and I look forward to reading her other books soon!

[Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of stories, and personal experiences of a Sioux female author that was written over 100 years ago. I'm glad I found this.

[Illiterate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lucky natives receive the word of God and the right to property.

[Courtney Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book: American Indian Stories (note that this was first published in 1921)

The author: Zitkala-Ša, Dakota-Sioux writer, editor, musician, teacher and political activist. (Missionaries also gave her the name Gertrude Simmons Bonnin.)

The subject: Stories from Zitkala-Ša's and other Sioux people's lives, as well as legends and political essays.

Why I chose it: I am interested in Indigenous people and would far rather read things about them that are written by them. I believe Zitkala-Ša was the first Indigenous person to write and translate her works without the help of a colonist.

The rating: Four out of five stars

What I thought of it: This book comprises a combination of stories from Zitkala-Ša's childhood and adolescence, including when she was educated at a missionary school, as well as stories from other Sioux people and political essays. It conveys how difficult it was for Native people like her to be forced to assimilate, losing their rich culture along with their land. There is a lot of inside detail about the intersection and conflict between Native and colonist belief systems and values. The book is very poignant, particularly when discussing the difference between the author's experiences and those of her mother, but also deeply political. While Zitkala-Ša is damning, she is also hopeful that things will change.

Here is one quote that really stuck out to me:

The hospitality of the American aborigine, it is told, saved the early settlers from starvation during the first bleak winters. In commemoration of having been so well received, Newport erected "a cross as a sign of English dominion." With sweet words he quieted the suspicions of Chief Powhatan, his friend. He "told him that the arms (of the cross) represented Powhatan and himself, and the middle their united league."

Yep.

The only real issue I had with this book was specific to the format in which I read it (Kindle). There wasn't any delineation between the two sections, so I was rather confused when the narrative suddenly went from using female to male pronouns without any indication that a different person was speaking. This obviously isn't an issue with the book itself, but something of which Kindle readers might want to be aware.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of the US, particularly how the Sioux and other Native people were thoroughly screwed over by colonists, as well as women's history and Indigenous cultures in general.

Just one more thing: I first heard about Zitkala-Ša through Greg Proops' podcast, specifically her essay entitled "Why I Am A Pagan". She was a pretty awesome person and I'm looking forward to reading more of her work.

[Tamara✨ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked this up on sale and on impulse at one of my favourite indie bookstores here in Singapore, The Moon.

I've read a few books by indigenous North American authors, but like many things I can stand to do more. This though I think, is the first non-fiction book I've read.

It was a really fascinating look into a period of time that I have very little knowledge about. Zitkála-Šá talks about how her life changed dramatically, losing connection with the only world she ever knew, to assimilate into a new one that didn't regard her as an equal. Although the book is short, it's an important peek into her childhood memories, both happy and sad, as well as getting to know about the beginnings of her activism and her writing career.

I would have liked to read a bit more about her childhood and how she became the woman that she is known for..! I also wasn't fond of the way the stories were organised and it felt a bit all over the place. I did enjoy it though and do not regret buying it.

[R · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It is broken up into two parts. The first is an autobiographical retelling of Zitkala-Sa's life which was very interesting. The second part is some her literary works.

Her autobiography is a fascinating and saddening read. Seeing how she becomes traumatised from her time away from home as a young girl was very emotional, and learning how this makes her resentful of Christianity was an insightful read.

Her works and short stories were interesting in their own right, but I found them to be a step-down from her autobiography. They offer a great look into the lives of the Native American people, but personally I found them to be somewhat unremarkable.

You can tell this book is quite an important part of history. Overall, I would recommend it, it's definitely worth your time.

[Jd Guinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I encountered this book as a free read from Google Books and completed it on breaks while at work. As others have mentioned some of the language is dated. One expects that from a manuscript this old. There is also some syntax errors and inconsistencies - none so distracting that the stories themselves cannot be enjoyed.
This small volume does much to remind us of the cultural wounds inflicted upon a nation. The tone is often heavy, sometimes light-hearted, and at others inspirational. Approaching the climax there is a vision of the Statue of Liberty coupled with a sweeping statement regarding the role of women toward encouraging freedom, equality, and liberation. That section alone makes it a volume worth completing.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection was a challenging and powerfully educational read for me, learning from Zitkála-Šá about her disparate experiences growing up, her childhood cut short when she’s taken East from het family to a white Christian-run school. This is such a small volume, but it packs in so much, and I’m deeply appreciative of the opportunity to learn from Zitkála-Šá about history and identity in her own words. This sort of first person #ownvoices account is what I wish I’d been taught in American History in school. Recommended.

[RaeAnna Rekemeyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

November is National Native American Heritage Month. I read American Indian Stories by Zitkála-Šá, and it is heartbreaking and beautiful. I have many things to say about this one.
https://onthebl.org/2019/11/30/americ...

[Care · Rating 4 out of 5]

An invaluable memoir portion, some really memorable short stories, and poetry that was good, just not my preferred style.

The memoir was of childhood, boarding school, and after graduation/college. Some harrowing passages of the trauma of separation and cultural loss that were made all the more sad because of the beauty of the passages about her childhood. Her relationship with her mother was so tender.

The short stories were a nice surprise! They had twists I didn't expect. I would revisit these portions of this book again. Somehow I was surprised by these. I think after the excellent memoir, I expected the rest to be a hodge-podge of other writings that were added on. But these stand on their own two feet!

The poetry was great I'm sure, it just wasn't a style I enjoy, no fault of Zitkála-Šá. In the fashion of the era, it was very restrained in its technique and style.

Absolutely worth checking out if you're interested in a primary source/memoir of indigenous life in the late 1800s/early 1900s and some really engrossing short stories centring indigenous characters. Also that foreward was fantastic and makes me want to check out Layli Long Soldier as well.

[Gregory Duke · Rating 4 out of 5]

An essential read. Wonderful to have this still in print (especially with Layli Long Soldier introducing it). By collecting memoiristic fragments, short stories, essays, and poems in a single (very short) volume, Zitkála-Šá asserts herself as one to be listened to, to be heard. She recounts colonial education as a force distancing her from her home culture yet benefiting from the literacy that eventually enabled her to become one of the most iconic indigenous American activists ever (she's one of the pioneering voices who fought for Native Americans to be given American citizenship, among various other causes). She writes somewhat minimalistically but knows where to place an expansive metaphor. She crafts a book that weaves history (personal and national), Sioux stories, contemporary fiction, ballads, essays of protest, and poems of love and learning into a testament to a very modern voice. Cool book. All Americans should read it.

A great quote about undergoing her missionary-led education:

"In this fashion many have passed idly through the Indian schools during the last decade, afterward to boast of their charity to the North American Indian. But few there are who have paused to question whether real life or long-lasting death lies beneath this semblance of civilization."

[Nicole (bookwyrm) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very moving collection of autobiographical stories and pieces that could be fictional or passed along from others. The beginning section of the book tells the author's story, and then it shifts into stories featuring others. There was no explanation for the change that I saw, so I'm not sure if these are stories that are biographical in nature, or more along the lines of fable. Regardless, the collection was a very enjoyable (and often poignant) read, with some eye-opening glimpses into what life was like in the Indian Schools.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish that there had been more context for this set of stories and memories (I had to look up more information to find out more about the author's life, etc to make more sense of the seemingly odd jumble of stories and remembrances). Once I had, however, this was a compelling, if short, read. From simple early childhood memories to native legends to stories of working to push back against an American government determined to assimilate or eliminate native peoples; this set of stories ranges quite far in theme and content. Once I got past the first few pages I didn't want to put it down.