Post by HokieThea on Jun 23, 2008 8:33:42 GMT -5
... by Jim Fergus. What an awesome book, I could not put it down! It is based on a historical event, followed by a specualtion of how the event could have unfolded. Pasted from Amazon:
"In 1854 Cheyenne Chief Little Wolf asked for 1,000 white women as brides for his warriors in exchange for 1,000 horses. Using this true incident, Fergus lets his imagination go wild and creates a journal of one of his ancestors who became one of those brides in 1875."
"An American western with a most unusual twist, this is an imaginative fictional account of the participation of May Dodd and others in the controversial "Brides for Indians" program, a clandestine U.S. government^-sponsored program intended to instruct "savages" in the ways of civilization and to assimilate the Indians into white culture through the offspring of these unions. May's personal journals, loaded with humor and intelligent reflection, describe the adventures of some very colorful white brides (including one black one), their marriages to Cheyenne warriors, and the natural abundance of life on the prairie before the final press of the white man's civilization. Fergus is gifted in his ability to portray the perceptions and emotions of women. He writes with tremendous insight and sensitivity about the individual community and the political and religious issues of the time, many of which are still relevant today. This book is artistically rendered with meticulous attention to small details that bring to life the daily concerns of a group of hardy souls at a pivotal time in U.S. history."
"In 1854 Cheyenne Chief Little Wolf asked for 1,000 white women as brides for his warriors in exchange for 1,000 horses. Using this true incident, Fergus lets his imagination go wild and creates a journal of one of his ancestors who became one of those brides in 1875."
"An American western with a most unusual twist, this is an imaginative fictional account of the participation of May Dodd and others in the controversial "Brides for Indians" program, a clandestine U.S. government^-sponsored program intended to instruct "savages" in the ways of civilization and to assimilate the Indians into white culture through the offspring of these unions. May's personal journals, loaded with humor and intelligent reflection, describe the adventures of some very colorful white brides (including one black one), their marriages to Cheyenne warriors, and the natural abundance of life on the prairie before the final press of the white man's civilization. Fergus is gifted in his ability to portray the perceptions and emotions of women. He writes with tremendous insight and sensitivity about the individual community and the political and religious issues of the time, many of which are still relevant today. This book is artistically rendered with meticulous attention to small details that bring to life the daily concerns of a group of hardy souls at a pivotal time in U.S. history."
