Powerful and compelling account of a woman on the reservation

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	• Lakota Woman Mary Crow Dog Harper Perennial, 1991 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 34 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Lakota Woman

An interesting look at the American Indian's struggles in the latter half of the 20th century. The perspective of Mary Crow Dog is helpful for those who have no similar life experiences to compare to it. Very good insight.

Non Fiction

An autobiographical account of Mary Crow Dog's life, this includes experiencing the events that happened at Wounded Knee, and her relationship with her husband, as well as the politics and experiences associated with the AIM political movement.

A look at the disturbing state and problems these people were facing at the time, very interesting.

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Lakota Woman

I learnt so much from this book, and felt myself getting angry because of her experiences. good on her for telling her story. L'Ohanna

Powerful and compelling account of a woman on the reservation

This is a very powerful book about Mary Crow Dog's experiences growing up as a Lakota (Sioux) woman on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. It should be required reading for anyone who feigns ignorance of the ways that Native Americans continue to be treated in the US today. Local whites, the state of South Dakota, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the rest of the power establishment have their inhumanity exposed.

Crow Dog writes in a very sparse style, and writes of brutal incidents in a matter-of-fact way. While this style makes the book compelling, it is also responsible for a major weakness of the book. Throughout the book, Crow Dog is never introspective. Things happen (she uses drugs, starts shoplifting, chooses men poorly) or happen to her (she is raped, among other things), but she doesn't think about why these things happen. She conveys neither a sense of her own agency in these events, or a sense of her own lack of agency.

Oddly for an autobiography, Mary Crow Dog is the object, not the subject, of this story. Even at Wounded Knee, she doesn't really understand why she is there, other than the fact that she has followed the male authority figures of the movement into the siege. She made her choice and put her body on the line but can't really explain why. How life on the reservation produces people like this is certainly worth reflection.

This siege at Wounded Knee provides the centerpiece of the book, and its natural climax. Crow Dog has a very different view of these events than the accounts provided by the leadership, who knew their history and knew what they were trying to do. Crow Dog also talks about the aftermath of the siege, and the period when her husband was in jail. At this time, she also followed him into the practice of Native American religion, and - - more implicitly than explicitly - - explains why this religion is attractive to many.

Finally, this book also provides a valuable insiders' perspective of the dysfunctional communities on Pine Ridge. It's interesting that the politically correct crowd condemns Ian Frazier's "On the Rez" while praising "Lakota Woman"- - both paint similar pictures of the same reservation. It's true than a Lakota insider brings perspectives not available to outsiders, but a white outsider also bring perspectives not available to insiders. Read them both and make up your own mind.

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Excellent

The book came in perfect time and is in excellent condition. I have added it to my collection of Native American History

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

A unique autobiography unparalleled in American Indian literature, and a deeply moving account of a woman's triumphant struggle to survive in a hostile world.

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