Lakota Woman

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Summary: A young woman who joins the AIM movement in the 1970's
Review: I really enjoyed this autobiography because it describes Mary's early life, her inside view of what transpired at wounded knee and the birth of her son during the gunfire at wounded knee

I think that anyone who hasn't read Lakota Woman should because it is inspiring as well as very informative.

Rating:
Summary: Educational
Review: I wanted to learn about "the res" from the Indians themselves. This book will open your eyes, short of making a trip there yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Educational
Review: I wanted to learn about "the res" from the Indians themselves. This book will open your eyes, short of making a trip there yourself.

Rating:
Summary: deep, honest, and REAL...
Review: I was so deeply touched I cried so many times. Native American issues/people are often overlooked. I could not believe the painful lack she had to endure. I am Saved in Christ and I had to stop and pray for the native american peoples so many times... I know how deep it hurts to be extremely poor and struggle in the city but the kind of poverty that exists on many reservations is brutal and heartbreaking and jus keeps the cycle of alcoholism going. The native community in america has been so ::sheisted:: it's not even funny. It's sick. The whole world is sick. Jus really... so sick...

I loved this book.

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Summary: Growing Up Indian and Rediscovering Her People
Review: In this 1990 autobiography Mary Crow Dog relates her life growing up on a Sioux reservation and her involvement with the American Indian Movement during the 1970s. There is another writer's name, Richard Erdoes, next to hers on the cover which makes me assume that she did not write this herself. Perhaps that accounts for the style, which is overly simplistic as the book seems to be targeted towards young adults.

However, I have very scant knowledge of American Indians even though they

have always fascinated me. And that is why I enjoyed this book completely. It's feels true and real and its starkness only underlines the story which, in reality, is not only Mary Crow Dog's personal story, but that of all American Indians in our country.

We are right there with her in the one room shack she was raised in with 8 other people in North Dakota, a house without electricity, plumbing or a single modern convenience. As there were no television or any connection with the outside world, she thought that everyone lived like this and had a happy childhood, warm and secure in the bosom a loving family.

And then she was sent off to boarding school run by the Jesuits. Here, the children were beaten, humiliated, punished by being sent into isolation, and forced into a mold that was foreign to them. It was the 60's then, and she rebelled, leaving school and joining forces with other Native American teenagers who drank and shoplifted and lived on the fringe of society.

Then the American Indian Movement came along and she joined, identifying with her people's struggles and learning the history. She was at the siege of the National Indian Affairs building in Washington, DC and then again at the 71-day takeover of Wounded Knee in the 1970s. It was here that she gave birth to her son while gunfire was going on around her.

Later, she married Leonard Crow Dog, the leader and medicine man. He had been brought up totally as an Indian and had never ever learned to read. She stood by him though his unlawful imprisonment, learned to make speeches at rallies, visited other tribes and totally absorbed her heritage. She bore him four children and is a spokesperson for her people. Hence this book, which I understand had been made into a TNT movie and is used as a textbook in schools.

By telling her own personal story, Mary Crow Dog gives the reader an insider's view of the racism around her, the hardships, the religious

rituals and the pride of her people. For anyone with an interest in this special area of American History, this book is extremely helpful.

Recommended

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Summary: A great read on the hard times for Native American Indians.
Review: Lakota Woman is a great autobiography which shows all of the hard times for American Indians during the 1970's in order to gain the freedom to which they have today.It is a unique piece of American Indian literature, a story of dying,crying, determination to beat the white man system and not the white man himself, and the cruelties they had to indure for their freedom and culture. Lakota Woman takes you right to the boarding schools that the young American Indians were thrown into by the government in hopes to change their ways of life. It will make you sick but yet happy that it is no longer, when reading about all the in depth cruel thing the indians suffered through. Such as the sterilization of pregenant mothers without their consent. The Indians were able to get leadership through the American Indians Movement(AIM), which joined all indian tribes together as one. "They called us the new indians. Hell, we are the old indians. The landlords of this continent, coming to collect the rent." This attitude lead them right into the battle of Wounded Knee which took the lives of many."Two thousand came to Wounded Knee in 1973. One stayed." It is definitely a must read autobiography.

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Summary: A hard story about modern day struggles in the United States
Review: Mary Crow Dog highlights the cruel depths of intrigue and depravity that the U.S. government and ciitzens, including some natives can sink to. She writes in a heart rendingly personal tone about the hardships she has faced because of instituitionalized and individual racism and how she fought it and continues to do so while holding her head high, despite often devestating circumstances. A tragedy with some hope and lots of heart.

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Summary: One of the best books I've ever read about Native Americans
Review: Mary doesn't hold anything back in this book, she tells it like it is, even the bad the stuff. She is honest about her life and the life of those around her. After reading this book you feel like you can do anything you set your mind to, because Mary did.

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Summary: As a half Lakota Woman.....
Review: She gives me nothing but strength and courage. I admire her plight during a time when American Indians were a bigger enemy when Iraq is now. She experienced a time when the Gov/t brought in tanks on the Lakota Rez.

This book, while an autobiography is more like how history books should be written. Through the eyes of someone who was there!!

You will enjoy this book, everyone I know who has read it has loved it.

Rating:
Summary: Very convincing
Review: The autobiography, Lakota Woman, written by Mary Crow Dog, exhibits the negative effects of poverty on Native Americans. In a detailed account, Mary illustrates the issues with living on a reservation, in a small cabin, with one room, no electricity, no heating system and no plumbing. Not able to the handle the stress of their situation, many Native Americans turned to alcohol. Throughout the novel, she reveals the many harmful situations involving drinking and Native Americans. She states " Some people would do just about anything for a jug of wine, of mni-sha, and would not give a damn about the welfare of their families"(43). It was not until the Indian Movement and when she and her people were introduced to grandfather Peyote when they learn to love themselves. She argues "I understood the reality contained in this medicine, understood that this herb was our heritage, our tradition, that it spoke our language. I became part of the earth because peyote comes from the earth, even taste like earth sometimes. And do the earth was to me and I in it, Indian earth making me more Indian. And to me Peyote was people, was alive, was remembrance of things long forgotten"(96) Through her powerful imagery, readers are able to identify the negative affects of alcohol versus the positive affects of peyote, this traditional herb. Very early in the novel she introduces the readers to this scene: "Those cars! It was to see how man people they could cram into one of their jalopies, five of them side by side and one or two on their laps, little kids and all the brakes were usually gone... doors missing too, and tires and few gallons of the cheapest California wine. A great way to end it all" (44) This example really drives home the point, because of alcohol, her people were left aimless. Readers are also able to view culture, as it is different to many people. Discussions of government policy regarding reservations, substance abuse and use, and stereotypes are all appropriate. This novel is appropriate for juniors and seniors in high school.