By Mary Crow Dog - Lakota Woman (2/26/91)

Pretty intresting book with lots of knowledge and personal events. This really helps open the eye so the social unjustices that native americans faced. Its well written as well. I could'nt put it down. Digital copy was great.... My first ebook.

A riveting first hand account of how the Native Americans have been mistreated by the US Government, society, and even their own people. Could not put it down. The side of Native Americans that we do not get to see, deeply family oriented in a time when society is breaking apart the family. Their "old ways" are more civilized than most of what we have in this country today.

Our education system tends to overlook the details of Native Americans. This book blew my mind. It is an honest, intense, and shocking true story of how our government has systematically destroyed Native Americans well into the 20th century. This is not something of the past to be forgotten or assume the issues exist in a bubble. I recommend this to anyone interested in civil rights.

Gave up reading this quite quickly. The author revealed almost her entire life story in the first page or so, thus rendering the rest of the book less interesting, and then proceeded to pad it out with what looked like research rather than personal experience. A missed opportunity.

If you want to read page after page about getting drunk, doing drugs, ripping off stores, and doing 80 miles per hour in windowless junkers crammed full of bodies get the book. Otherwise don't waste your money. Glad I got the kindle version. At least it was cheaper than the paper version.

This is one of the best books available to people interested in contemporary Native Americans. Mary Brave Bird's life story sheds light on traditions of her Lakota (Sioux) people from the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations in South Dakota. She shows, in a very clear way, their tortured history with the missionaries, state bureaucracy, the courts, the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). We see to what extent the government has succeeded in destroying the old life and how small groups of the Sioux managed to preserve traditional ways and ceremonies.
The book is written in a way which preserves the unique appreciation Indians have for unadulterated truth - a style which is simple, direct and in which personal experiences are recounted in a frank, almost brutally dispassionate manner. It reveals perfectly the heartless school system ran by abusive Catholic priests and nuns trying hard to deprive young people of their traditions (don't these people have better things to do?); we see the corrupt BIA system designed to prevent cultural and economic emancipation of the Native American "traditionals" (and steal federal money) and the pointless fear that the FBI has of organized Indian movements. Above all, we see the violence that the Sioux face daily from the white South Dakotans as well as the inter-Sioux violence caused by the hopelessness of the life on the rez. I was especially amazed to see that South Dakota has preserved, at the least up to early 1980ies, the barbaric attitudes towards the Native Americans (who are, after all, the original inhabitants, and who were cheated out of their own land by the very same whites who persecute them) which have by and large disappeared from the rest of the civilized world. This includes (unpunished) assaults by drunken lumberjacks and ranchers, systematic discrimination in the courtroom, forced sterilizations at the provincial hospitals (Mary's own sister Barbara was sterilized against her own will) and a system designed to eliminate all of the Indians' most courageous and spiritually conscious young people. A system that would make Uncle Mao proud, but which made this reader very sad, ashamed and angry. I suspect many of these things are still going on in our name. I mean, why can't these people leave the Indians in peace, allow them to practice their religion and (is this too much to ask for?) respect their desire to be different?
There are also many wonderful things in this book. The descriptions of relationships between Lakota men and women, between the young and the old, between the full and half-bloods and between the host and the guest are simply priceless. Likewise Brave Bird's descriptions of peyote meetings, Sundances and Ghostdance revivals. Mary has very strong opinions about the Sioux male machismo and the reluctance exhibited by many Sioux men to providing a comfortable and loving home for their families yet she understands that this is the inevitable consequence of the systematic destruction of the old ways of tribal life. After having read the book I can see the challenges facing the indomitable Sioux nation, the challenge of preserving and honoring the old ways while educating a new elite familiar with the white system (without considering them to be sellouts); only when they gain political representation and economic self-sufficiency will Native Americans be able to keep at bay the greedy timber, mining and ranching industries whose interest is to keep the tribes divided and the people dispirited and lost in alcohol. The Lakota of today need to find a way to create loving conditions for their children. And they need to speak their truth, as often as they can, just as Mary Brave Bird has done in this amazing book.

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.

Lakota Woman is the autobiography written by Mary Brave Bird that gives audience a look into her difficult journey in trying to figure out who she is and where she belongs. Brave Bird’s story is one of those that you walk away from and can’t seem to stop thinking about. It’s a story that really brings truth to humanity. She writes in a way that’s honest, blunt, passionate and doesn’t sugarcoat anything because she knows that the power is in the truth of her story. Brave Bird’s writing gives off a vibe that says to the reader, “I’m not messing around. If this is tough to read, imagine what it was like to actually experience it.” She doesn’t write to target a specific group of people, but rather writes to bring attention to the multiple ways this world shows its inequality and ugliness.
Lakota Woman is a way to give readers insight into the struggles and hardships of being an Indian in America to help people gain a deeper understanding as to what their life is like. Brave Bird shows the reader the struggles American Indians face trying to live in a world where they’re not wanted. She lived through major historical events, such as the Indian Occupation at Wounded Knee, so we’re provided with insight into these events from someone that experienced them first hand. Reading about these events from the perspective of an American Indian who lived through them is such a different experience than learning about them from the brief information textbooks provide.
This is a novel I truly enjoyed and one that exceeded my already high expectations. I wanted to find a book that moved me and went straight through my heart, which is exactly what I experienced. It takes you on an emotional rollercoaster while making you feel angry at whites, sad, hopeful and proud of American Indians for being brave enough to stand up to society. Lakota Woman is beautiful and honest and best of all, it gives answers that most people probably don’t even realize they need. It’s a must read!

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

this should be required reading for every politician in the county from top to bottom. Then it should be required for high school and college. It would help if more people were aware of history from both sides. Reading it from the point of view of an Amerindian women allows you to hear first hand of the total injustice against native people by new comers. New comers with delusions of being superior that they think gives them the right to murder and subject and enslave others. Mary Crow Dog was more than brave. I remember many of these events she relates but I got them from the view ponint of the media, politicians and even one of the police officers. I dug deeper and formed other conclusions. In personal relations with some Indian girls and women Mary is more than brave. She over came centuries of her culture toward women. She made some changes in their lives.

From the second page I was hooked! Mary Crow Dog writes like a person would speak and the result is an open, honest account of her life, growing up a Lakota Woman. She speaks of the events she experienced and the poverty she grew up in without self-pity. She shares a wisdom that only she could have, gleaned from her life, in each of it's stages as a child, a revolutionary, a mother and a wife to a powerful medicine man. She depicts the life of the Sioux woman in a simple way explaining the importance of their role. This was such an interesting book! I especially enjoyed reading the details of the Sun Dances in the book. That is a religious ritual that really intrigues me and I relished every detail.

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.

While I agree that this is a powerful and elegantly written story, it suffers from obvious bias. Most disturbingly, it soft-shoes the issue of domestic abuse. In fact, in one passage, the author seems to take a sort of perverse pride in recognizing that Lakota women tolerate physical and mental abuse and think little of it. The author generally side-steps the issue of whether her own husband was abusive but shows her hand toward the end of the book by recognizing that the stress of constant surveilance and imprisonment "takes it's toll."

I do not believe that this is a matter of judging another's cultural mores by Western standards of decency, but rather recognizing that issues exist outside of the sphere of cultural relativism. Crossing the line by striking your spouse is wrong, regardless of circumstance or cause.

this book shows the troubles that the native american nation underwent and still is suffering in their social and economic lives. The oppression that the US forced them under killing them all, removing them from thier land and forcing them to live in horrible reservations earning very low salaries therefore living miserable lives. Not only that but the men then arrived home to take out their frustration on their female counterparts (if they had a steady one). Men would not respect the women mostly because of the already distraught lives that they lived. "If you didn't cooperate then they were no longer interested in you as a person" (Crow Dog 68). This is how the indian man treated their woman becuase of the social problems caused by the oppresion of the white man.

On the other hand the book illustrates the grandness of the indian man and how he confronted his enemies (white man & enemy tribes) with such glory and courage. The indian man was brave and fearless with a respect for nature and (in the old days) respect for their fellow women.

All these stories were told though the eyes of dog mary crow, by her experiences in her life and the stories that her family told her.

Absolutely love this book. I rented the book for one of my classes because it was a required reading . And decided to buy the book and reread it since we skipped some chapters for the reading assignments.

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.

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.

Mary Brave Bird is the voice of the American Indian Movement, and her voice is loud and clear. She speaks to us like a friend and a mother. She lets us inside her heart and her world. This story gives incredible insight into the modern world of the Native American and the conditions of reservation life. It is a must read.

An eye-opener. I Native American woman's true and raw disclosure of how it was to be living a Native American in South Dakota only decades ago. It was a good read but a lesson to be learned much the same. These events are only decades old, human being treated like animals on our soils, by people like us. Ignorance to such factors is inexcusable. A must read for a valuable lesson on diversity and humanity, and a thin line that separates us from what we call "evil".

There are many reasons why I rate Lakota Woman at 5 stars. The main reason however is its honesty. I have never read a book more open and honest about how life was in the 60's and 70's for my people, the Sioux. Mary does not try to cloud things over, she is blunt and totally honest about everything that was going on no matter how tragic the events. She speaks like many of me people do about things like death and abuse. We talk of these things like most people talk of the weather.