Mari Sandoz (1896–1966)
Author of Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of the Oglalas
About the Author
Image credit: Al Aumuller
Series
Works by Mari Sandoz
Associated Works
Reader's Digest Best of the West: A Treasury of Western Adventure Volumes 1 & 2 (1976) — Contributor — 35 copies
Reader's Digest Best of the West: A Treasury of Western Adventure Volume 2 — Contributor — 8 copies
O Cardeal; A Cidade Que Recusou Morrer; Vento Oeste Para o Havaí; O Caçador de Cavalos — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Other names
- Macumber, Marie
Sandoz, Mari Susette (birth name) - Birthdate
- 1896-05-11
- Date of death
- 1966-03-10
- Burial location
- Mari Sandoz Museum, Gordon, Nebraska, USA
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Sand Hills, Nebraska, USA
- Place of death
- New York, New York, USA
- Places of residence
- Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
Denver, Colorado, USA - Education
- University of Nebraska
- Occupations
- novelist
biographer
short-story writer
historian
teacher
Members
Reviews
Lists
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 30
- Also by
- 10
- Members
- 2,789
- Popularity
- #9,214
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 40
- ISBNs
- 112
- Languages
- 5
- Favorited
- 9
Of course, it was only outside of her time in terms of expectations of white readers. A fascinating perspective is provided by the foreword contributed by noted Native American activist and author, Vine Deloria Jr. He admits that he panned the book when it first came out; while finding it informative, he was resentful of the attempt by a white woman to tell the story from the Indian perspective and even to attempt to write in a way that mimicked--as he saw it then--in an "Indian" style. When he came back to it years later, after many years doing his own research, it was like reading a different book. In her depiction not just of major events but the day-to-day lives of Native Americans, she "captured nuances that only a few would know and understand," a fact he attributed not simply to her research, or the fact that she had grown up in close proximity to the Siioux, many of whom had been alive during these events (a reminder how relatively recent all this "history" is, especially when measured on the time scale of human settlement in the Americas) but her deep understanding of the region itself.
For that reason, anyone expecting a simple narrative of "good Indians and evil Whites" will be disappointed. Sandoz is extremely attentive to the infighting and politicking among the various tribes and factions. Some of this was historical and geographical and almost ritualistic in nature. But it was also the result of the very typical divide-and-conquer strategy of colonialist powers everywhere. The final couple of chapters that detail the cloud of lies and deceit that swirled around the encampments around Fort Robinson in the days before Crazy Horse's death as whites and various Indian factions maneuvered for advantage is captured in nuanced if depressing detail.
I've read a lot of books about the Plains Wars and I can't remember being as immersed and moved by one since William Vollman's The Dying Grass. If you have any interest in this period and place, this book is a must-have. As Deloria notes, it is a book for "the careful reader who savors the well-written word who can see in this book history as biography and biography as history."… (more)