A thought-provoking collection of searing prose from a Sioux woman
that covers race, identity, assimilation, and perceptions of Native
American culture
Zitkala-Sa wrestled with the conflicting influences of American Indian
and white culture throughout her life. Raised on a Sioux reservation,
she was educated at boarding schools that enforced assimilation and was
witness to major events in white-Indian relations in the late 1800s and
early 1900s. Tapping her troubled personal history, Zitkala-Sa created
stories that illuminate the tragedy and complexity of the American
Indian experience. In evocative prose laced with political savvy, she
forces new thinking about the perceptions, assumptions, and customs of
both Sioux and white cultures and raises issues of assimilation,
identity, and race relations that remain compelling today.