For many people the Sioux, as warriors and as buffalo hunters, have
become the symbol of all that is Indian colorful figures endowed with
great fortitude and powerful vision. They were the heroes of the Great
Plains, and they were the villains, too.
Royal B. Hassrick here attempts to describe the ways of the people, the
patterns of their behavior, and the concepts of their imagination.
Uniquely, he has approached the subject from the Sioux's own point of
view, giving their own interpretation of their world in the era of its
greatest vigor and renown -the brief span of years from about 1830 to
1870.
In addition to printed sources, the author has drawn from the
observation and records of a number of Sioux who were still living when
this book was projected, and were anxious to serve as links to the
vanished world of their forebears.
Because it is true that men become in great measure what they think and
want themselves to be, it is important to gain this insight into Sioux
thought of a century ago. Apparently, the most significant theme in
their universe was that man was a minute but integral part of that
universe. The dual themes of self-expression and self-denial reached
through their lives, helping to explain their utter defeat soon after
the Battle of the Little Big Horn. When the opportunity to resolve the
conflict with the white man in their own way was lost, their very reason
for living was lost, too.
There are chapters on the family and the sexes, fun, the scheme of war,
production, the structure of the nation, the way to status, and other
aspects of Sioux life.
