One Thousand White Women: Book Review

One Thousand White Women

By Jim Fergus

I have been looking forward to reading, One Thousand White Women. Sandy, from our book club picked the book. Usually she is never wrong. The book is a re-print. He just wrote a sequel to One Thousand White Women. I thought this would be a great read. Since, I don't usually read books about the mid-west.  After reading, I think I will like to dive more in the subject of the mid-west. 

The book as you can tell is historical fiction. It is written as a journal. It is based on the story of the author's family. But, he has taken some liberties to change the story. The Federal government want to strike a deal with the Indians. They will trade American White Women for Indian goods. 

May Dodd is committed to an mental asylum because her family thinks she has married below her station and had children by the man.  May decides the best way out of the problem is to participate in the secret government's scheme. She has to leave her two children behind. She book is written in letter form to her brother, and sister. It is correspondence to them about her life. The letters are not reciprocated back and forth. 

She further complicates matters by falling in love with Captain Bourke. Then eventually marries the Chief of the Cheyennes, Little Wolfe. She lives during difficult, and  harsh weather conditions. She learns to assimilate to the Indian's ways of life. Which is not easy. Learning to get along with the other tribes. (since there is fighting against the other tribes)Making friends with the other women of the tribe, as well as the others that came with her. There is a lot she must learn from being a civilized woman to assimilate into the tribe. As well as not being naive to the American government. She learns how devious, and the American troops take the land of the Cheyenne. 

The writing style was straight narrative.There were parts of the novel that was predictable. Which I felt drifting off in the narrative. The beginning of the novel was good then it lost me. When the author started writing about the federal government, and the Indians. It finally drew me back in.Since I love reading about social justice, and the constitution. That drew the plot for me a bit. 

 The book was a bit dry. The writing had no feeling, or emotion.. There was romance in the novel, but  with no feeling. I did keep trudging on. It still kept me wanting to read, though. After I read the book I am going to do my own research about the Plain's Indians, Sioux, and Cheyennes. 

I hope to find another novel on the subject. I will be posting on our book club meeting next week. I will let you know what others said. Sandy, did tell us that the sequel is not as good. I will her advise and not go further.