American Indian Stories, Legends, and Other Writings [Paperback]

A thought-provoking collection of searing prose from a Dakota Sioux woman that covers race, identity, assimilation, and perceptions of Native American culture

Zitkala-Sa (also known as Gertrude Simmons Bonnin) 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.American Indian Stories, Legends, and Other Writings - Zitkala-Sa Introduction and Notes by Cathy N. Davidson and Ada Norris

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Suggestions for Further Reading
Chronology
A Note on the Texts
I. Old Indian Legends
Preface
Iktomi and the Ducks
Iktomi's Blanket
Iktomi and the Muskrat
Iktomi and the Coyote
Iktomi and the Fawn
The Badger and the Bear
The Tree-Bound
Shooting of the Red Eagle
Iktomi and the Turtle
Dance in a Buffalo Skull
The Toad and the Boy
Iya, the Camp-Eater
Manstin, the Rabbit
The Warlike SevenII. American Indian Stories
Impressions of an Indian Childhood
The School Days of an Indian Girl
An Indian Teacher Among Indians
The Great Spirit
The Soft-Hearted Sioux
The Trial Path
A Warrior's Daughter
A Dream lÃ'