May Dodd led an extraordinary life. Committed to an insane asylum by her family for co-habitating with the father of her children, May leads a bleak life. Until, the Cheyenne Indians and President Grant make a peace treaty involving the trade of one thousand women for one thousand horses.
May is chosen to be a part of the program and travels to Cheyenne country to meet her husband, Little Wolf and to bear his children.
May and the other white brides must learn to assimilate to the Cheyenne's nomadic lifestyle, while trying to teach their new people about the WASP lifestyle as reservation life is looming...
One Thousand White Women is written in the form of May Dodd's diaries. Between her journals, a letter that made it home to her children, and a Catholic monk, May's great-grandchildren are brought together as a family, and learn her story.
The book synopsis from Fergus' website:
One Thousand White Women begins with May Dodd's journey west into the unknown. A government program, in which women are brought west as brides for the Cheyenne, is her vehicle. What follows is the story of May's adventures: her marriage to Little Wolf, chief of the Cheyenne nation, and her conflict of being caught between two worlds, loving two men, living two lives. Jim Fergus has so vividly depicted the American West that it is as if these diaries are a capsule in time.
Be sure to read all parts of the book: author's note, introduction, and epilouge.
1 comment:
Sounds like a great read!
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