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anakuroma's review against another edition
4.0
TW: racism, racial slurs, abuse, misogyny, death, murder, police brutality, residential schools, drugs, alcoholism, misunderstanding and judgement of Black people/Black activism.
A biography full of pain and a life stolen so many times and in so many ways. Painful, raw, and powerful.
A biography full of pain and a life stolen so many times and in so many ways. Painful, raw, and powerful.
lucyblack's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.0
It’s strange reading memoirs from people only part way through their lives. This is Mary Crow Dog/ Brave Bird’s memoir of her early life, her activism and her marriage to a revered medicine man. I enjoyed reading about her rebellious youth and her awakening to decolonisation, I liked the slang and her abrupt and self assured manner of story telling. I wasn’t surprised to find she divorces crow dog and I would love to hear her later in life take on things.
zams's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
4.5
A great insight into the culture of some Native Americans, their hardships, challenges, and how they fought to try and overcome them, or not get beaten down by them. As a European I wouldn't have expected the conditions Crow Dog described, which makes me even more glad I picked up the book, because I did not only get an insight in culture, but also everyday live, and allthough the beginning of her and her husband's relationship made me slightly uncomfortable I really enjoyed her detailed and multidimentional telling of her way of living, and fighting for rights. I also really enjoyed the way it was written, it makes Mary Crow Dog seem like a youthfull woman that's full of life, definitly a great read.
binnybeenreading's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
sbcrra's review against another edition
emotional
informative
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Violence, and Colonisation
hissingpotatoes's review against another edition
4.0
This is not an easy book. It depicts the grim reality of living in the United States as a Native American woman: the racism, police brutality, sexual assault and rape, murder, kidnapping, cultural annihilation, dehumanization, and injustice at every level possible. The author's voice shines through with so many emotions and self-reflections. These are the historical and current issues that can't be brushed under a rug and can't continue to be unrepaired.
liralen's review against another edition
5.0
One of the first pieces in [b:Trash|91872|Trash|Dorothy Allison|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1424648726s/91872.jpg|1230570] is titled 'River of Names': It's a litany of those lost to accident or violence or illness. It is stark and raw, unemotional and unflinching.
Lakota Woman is not unemotional; if you like your books to be PC and without bias, this is not the one for you. Mary Crow Dog is angry, angry and bitter and suspicious—and with every reason to be. (If only half of the stories she tells were true, she would still have cause for anger.)
I don't know whether I am a louse under the white man's skin. I hope I am. (9)
I mention Trash, though, because there is a similar litany early on in Lakota Woman, this time of people lost and injustices done by white America. Friends and family killed, forcibly sterilised, abused. Abuse not only from outside but also within—sometimes exacerbated by outside policies and always ignored by the outside unless it fuels stereotypes.
When I was a small girl at the St. Francis Boarding School, the Catholic sisters would take a buggy whip to us for what they called "disobedience." At age ten I could drink and hold a pint of whiskey. At age twelve the nuns beat me for "being too free with my body." All I had been doing was holding hands with a boy. At age fifteen I was raped. If you plan to be born, make sure you are born white and male. (4)
One of the biggest and most fascinating chunks of the story covers the Wounded Knee Incident. Mary Crow Dog puts it this way: None of us had any illusions that we could take over Wounded Knee unopposed. Our message to the government was: "Come and discuss our demands or kill us!" (127) And that's about the crux of it. One side with vastly more firepower (and legal power), the other side with a much better sense of the lay of the land and both more and less to lose.
It is fascinating. There are problems with the book structurally—it rambles; it is repetitive in places; again, it is not exactly unbiased or PC. But it is also a side of history (modern history, at that) that you don't usually get to hear. Had Mary Crow Dog been born elsewhere, in different circumstances, her life would have been very different and probably much easier. But she wasn't, and so she chose to fight for her heritage, to fight to not be whitewashed. Shouldn't have let this languish on my to-read shelf for four and a half years.
She said to me: "They offered me my freedom and money if I'd testify the way they wanted. I have those two choices now. I chose my kind of freedom, not their kind, even if I have to die." (196)
Lakota Woman is not unemotional; if you like your books to be PC and without bias, this is not the one for you. Mary Crow Dog is angry, angry and bitter and suspicious—and with every reason to be. (If only half of the stories she tells were true, she would still have cause for anger.)
I don't know whether I am a louse under the white man's skin. I hope I am. (9)
I mention Trash, though, because there is a similar litany early on in Lakota Woman, this time of people lost and injustices done by white America. Friends and family killed, forcibly sterilised, abused. Abuse not only from outside but also within—sometimes exacerbated by outside policies and always ignored by the outside unless it fuels stereotypes.
When I was a small girl at the St. Francis Boarding School, the Catholic sisters would take a buggy whip to us for what they called "disobedience." At age ten I could drink and hold a pint of whiskey. At age twelve the nuns beat me for "being too free with my body." All I had been doing was holding hands with a boy. At age fifteen I was raped. If you plan to be born, make sure you are born white and male. (4)
One of the biggest and most fascinating chunks of the story covers the Wounded Knee Incident. Mary Crow Dog puts it this way: None of us had any illusions that we could take over Wounded Knee unopposed. Our message to the government was: "Come and discuss our demands or kill us!" (127) And that's about the crux of it. One side with vastly more firepower (and legal power), the other side with a much better sense of the lay of the land and both more and less to lose.
It is fascinating. There are problems with the book structurally—it rambles; it is repetitive in places; again, it is not exactly unbiased or PC. But it is also a side of history (modern history, at that) that you don't usually get to hear. Had Mary Crow Dog been born elsewhere, in different circumstances, her life would have been very different and probably much easier. But she wasn't, and so she chose to fight for her heritage, to fight to not be whitewashed. Shouldn't have let this languish on my to-read shelf for four and a half years.
She said to me: "They offered me my freedom and money if I'd testify the way they wanted. I have those two choices now. I chose my kind of freedom, not their kind, even if I have to die." (196)
encyclopediabritanika's review against another edition
The information was eye opening and worth knowing, I just could not for the life of me get into the writing style. This was tough.
ms_aprilvincent's review against another edition
4.0
4.5
One of the reasons I read about Native Americans, especially in the 20th century, is that my mom is a registered American Indian and spent some time on a reservation. I don't know her side of the family well, but I feel drawn to our history.
Mary Crow Dog grew up poor, on a reservation, in South Dakota. Ongoing attempts to assimilate Indian people to white culture include sending kids away to boarding school, where oftentimes they were mistreated and, it seems, the nuns tried to "beat the red out of them."
Mary follows a typical path into alcoholism and petty thievery--essentially what many people think of when they picture modern Native Americans. She finds a purpose in American Indian Movement (AIM) and takes part in the siege at Wounded Knee in 1973, which was a protest against the failed impeachment of a corrupt tribal politician and brought attention to the many injustices perpetrated by the US government against its native people.
The siege, as described by Mary, was an almost ridiculous escalation by the government, who armed themselves against 200 protestors as though they were going into an actual military battle. Even going to the bathroom might mean ducking through a hailstorm of bullets.
I'm still in the anger phase after reading this, because white people stole everything from American Indians, attempted to erase their culture, and still treat them as second class citizens in their own country. We tried to make them white but remind them constantly that they aren't. We make and break promises. We refuse to acknowledge our part in breaking their culture and we blame them for their own poverty. I'm just about tired of us, let me tell you.
This book has given me a lot to think about, and I haven't really even fully processed its lessons yet. I'm going to be mulling it over for a while.
One of the reasons I read about Native Americans, especially in the 20th century, is that my mom is a registered American Indian and spent some time on a reservation. I don't know her side of the family well, but I feel drawn to our history.
Mary Crow Dog grew up poor, on a reservation, in South Dakota. Ongoing attempts to assimilate Indian people to white culture include sending kids away to boarding school, where oftentimes they were mistreated and, it seems, the nuns tried to "beat the red out of them."
Mary follows a typical path into alcoholism and petty thievery--essentially what many people think of when they picture modern Native Americans. She finds a purpose in American Indian Movement (AIM) and takes part in the siege at Wounded Knee in 1973, which was a protest against the failed impeachment of a corrupt tribal politician and brought attention to the many injustices perpetrated by the US government against its native people.
The siege, as described by Mary, was an almost ridiculous escalation by the government, who armed themselves against 200 protestors as though they were going into an actual military battle. Even going to the bathroom might mean ducking through a hailstorm of bullets.
I'm still in the anger phase after reading this, because white people stole everything from American Indians, attempted to erase their culture, and still treat them as second class citizens in their own country. We tried to make them white but remind them constantly that they aren't. We make and break promises. We refuse to acknowledge our part in breaking their culture and we blame them for their own poverty. I'm just about tired of us, let me tell you.
This book has given me a lot to think about, and I haven't really even fully processed its lessons yet. I'm going to be mulling it over for a while.