One Thousand White Women : : the Journals of May Dodd

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Call Number: Adult Book / Fiction / Historical / Fergus, Jim, Fiction / Fergus, Jim
On Shelf At: Malletts Creek Branch, Pittsfield Branch, Westgate Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Historical / Fergus, Jim	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Pittsfield Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Historical / Fergus, Jim	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Historical / Fergus, Jim	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fiction / Fergus, Jim	4-week checkout	Due 05-18-2024
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Fiction / Fergus, Jim	4-week checkout	Due 05-23-2024

"A novel" -- From cover.
"Based on an actual historical event but told through fictional diaries, this is the story of a remarkable woman who travels west in 1875 and marries the chief of the Cheyenne Nation. One thousand white women begins with May Dodd's journey west into the unknown. Yet the unknown is a far better fate than the life she left behind. Committed to an insane asylum by her blue-blood family for the crime of loving a man beneath her station, May finds that her only hope of freedom is to participate in a secret government program whereby women from the 'civilized' world become the brides of Cheyenne warriors. What follows is the story of May's breathtaking adventures: her brief, passionate romance with the gallant young army captain John Bourke; her marriage to the great chief Little Wolf; and her conflict of being caught between two worlds, loving two men, living two lives." -- From publisher's description.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

fascinating submitted by unknown on February 16, 2008, 1:11pm This is a fascinating saga of a part of American history that might or might not be true. It makes for a great book club discussion.

Not compelling submitted by Susan4Pax -prev. sueij- on August 24, 2013, 1:55pm I didn't like this book, and I'm really sad that I missed the book club discussion, because it might have helped me clarify *why*.

I think the author was trying to do two things: (a) play a "what if" game with the true Cheyenne request in 1875 to trade 1000 horses for 1000 White women so their children would be part of the White man's world and (b) introduce readers to the huge range of societal realities that existed in that year.

The first part just seemed ridiculous to me. I don't care how many women might have volunteered, there is no way that the government would have agreed to such a trade (even if the story explains how they backed out of it, just like they backed out of nearly every other deal made with the Indians). I know enough history that it just didn't fly for me.

The second goal seemed very well researched, but perhaps spread us a bit too thin: by dint of the manner of gathering the brides, we meet well-to-do Chicagoans, insane asylum inmates, Southern plantation belles post-Civil War, escaped slaves, sassy Irish twins, a British bird expert and a Swiss immigrant. Then, of course, are the characters inherent to exploring the West: a cross-dressing muleskinner, outpost traders, military personnel, and a wide variety of Indians, especially, of course, the Cheyenne.

Cheyenne life is depicted well, as far as I can tell from the wide variety of reading I've done on Lakota Sioux life over years. It is balanced between what can make sense to a White perspective and what cannot. I think this book is, actually, not a bad introduction to the beauty and challenges of Native American life on the plains, and the ill treatment at the hands of the US government as the Indians were driven off the land and onto the reservations through unfair dealings at that time in history.

But May Dodd just never rang true for me. I think she was just too contemporary to feel historical. And I sure wish I had been able to make that book club dinner!

Difficult to Read submitted by valerieclaires on August 27, 2015, 4:02pm I was determined to finish this book, otherwise I would have stopped reading barely halfway through. The plot is interesting: What would have happened if President Grant had agreed to Cheyenne Chief Little Wolf's (actual) request to trade 1,000 Native American horses for 1,000 White women to marry the tribe's men. The Cheyennes are a matrilineal tribe, so the children born of these marriages would be members of White society, allowing Native Americans a more seamless transition to a future as full members of the ever-expanding American nation. Of course, in real life the proposal was declined, but what might have happened if the proposal were accepted?

The concept of the book is an interesting one, and absorbs the reader right away. It's written as the diary of a woman selected for the Brides for Indians program. The author does a great job of immersing the reader in the scene, from the train ride and wagon journey out west to the first year in the wild. His descriptive language absorbs the reader and the scenes burst off the page. It is disruptive, then, when you reach a portion of the text that snaps you right out of the story. Many of the characters' attitudes and responses to the issues of the day, such as race and social class, are too contemporary for the 1870's. Some words in the diary are particularly anachronistic, and coming across one as you're reading through such well done descriptive writing is jarring. It pulls you right out of the story when you're expecting a historical novel, but it ends up being filled with contemporary characters and modern jargon. It's also written by a man from the point of view of a woman. There is a way that this can be done, but this author misses the mark. The writing doesn't always sound like a woman, but more like a man's interpretation of a woman, and can make it seem inauthentic.

Couldn't get into it submitted by EJZ on June 24, 2018, 9:32am I couldn't make it past the first 50 pages. I felt the dialogue was extremely unnatural, and I found it impossible to relate to the self-obsessed main character. The "what if" premise is perhaps interesting, but it's one of those books that just doesn't read well enough to get into.