The Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge: A Lakota Odyssey [Hardcover]

Joseph Starita (Author), Joe Starita (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1995

Told through the voices of one family--the Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge, South Dakota--the true story of Lakota Sioux life chronicles four generations from Little Bighorn to Desert Storm on a journey of lost and reclaimed cultural identity.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

From his nursing home in South Dakota, 96-year-old Guy Dull Knife Sr., the oldest surviving member of the Dull Knife family to be profiled in this fascinating Sioux (also known as Lakota) history, says, "I was born in 1899 in a log house, but my father was born in a tipi.... The tipi was in the shape of a circle and in the middle of the tipi there was always a campfire. This, too, was in the shape of a circle. In the summers, when the Sioux from all over the Dakotas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana would gather for the Sun Dance, the tipis in the villages would always be arranged in a circle. The circle was our symbol. It was a holy symbol that helped to remind us that we were connected to everything else." In the tradition of Native American storytelling, many of the tales in this five-generation odyssey have been passed down from father to son through word of mouth. Joe Starita, an award-winning investigative journalist, fills in the gaps with more than a century's worth of family documents and archival historical material.

In the latter part of the 19th century, Chief Dull Knife led his followers through some of the most brutal and ruthless battles between the white man and the Indians. His son George Dull Knife settled into reservation life and went on to join Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. From his nursing home, George's son, Guy Dull Knife Sr., the sole living Sioux World War I veteran, retells the tales of his youth and family history in his native Lakota tongue. His son Guy Dull Knife Jr., a Vietnam vet and self-taught sculptor, is trying to keep the ways of his native people alive for his children and future generations. Although Sioux women are said to have played important roles in the survival of tribal traditions and culture, this volume primarily focuses on the male members of not only the Dull Knife family, but the tribe to which they are inextricably tied.

From Publishers Weekly

Much of the proud and painful history of Native Americans involves Lakota chiefs like Red Cloud and Crazy Horse, and conflicts in both the distant and recent past at Wounded Knee. Former Miami Herald reporter Starita sensitively illuminates Lakota history through one remarkable family. Dominating the book is patriarch Guy Dull Knife Sr., born in 1899 and revered as the oldest living member of his people. Guy's forebears endured displacement, government deception and war; once enclosed on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, they endured the suppression of their language, culture and religion. Guy's relatives told him of the 1890 Wounded Knee massacre; his father toured Europe with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show, removed from his people's problems. Guy's own story begins about halfway through the book; it includes cultural resistance to assimilation, service in WWI, marriage to a staunch woman and politics at Pine Ridge. His son, Guy Dull Knife Jr., grew up with rock 'n' roll and endured Vietnam, returning to find himself involved in even more danger: the American Indian Movement's battle against corrupt leadership at the reservation. Now Guy Jr. sculpts statues that reflect his people's history and culture. A memorable American story. Photos. BOMC and History Book Club selections.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 388 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult; First Edition edition (1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399140107
• ISBN-13: 978-0399140105
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,228,042 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible!, December 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge: A Lakota Odyssey (Paperback)

This book had me glued to it's pages .I was raised by a Lakota and this book reflects on the state of native americans in this country today and backs it up with the history to explain why.A must read if you want to "get inside" what has REALLY happened in this country to a race of people who almost were completely exterminated because of their advanced social ideals colliding with the morally bankrupt european "civilization" which at the time was barely out of the dark ages so much so in fact that when the colonists revolted they spouted Iroquois political ideals which were and still are more advanced than any idea the european mind has ever had .

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Being a Lakota, July 19, 2002

By 

Munir "ahmad" (Cerritos, California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge: A Lakota Odyssey (Paperback)

I would never have read this book had I not been assigned a project dealing with Chief Dull Knife's death march from Indian Territory. I picked it up and got plenty of information about that historical event. Reading on, I discovered a great deal more.
In addition to tracing four generations of Dull Knifes, this book is one of the most comprehensive and attractive histories of the Lakota people ever. It covers almost everything -from the battle of the Little Big Horn to the upsurge of Indian pride following the siege of Wounded Knee. Though I had read bits and pieces about them before, I was able to form a more integrated picture of the Sioux after reading this book. Often suppressed and today among the poorest groups in America, the Lakotas have held onto and passed down the beauty and resilience of their culture- like the Dull Knife who wore a medicine bundle into Vietnam and Sioux women favoring herbs and blossoms over shampoo. This spirit even shows in the narrative's fresh, confident feel.
The book also offers a glimpse at the personality of Dewey Beard, the last survivor of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, who died in 1959 and was a friend of the Dull Knife family.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars American Indian History, August 5, 2003

By 

David M. Sapadin (Naperville, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge: A Lakota Odyssey (Paperback)

From the perspective of two generations of Dull Knifes (Guy Sr. and Jr.) the reader is given a 5-generation perspective on just about every important challenge faced by the Lakota/Oglala Sioux and Northern Cheyenne. There is more impact in reading this story than from reading a history book because these are real people telling their real stories which keeps within the Indian tradition of oral history. Most important, is the theme of resistance/persistence which runs throughout this history into the present day, emphasized by the obvious - 5 generations of Dull Knifes and still going. Highly recommended.