Customer Reviews

My Indian Boyhood

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Being written for young people, Standing Bear's account of his Lakota childhood is necessarily sanitized and romanticized. Its focus is on the domestic life of his people. Mention is often made of the courage of the warriors but there is no description of any military action. An incident is related of an enemy warrior stumbling into the village. We are told that he was well treated and quickly released. It is hard to believe that that was typical treatment of an enemy. Similarly, the more adult themes of courtship and sexuality are largely ignored. What we are left with is a treasure trove of homely detail: how cooking was accomplished in the absence of metal pots, how the boys caught turtles in the creek, what games they played. This is the very warp and weft of everyday life that gets left out of the broad-sweep histories that concentrate on great battles and famous lives.

Standing Bear may not always be totally reliable, any more than any other commentator - for example, his account of leather tanning, which was strictly women's work, did not quite ring true for me. (Not that I have ever tanned a buffalo hide - I just doubt it can be done in quite the way he describes). All the same this remains an essential work, packed full as it is of fascinating detail, for anyone interested in understanding the lifestyle of the Sioux, and is a perfect gift for a youngster who expresses an interest in American Indians.

If you want your children to have an increased respect for and understanding of other cultures, read this book to them. It has nothing in it that would be inappropriate for them to hear. There is no discussion of battle or even hatred toward others.

Chief Luther Standing Bear describes what his life was like growing up as a young Lakota boy. He does more than just paint a picture, he shares about what he learned at an early age that prepared native children for life. Each chapter focuses on a different skill, describing it enough to at least make a reader curious, if not wanting to actually go out and try it. You learn, for example, how long your arrows should be and what kind of wood to make a bow out of. You read about learning to ride a pony and how to perfect your aim by flinging rocks with a stick.

The stories may make your children question whether our lives today are actually better or if being stuck with computers for toys is a step down.

Chief Standing Bear's greatest achievement was chasing down and killing a young buffalo by himself. I was amazed and it was easy to appreciate his father's pride in his achievement. But then the book wraps up very abruptly when the white people came to take the Lakota children away to school.

The life of an Indian boy would never be the same and nothing could have painted this sad picture more beautifully.