Sacajawea : Her True Story [Paperback]

Rich Haney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 22, 2000

Even prior to the ubiquitous 2000 Sacajawea Dollar Coin, the Shoshoni girl was already, by far, the most memorialized female in American history. As the U. S. Government says on its U. S. Mint Website, "More statues, streams, lakes, landmarks, parks, songs, ballads and poems honor this young woman than any other woman in American history. Without Sacajawea's navigational, diplomatic and translating skills, the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition would have perished." Yet, controversy still rages as to whether she died in 1812 in South Dakota or in 1884 in Wyoming. And where is she buried, South Dakota or Wyoming. This book answers those questions by validating the Oral or Traditional History of her own people, the Shoshones, and explains why many white historians, including Ken Burns and Steven Ambrose, are wrong concerning the death and the burial spot of America's greatest and most beloved female icon.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"SACAJAWEA: Her True Story" is, I believe, a very important and very topical book. It is important because, better than anything that has gone before, it validates the Shoshoni version of Sacajawea's death, which took place in the pre-dawn of April 9th, 1884, on Wyoming's Wind River Reservation (which remains the only place she has ever been buried). However, many white historians to this day maintain that Sacajawea died in 1812 in South Dakota and this includes recent misinformation widely promoted by, perhaps, America's two highest profile historians -- Ken Burns and Steven Ambrose. Rich Haney, who has avidly studied Sacajawea and her Shoshoni people for forty years, felt compelled to set the record straight and, in doing so, explain how and why noted historians such as Burns and Ambrose settled on an egregious mistake concerning when and where Sacajawea died and where she is buried. The topical nature of Mr. Haney's book, released in Feburary of 2000, is quite apparent. Already, without doubt, Sacajawea is the most honored and memorialized female in America's history but, certainly, her greatest memorial is her depiction on the 2000 Golden Dollar Coin, which the U. S. Government is determined to make the most ubiquitous and most famous coin in the world. A billion of the coins have been printed and will officially be released, with unprecedented fanfare, in March, 2000. But already, in Feburary, Wal-Mart is releasing 100,000,000 of the coins and another unprecedented government promotion with General Mills will release countless more in Cheerios and other cereal boxes. So, the Golden Dollar Coin, bearing the image of Sacajawea, will surely add enormously to her fame; and, for heavens sake, she was already, by far, the most memorialized female in American history! Mr. Haney's book, to my mind, is vastly important because it totally convinced me, and will convince others, that, at age 96, Sacajawea died on Wyoming's Wind River Reservation on April 9th, 1884 -- not in South Dakota in 1812. And I truly believe it is important for Americans to know where the most honored female in America's history is buried. Wyoming's governor, Wyoming's two senators and Wyoming's sole member of the U. S. House of Representatives all read the galley of this book and all four of them heartily support it. I have lived all four decades of my life in Wyoming; I own and manage five Laramie business; I am a university computer teacher and I have recently been elected to the Albany County School Board. Therefore, I believe that Wyoming and American history should be as accurate and as informative as possible; and, therefore, I believe firmly in the accuracy of Rich Haney's new book, SACAJAWEA: Her True Story. -- Debbie Hinkel; Laramie, Wyoming

SACAJAWEA: Her True Story is a stunning new book. It is a beautifully written and starkly documented biography... -- Betsy Barrett, Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia

About the Author

Appropriate author biography has been sent to Amazon by the publisher, Xllibris Corporation, and is included in the pre-order listing under books concerning "Sacajawea."

Product Details

• Paperback: 159 pages
• Publisher: Xlibris Corp; 1 edition (January 22, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738814016
• ISBN-13: 978-0738814018
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,324,129 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The definitive Sacajawea book., March 27, 2000

By 

Linda Brown (Richmond, Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sacajawea : Her True Story (Paperback)

I've had SACAJAWEA: Her True Story for a day-and-a-half and I've read it twice. I've known her to be the most memorialized female in American history and my interest has been expanded because now her image is on the very ubiquitous Year 2000 Golden Dollar Coin. But historians have muddled my mind because about half of them claim she died in 1812 in South Dakota and the other half claim she died in 1884 in Wyoming. And where is she buried? Better than anything that has gone before, Mr. Haney's book, complete with eighteen pages of footnotes and documentations, answers those questions to my satisfaction. Therefore, this summer I plan to visit her grave on Wyoming's Wind River Reservation, the only place she has been buried since she died on April 9th, 1884. In addition to its historical importance, I believe that Mr. Haney's new book is easily the most loving portrait of Sacajawea that I have ever read. I also agree with him that she deserves every memorial that has ever been dedicated to her, including the new Golden Dollar Coin.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anonymous in Norwalk Needs an Editor, not Rich Haney!, October 14, 2000

By 

Kathy (Jacksonville, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sacajawea : Her True Story (Paperback)

I've been enchanted with Sacajawea for forty years, all my adult life. I am now enchanted with Rich Haney's book SACAJAWEA: Her True Story, which I think is the definitive book regarding the very important questions of when she died and where she is buried. Most people, it seems, agree with me and with Mr. Haney's conclusions that she died in 1884 and is buried on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming and that is was another Shoshoni, Otter Woman, that died in 1812 in South Dakota...[T]he very first two sentences of Mr. Haney's book, the Prologue, states very plainly: "This in not an attempt to tell Sacajawea's story in chronological order, because the basic facts have been enumerated many times across two centuries. Rather, I endeavor to elaborate on the reasons many white historians erroneously maintain that she died in 1812 at Fort Manuel in South Dakota, although her Shoshoni people rightfully claim she died in 1884 on Wyoming's Wind River Reservation, her final resting place." With that defining parameter, Mr. Haney successfully separates his book from all other Sacajawea books, most of which have merely added to the mystery as to when Sacajawea died and where she is buried. Mr. Haney, better than any other Sacajawea biographer, clears up that mystery by starkly corroborating the Oral/Traditional History of the Shoshones with a plethora of documentation from the white world, including the testimony of people such as the U. S. Government's investigator, Dr. Charles Eastman; John Roberts, the preacher who knew her and buried her; Mormons who interacted closely with the Shoshones; and a bevy of white people who lived and/or worked on the Wind River Reservation during the years Sacajawea lived and died there. At the same time, Mr. Haney minutely points out how and why many white historians, including Stephen Ambrose, mistook Otter Woman's death at Fort Manuel in 1812 as being the death of Sacajawea. To pull this off, Mr. Haney, as he outlined in the Prologue, reviewed various accounts of Sacajawea's life, explaining where those accounts were similar and where they differed and then discussing the nuances before proving that, essentially, the Shoshones themselves have been totally correct in unwaveringly mandating Sacajawea's life and death. The "repetitive" style, complete with an astute explanation of how the nuances agreed or disagreed with the Shoshones, is exactly what convinced me that Sacajawea's own people indeed know exactly when she died -- April 9th, 1884 -- and exactly where she is buried, on the Wind River Reservation. ...Mr. Haney vividly explains the cultures of the Plains Indians -- which included repeated raids by rival tribes to raid Shoshoni villages for the express purpose of capturing Shoshoni girls... Mr. Haney's version of Sacajawea's reaction to being captured precisely parallels the views of the Plains Indians, as he documents. ...I've read the book three times and ...discovered... only beautifully written, markedly lucid sentences. By contrast, any "editor" would find Anonymous's sentences replete with "rough grammar" and misspelled words. Anonymous, for example, spells "when" as "whan." Also, Anonymous obviously doesn't know much about Sacajawea. He/she, for example, confuses "Fort Mandan" with Fort Manuel concerning where Otter Woman died. Well, Mr. Haney obviously does know more than a little bit about Sacajawea, including when she died and where she is buried. I believe...Mr. Haney's refreshing and insightful biography of America's most memorialized female. ...I am not Anonymous in Jacksonville, Florida.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The definitive Sacajawea book., May 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Sacajawea : Her True Story (Paperback)

The Year 2000 Golden Dollar Coin rekindled my interest in Sacajawea and in discussing it with a friend I was informed of Rich Haney's new book entitled SACAJAWEA: Her True Story. I exerted some effort to secure a copy and I now prize it like no other. Beautifully written and superbly documented, I believe it is a vastly important book that, to my satisfaction, delineates 1884 and the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming as the time and place of Sacajawea's death, and the time and place of her burial. I had been skeptical of claims by noted historians such as Steven Ambrose and Ken Burns that Sacajawea died in 1812 in South Dakota, and Rich Haney does the best job of challening that fallacy. And whether Sacajawea died in 1812 or in 1884, and where she is buried, is, I think vastly important. After all, she was already by far the most memorialized female in American history, even prior to the Year 2000 Golden Dollar Coin that will forever bear her image. This little book is a treasure for both Sacajawea and history buffs, like me.