Customer Reviews

Singing an Indian Song: A Biography of D'Arcy McNickle (American Indian Lives)

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I first became familiar with D'Arcy McNickle through his two novels-The Surrounded and Wind from an Enemy Sky. I did not know that despite his lack of a college degree, he was also a respected anthropologist; he was the right-hand-man to John Collier during his tenure as head of the BIA; he was asked to chair the new Anthropology Dept. at a University; and he was instrumental in organizing some of the programs which led to the pan-Indian movement and activism of the seventies.

Dorothy Parker does a very good job of covering the life of this fascinating and highly respected man. While she had ample information to draw from regarding his professional life, there was scant information regarding his personal life. Even though McNickle kept a diary and wrote many letters during his lifetime, he made little reference to his personal relationships. Happily Parker respects this. Certainly a life that included two failed marriages and a possible affair, not to mention estrangement from his nuclear family, might have led other authors to go "digging for dirt." Instead Parker engages in some slight speculation, simply to flesh things out, but she does not dwell on these aspects.

If there is a fault here, however, it is that Parker perhaps focuses too much on the positive. For example, one would wonder why a person who tried to represent Indians in a White world would not have had some doubts regarding the Indian Reorganiztion Act, or some questions as to the way it was implemented. Also, while McNickle became known as an authority on Indian issues, he actually spent very little time living as an Indian. He basically went from the boarding school into a life of government work, and spent very little time on the reservation. While this does not necessarily detract from his accomplishments, I would have liked Parker to address these issues more.

Over all,however, this is a book worth reading, both for the way it is written, and the person it is about.