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While the Locust Slept: A Memoir (Native Voices) Paperback – September 1, 2002

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Peter Razor (Author)
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Peter Razor (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars 18 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Series: Native Voices
  • Paperback: 200 pages
  • Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press; 1 edition (September 1, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0873514394
  • ISBN-13: 978-0873514392
  • Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1.3 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #194,924 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starswhile the locust slept
By George Robinson on November 3, 2001
Format: Hardcover
Like Peter I lived and went through total hell from a matron while I was in the same orphanage. After reading Peters book while the locust slept,I relived the same anger, as Peter indured.This book should be a must read by anyone,who plans on going into the socialwork field and know that this is truly a non fiction tragedy which happened.This is a story that took place a long time ago,but could still and does happen today.
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5.0 out of 5 starsWonderful book by a wonderful man
By Mark Cooley on September 5, 2004
Format: Hardcover
I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Razor while on a trip to Cochiti Lake, New Mexico. After talking for a while he passed me a copy of his book and asked me to read it and then share it with others. I read the book cover-to-cover on the trip home and was amazed that the man I had talked to had once been the little boy in the book. Mr. Razor was a kind and gentle man that never revealed the scars from his childhood in any part of our conversations. America's inhumane treatment of the Indian people is well documented. This book offers graphic descriptions of individual cruelty that was fueled by ignorance and prejudice. I don't know if many human beings could have endured this sort of trauma and survived to be so kind. Peter is a truly incredible person and I would recommend his book to anyone.
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5.0 out of 5 starsA Stirring Memoir of a Native American Child Raised by the State
By A. Hay on September 20, 2007
Format: Paperback
This is a chilling, true-life account of a childhood that should have never been, and 17 years of life that would forever haunt the author, Peter Razor. Peter, an intelligent boy that was raised in an orphanage as a ward of the state, then placed in an abusive indentured farm home had a childhood that is reprehensible, and sadly true. Supposedly protected by the state, Peter became a boy who flinched from physical contact, and had no understanding of what a normal happy home should be like. Unlike Peter Razor, not all children were lucky enough to survive the abuse that could be found in state orphanages when Peter was growing up. Corporal punishment went unchecked, and Peter, an American Indian, also had the added disadvantage of prejudice thrown in. Eventually placed on a farm, his placement was not carefully monitored, and the abusive treatment with this family was never noted by the social worker who was suppose to be monitoring Peter's placement. While the Locust Slept, a Minnesota Book Award Winner, is a compelling, well written tale that reads like a novel, yet is sadly a true tale of a horrific childhood that was unchecked by the state that was suppose to be protecting him
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5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent, true story about the abuse and mistreatment of ...
By Grandma Jo on February 14, 2016
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Excellent, true story about the abuse and mistreatment of a child in an orphanage. It makes the reader understand that this type of treatment and abuse did actually happen. It was so nice that a good and caring family finally became connected with Peter. It meant more to me as the reader because I grew up in the same area of the country and also knew the Klug family who he was finally connected with and was treated very well.
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4.0 out of 5 starsVery Important Memoir of Early Native American's
By Jay Gilbertson on March 29, 2011
Format: Hardcover
While the Locust Slept
by Peter Razor

Book Review by Jay Gilbertson

This memoir will take your breath away. Not because the writing is filled with color and nuance, but the sheer brutality of the story is simply devastating. As with most books, this one chose me. Now it haunts me. At first I ran from the thought of even trying to give this story a voice and yet I feel it's powerful and very pertinent.

Peter Razor was born with a grey cloud over his life that would follow him like an invisible chain-and-ball for a long time. He was from the Fond du Lac band of Minnesota Chippewas, his father served in the First World War and never worked again; he drank. When the state social services ruled that his mother suffered from confusion, they sent her to an asylum at St. Peter. Razor's father abandoned him and he eventually became a ward of the state; he was seventeen months old.

One of the main reasons that I didn't give up on his compelling account is because there is very little written about this. We have very few accounts of this particular stage in our history and especially the local tribes in particular. Razor's work deserves to be read, it needs to be.

"I walked through weeds on the playground to see grasshoppers of all sizes leap and fly. When they settled, I watched them watching me. One, I learned, the one the boys called locust, slept seventeen years in darkness before soaring into the summer light."

A great deal of Razor's historical information is filled in with bits and pieces of actual verbiage from case files he was able to locate after a great deal of searching.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsWhile The Locust Slept
By Char on October 8, 2012
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Wonderfully written! If anyone wants to hear the real story about how children were really treated at the State School in Owatonna MN this is a great example of how just one child was treated. It is a great book to read. As a former child protection worker, it is a good example of why children are better off staying with their families when at all possible.
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5.0 out of 5 starsTragedy and horific treatment of innocent babies & children!
By Jan L. Richards on October 9, 2001
Format: Hardcover
My father as well was in the Owatonna "orphanage" which he termed as an "intournment camp/prison"! Babies and children were treated more tragically at this place than you could even imagine. Babies died for lack of "touch" and nurturing! Children were beaten, mauled, and oftentimes died as a result of such treatment. Peter Razor cites an insightfully true story of just SOME of the horific experiences of babies and children in this most insightful book on our country's past (AND EVEN PRESENT) ways of "Social Services" treating our "lost" children!! A MUST TO READ!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsamazing story that proves there is light at the end of the tunnel

a great book with a moving story that most of our nation is unaware of. it brings out the ugly truths of our history and what society was really like towards native americans.

Published 5 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsOrphanages

Another historical book that opens your eyes.

Published 9 months ago by Rosemary Walker
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

great writing.......

Published 13 months ago by gggeneva
5.0 out of 5 starsHeartbreaking in its intensity!

Poignant and sadly sobering. The treatment of orphaned children and especially those who were of native American descent is deeply disturbing.

Published 13 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

very good book on the orphanage in Owatonna MN.

Published 20 months ago by Jody Nechanicky
3.0 out of 5 starsLocal auther

Purchased the book because it is written by a local author. He was visiting our community and wanted to read it. Great story about his early life.

Published on January 3, 2014 by Minnesota
5.0 out of 5 starsCompelling personal story of survival

Once I started reading I could not stop. So well written and reflective. An important part of the history of the Minnesota State Public School for Dependent and Neglected Children. Read more

Published on December 20, 2013 by Anne Peterson
5.0 out of 5 starsabsolutely heartbreaking and inspiring!

Razors story touched my heart and at times I felt sick reading it- all the while rooting for a boy who was never given a chance. Read more

Published on November 4, 2013 by Nichole
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat book!

Great book and quick read. I actually live in the county that this book takes place in after the main character is "adopted" from the orphanage. Read more

Published on September 13, 2013 by Wyoming
5.0 out of 5 starsWow!

While the Locust Slept was a truly insightful book. Recently visited the Owatonna site and had to buy this book. Read more

Published on January 13, 2013 by Pattie J. Diamond

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