Grandmother's Grandchild: My Crow Indian Life (American Indian Lives) (Paperback)

by Alma Hogan Snell (Author), Becky Matthews (Editor), Peter Nabokov (Preface) "Pretty Shield was my mother's mother..." (more)
Key Phrases: sun lodge, ant pile, elk teeth, Pretty Shield, Goes Ahead, Crow Agency (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"This autobiographical work is at heart the story of a special relationship that existed between the author and her grandmother, Crow medicine woman Pretty Shield. The older woman . . . raised her granddaughter to appreciate the traditions and values of a vanishing culture. In adulthood, Snell would become a preservationist of the Crow philosophy of life and a healer who combined basic Christian teachings with native respect for and understanding of the power of nature. She writes with disarming honesty about the obstacles she encountered, including poverty, illness, . . . and unwed motherhood."-Library Journal (Library Journal )

"Her remarkable life story includes an enduring love affair enriched by pathos, traveling evangelism, a career with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a period of activism, life on several reservations, and emergence as a cultural teacher. Her candor and willingness to describe intimate facets of Crow culture is unique in the literature."-Choice (Choice )

"What drives this book is not so much dramatic external events but visions of an interconnected cosmos."-Booklist (Booklist )

Product Description

“I became what the Crows call káalisbaapite—a ‘grandmother’s grandchild.’ That means that I was always with my Grandma, and I learned from her. I learned how to do things in the old ways.”—Alma Hogan Snell

 

Grandmother's Grandchild is the remarkable story of Alma Hogan Snell, a Crow woman brought up by her grandmother, the famous medicine woman Pretty Shield. Snell grew up during the 1920s and 1930s, part of the second generation of Crows to be born into reservation life. Like many of her contemporaries, she experienced poverty, personal hardships, and prejudice and left home to attend federal Indian schools.

 

What makes Snell's story particularly engaging is her exceptional storytelling style. She is frank and passionate, and these qualities yield a memoir unlike those of most Native women. The complex reservation world of Crow women—harsh yet joyous, impoverished yet rich in meaning—unfolds for readers. Snell's experiences range from the forging of an unforgettable bond between grandchild and grandmother to the flowering of an extraordinary love story that has lasted more than five decades.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 215 pages
• Publisher: Bison Books (September 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803292910
• ISBN-13: 978-0803292918
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #353,001 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So good I had to read it twice!, March 24, 2000

By	Libby Burk (North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grandmother's Grandchild: My Crow Indian Life (American Indian Lives) (Hardcover)

Grandmother's Grandchild,Alma Snell, shares memories of one of the first recorded Female Indian Elders..Pretty Shield. Pretty Shield was written about in the 1930's when women were too often overlooked. Pretty Shield saw the buffalo leave and the reservations begin. Alma shares the experience of making the transition to Reservation life with Pretty Shield by her side. This book is a refreshing and deeply personal life story that manages to state facts without undertones of judgement. BEAUTIFUL! READ IT!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Understanding Indian Culture and Traditions, April 16, 2001

By	Phyllis MacMillan (Helena, Montana United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grandmother's Grandchild: My Crow Indian Life (American Indian Lives) (Hardcover)

A wonderful book! While much of the poverty and oppression of Indian people is painful to read, one can see the wonderful connections between families in Ms. Snell's book. The love and care for Indian children by extended families is probably one of the greatest reasons the Indian people and traditions have survived. We in the "dominate culture" could learn much to change the disintigration of American families by learning more about Native American people.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The old and the new, July 23, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Grandmother's Grandchild: My Crow Indian Life (American Indian Lives) (Hardcover)

I truly enjoyed this book. It was written in plain language and seemed very personable to me. It is a true story about Alma's life growing up on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana and how she was deeply influenced by her grandmother Pretty Shield who taught Alma the old ways...she was a grandmother's grandchild. Pretty Shield was pretty smart I think. She had an appreciation for the natural world not seen too much anymore in our modern lives. I found these "old ways" interesting. This has influenced Alma for sure and she is able to reconcile this as well as the hardships of life with her deep Christian beliefs. God Bless you too Alma!