Lost Bird of Wounded Knee PB

I love when a book is so good I can't stop thinking about it when I'm away from it. This book was like that for me. I couldn't wait to get back to reading to find out what happened to these people. It was fascinating to read of their encounters with history, but so sad to learn of their human mistakes. Anyway, I learned much and enjoy the book very much.

I am an avid reader. Few books have had the power to stir my emotions, as much as this one. The tragedy of Lost Bird and all she stood for are so compelling that now, two years later, I can still recall the power that this book had for me. The story of Lost Bird is not just the biography of an unlucky woman. It also recalls the tragedy of Native American history and the consequences that flowed from it, directly affecting Lost Bird. If I could find other biographies or memoirs as vivid & memorising as this one, I would like any readers out there to let me know.

Words not enough to decribe this book: the true review manifests itself as a bruise to your heart and soul. Heartbreaking and eye-opening - A MUST READ!

The Massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890 is a shameful piece of our history. This book is a description of what happened to one infant survivor of that horrible day and the woman, Clara Colby, who tried to raise that child, Lost Bird. Readers will shudder at what happened to Lost Bird, including the fact that she had been taken in by a loving Lakota family after the massacre, only to be ripped from familiar arms by General Colby to take home as a prize. One will be torn between what might have been best for the girl and what the well-meaning and kind Mrs. Colby did for her, given the circumstances. Renee Flood tackles the two ideas that it is wrong to raise a child of Native American heritage as a white because of inherent natures and because raising a child of dark skin produces racist tendencies in those of lighter skin who come in contact with the child. For example, Lost Bird did not get along with white children her own age partly because she was so sheltered, but mostly because the children teased her about being Indian. She was not allowed to be with the African Americans either, although this was her choice, because they were "beneath her." This only led her to believe that dark-skinned people, Native Americans included, were "bad." Another facet of this book is that it describes much of the Woman's Suffragist movement and goes into great detail about Clara Colby's role, as well as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Renee Flood has great sympathy for her subject and was instrumental in getting Lost Bird's remains brought from Califonia and reburied at Wounded Knee with a magnificent granite tombstone, where she joins the others buried in a mass grave dating back to 1890. Flood is an excellent and accurate historian who humanizes a sad story.

Tells the true story of the expioitation of a proud nation of people by those bent on their own desires. Tells of the need of understanding between cultures of people and their need to live their lives peacefully. An outstanding history that everyone should read. Spiritual in quality.