American Indian Stories

A groundbreaking Lakota author and activist chronicles her refusal to assimilate into 19th century white society and her mission to preserve her culture.

A groundbreaking Dakota author and activist chronicles her refusal to assimilate into nineteenth-century white society and her mission to preserve her culture-with an introduction by Layli Long Soldier, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award forWhereas

Bright and carefree, Zitkala-Sa grows up on the Yankton Sioux reservation in South Dakota with her mother until Quaker missionaries arrive, offering the reservation’s children a free education. The catch- They must leave their parents behind and travel to Indiana. Curious about the world beyond the reservation, Zitkala-Sa begs her mother to let her go-and her mother, aware of the advantages that an education offers, reluctantly agrees.

But the missionary school is not the adventure that Zitkala-Sa expected- The school is a strict one, her long hair is cut short, and only English is spoken. She encounters racism and ridicule. Slowly, Zitkala-Sa adapts to her environment-excelling at her studies, winning prizes for essay-writing and oration. But the price of success is estrangement from her cultural roots-and is it one she is willing to pay?

Combining Zitkala-Sa’s childhood memories, her short stories, and her poetry, American Indian Stories is the origin story of an activist in the making, a remarkable woman whose extraordinary career deserves wider recognition.

The Modern LibraryTorchbearersseries features women who wrote on their own terms, with boldness, creativity, and a spirit of resistance.