Review by Choice Review
A thoughtful, well-balanced biography of a Native American leader can improve cross-cultural understanding by presenting the human side of events, but this is not the case with Robinson's depiction of the Kiowa leader Satanta. Instead, Robinson presents a one-sided, shallow account based on the records of men who despised or feared Indians. Examining how Satanta and other Native leaders were depicted by non-Indians would be instructive, but Robinson's goal was, as he says in the introduction, to sort through conflicting accounts to find the facts about Satanta's life. Unfortunately for Satanta, Robinson relies on military documents, newspapers, and other non-Indian accounts as sources. There is no attempt to present a Kiowa point of view. None of the highly regarded writers of Kiowa history, including Pulitzer Prize winner N. Scott Momaday, are mentioned in the bibliography, nor does the author consider the possibility that the Kiowas were fighting for their lands and families and that they had been wronged by broken agreements. Without the Kiowa perspective, Satanta is depicted in classic, stereotypical ways as a man who could not be trusted, who kidnapped and killed indiscriminately, and deserved imprisonment. This book should not be considered a definitive work on Satanta. M. J. Schneider University of North Dakota
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
