DANCE BACK THE BUFFALO

by Milton Lott ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 15, 1959

This extends the canvas of The Last Hunt (Houghton, Mifflin Literary Fellowship Novel, 1954) to cover a period from August, 1889, to December, 1890, at the Arrow Creek Indian reservation during which the tribe's life blood is dissipated in its adoption of the Ghost Dance which is to signal the return of the land to the Indians and the freedom from white supervision. Westland Roberts, artist and Indian student, earns the respect of Turning Hawk, his son Crazy Walking, and their descendant, blind, deaf Little Wound. He is the means, too, of releasing Leah from the domination of her preacher husband, Martin, whose mission to stamp out paganism among the Indians is the cause of insecurity brought about by those same pagans' rituals and traditions. In a series of linked episodes, Crazy Walking, who has had Christian training outside, reverts to his old Indian beliefs, loses his older son and his baby daughters and offers himself in death as a token of his race. Leah and Martin lose their daughter and, while Leah grows in fellowship with the tribe, Martin, repelled and attracted, perverts his own religion in failing to show tolerance for that of his charges. After a cattle ride, which stimulates a buffalo hunt, and the mounting hysteria of the Ghost Dance that is sparked by the lack of supplies for the Indians, the massacre, on the part of white soldiers, that follows is the finale for the Indians -- and a future for Roberts, Leah, Little Wound -- and an orphaned Indian baby. A documentary, this is admirable in its precise annotations of Indian customs, beliefs and practices, in its feeling for the drama and tragedy of the conflict of red and white races, -- but the ability for all of this does not hold steady on the whole story line. Sociologically, culturally and racially of interest, this may be too absorbed in its subject for wide popular appeal.

Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1959

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Houghton, Mifflin

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1959

Categories: FICTION