76th out of 3,140 books
—
13,772 voters
One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd
by
Jim Fergus
One Thousand White Women is the story of May Dodd and a colorful assembly of pioneer women who, under the auspices of the U.S. government, travel to the western prairies in 1875 to intermarry among the Cheyenne Indians. The covert and controversial "Brides for Indians" program, launched by the administration of Ulysses S. Grant, is intended to help assimilate the Indians i...more
Paperback, 302 pages
Published
February 15th 1999
by St. Martin's Griffin
(first published January 1st 1998)
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Dear May Dodd,
I received your letter of 20 January 1876, accompanied by portions of your journal, and, in short, I'm not falling for it. They sound like they were written sometime in the 1990s, and probably by a man. While I found many reasons to come to this conclusion, the biggest giveaways were your obsession with penis size and the fact that your signature was followed by an AOL e-mail address.
Sincerely,
Disgruntled Reader
OK, that was a bit harsh and if for some reason Mr. Fergus is reading t...more
I received your letter of 20 January 1876, accompanied by portions of your journal, and, in short, I'm not falling for it. They sound like they were written sometime in the 1990s, and probably by a man. While I found many reasons to come to this conclusion, the biggest giveaways were your obsession with penis size and the fact that your signature was followed by an AOL e-mail address.
Sincerely,
Disgruntled Reader
OK, that was a bit harsh and if for some reason Mr. Fergus is reading t...more
This is somewhat erroneously in my "read" shelf. I did not finish reading it, so keep that in mind as far as this review goes. I applaud the author's project - historical fiction disguised as history proper (I tend to love things like that), it is a well-researched story told via the faux journals of a 19th-century white woman who went to live among the Cherokee. My problem with this book is essentially that I did not ever buy the voice in which it is told - this problem has two tiers: First, it...more
I like historical fiction. I appreciate writers who take the time to research their stories well. I like to think that I'm catching up on some of the history I missed as the same time as enjoying a good read. I like journals and memoirs. And I jump at the chance to see history from the perspective of those who are usually written out of the history books. So I was quite enthusiastic when I heard about this novel which is written in the form of the journal of a nineteenth-century Yankee woman liv...more
Quite a good read.
From Booklist, by Grace Fill
An American western with a most unusual twist, this is an imaginative fictional account of the participation of May Dodd and others in the controversial "Brides for Indians" program, a clandestine U.S. government^-sponsored program intended to instruct "savages" in the ways of civilization and to assimilate the Indians into white culture through the offspring of these unions. May's personal journals, loaded with humor and intelligent reflection, de...more
From Booklist, by Grace Fill
An American western with a most unusual twist, this is an imaginative fictional account of the participation of May Dodd and others in the controversial "Brides for Indians" program, a clandestine U.S. government^-sponsored program intended to instruct "savages" in the ways of civilization and to assimilate the Indians into white culture through the offspring of these unions. May's personal journals, loaded with humor and intelligent reflection, de...more
Sep 13, 2007
MacDuff
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone who can overlook history
Shelves:
booksreadin2007
This book was really disappointing.
The premise begins with a re-telling of the proposed "Brides for Indians" pact that went on in 1854, when a whole host of Cheyenne Native Americans came into DC and asked for 1000 white women to take back to the prairie. Their idea was that by impregnating the women, they'd put the Native American seed into Caucasian culture and thus assimilate it.
Ok, so that never happened. But for Jim Fergus, he lets his imagination roll with the idea that it did. Enter May...more
The premise begins with a re-telling of the proposed "Brides for Indians" pact that went on in 1854, when a whole host of Cheyenne Native Americans came into DC and asked for 1000 white women to take back to the prairie. Their idea was that by impregnating the women, they'd put the Native American seed into Caucasian culture and thus assimilate it.
Ok, so that never happened. But for Jim Fergus, he lets his imagination roll with the idea that it did. Enter May...more
So I liked the entire book, especially the main character. However, I was a bit bummed by the end. And I even had a little trouble figuring out who the characters were in the final pages (lineage). But what a well written book. I had never read a book about Indians, and while I am sure it only scratched the surface of their customs and way of life, it did present a lot of information about them. In the end though, it was ironic that the main character was unable to identify with either the India...more
At a peace conference at Fort Laramie in 1854,a prominet northern Cheyenne Chief requested of the US army the gift of one thousand white women as brides for his young warriors. Although this was an actual historical event,the story of May Dodd and her journals is entirely a work of fiction by the author. The Cheyenne's request was not well received by the white authorities,and the peace conference collapsed and the Cheyenne's were actually sent home. The white women did not go. But in this novel...more
A well written and lively "alter-verse" (if you will) Historical Fiction re-telling of the proposed "Brides for Indians" pact of September 1874, when the heads of the Cheyenne tribes, including Chief Little Wolf (the Sweet Medicine Chief) and others, journeyed to Washington D.C. with a proposal for President Ulysses S. Grant. They presented their plan to give the government one thousand horses in exchange for one thousand white women. Hoping to end the fighting between the white man and Indians...more
The friend who loaned me this book raved about it, and I really trust her opinion. However, I just couldn't love this book. It is an interesting topic-it's based on a true bit of history, when the Native Americans and the U.S. were trying to integrate, and the Native Americans requested 1000 of American white women to help the process and have their children. Of course, Grant turned it down, but this book is a fictional account of what might have been. It was an extremely interesting idea, and I...more
A fascinating look at life among the Cheyenne Indians in 1874 from the perspective of a white woman who is part of a US govt. program to assimilate the natives. The landscape is perfectly described and family and communal life is portrayed in great detail in a supposed journal with accompanying letters and bibliography. It appears to be well researched, but my problem with this kind of historical fiction is always wondering just how much IS true (were the Indians really THAT brutal?) The too-goo...more
5* Rating
If I didn’t know before hand that this book was a work of fiction, it would have been easy to think otherwise.
The Intro:
(1996) by J. Will Dodd, editor in chief of Chicago’s city magazine and great-grandson of the (h) May Dodd, writes very convincingly. Thru the years rumors had circulated within the ‘family’ about the “crazy woman”, born 1850, hospitalized at 23 for a nervous disorder, then died in the asylum in 1876. Ancestral insanity, an embarrassment, was a well kept hidden little...more
If I didn’t know before hand that this book was a work of fiction, it would have been easy to think otherwise.
The Intro:
(1996) by J. Will Dodd, editor in chief of Chicago’s city magazine and great-grandson of the (h) May Dodd, writes very convincingly. Thru the years rumors had circulated within the ‘family’ about the “crazy woman”, born 1850, hospitalized at 23 for a nervous disorder, then died in the asylum in 1876. Ancestral insanity, an embarrassment, was a well kept hidden little...more
First let me say, it seems among GR readers that this book stinks. And I get the criticism, I do. However, I have to say that I found this an enjoyable read.
Yes, the voice of Ms. Dodd, our heroine, protagonist, would be feminist (well sort of pseudo feminist) - does sound more 20th Century and less like a believable 19th Century even 'modern' woman but honestly, it kind of made the book more readable to me. I have no interest in hearing a modern writer trying to trifle through old English in a...more
Yes, the voice of Ms. Dodd, our heroine, protagonist, would be feminist (well sort of pseudo feminist) - does sound more 20th Century and less like a believable 19th Century even 'modern' woman but honestly, it kind of made the book more readable to me. I have no interest in hearing a modern writer trying to trifle through old English in a...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Why did I read this book? Two words: book club.
Yes, after a lifetime of avoiding book clubs, perhaps its fitting that in my latest job one of my tasks is to lead a book club. And guess what the first title is?
On the plus side, it was a quick read. An amalgamation of cliches and trite characters (Noble Native Americans, uptight white people, a former slave who not only sings and dances good but is also the fastest runner in the tribe!), this is a basic tale of 1875, as the last Native Americans w...more
Yes, after a lifetime of avoiding book clubs, perhaps its fitting that in my latest job one of my tasks is to lead a book club. And guess what the first title is?
On the plus side, it was a quick read. An amalgamation of cliches and trite characters (Noble Native Americans, uptight white people, a former slave who not only sings and dances good but is also the fastest runner in the tribe!), this is a basic tale of 1875, as the last Native Americans w...more
I have to agree with several of the previous reviewers... GREAT premise (exchange of 1,000 white women for peace - an offer actually made, but declined by Grant) and interesting insight into Native American culture. However, I had some of the same gripes as previous reviewers. For one, I thought the writing was very mediocre, it was abound with cliches. If the narrator referred to one more person being "rough around the edges" I was going to scream. Not to mention "he made my skin crawl." And, a...more
This book started with an interesting premise: what if 1,000 white women became brides of Cheyenne Indians still living the nomadic life in the 1860s, just before they were forced to live on the reservation.
Strengths: interesting exploration of how people adapt to a completely different culture and way of life.
Weaknesses: 1) Some of the characters come off as stereotypes, the racist southern belle jilted at the altar, the Irish girls who are big drinkers and gamblers, the black runaway slave who...more
Strengths: interesting exploration of how people adapt to a completely different culture and way of life.
Weaknesses: 1) Some of the characters come off as stereotypes, the racist southern belle jilted at the altar, the Irish girls who are big drinkers and gamblers, the black runaway slave who...more
I fear I'm going to be overly harsh on this book. First, this book took me 3 months to read, which is nearly unheard of, especially for ~300 pages. I kept wanting to just stop reading, but I wanted to finish it so I could say I finished it.
The basic story of the book I think is intriguing and could be the basis for a really good book if done correctly. I just think the author missed terribly here. The book is bogged down by dialogue, and crappy dialogue at that. He felt it necessary to write con...more
The basic story of the book I think is intriguing and could be the basis for a really good book if done correctly. I just think the author missed terribly here. The book is bogged down by dialogue, and crappy dialogue at that. He felt it necessary to write con...more
If this book was not assigned to me for my book club, I wouldn't have wasted my time to read it. Not only is Fergus' novel, overly sentimental, historically inaccurate, misogynistic, it is racist towards Native Americans. AND it's all told in my least favorite method of narration: the journal entry. Chapters will often begin with, "So much has happened since my last entry, I don't know where to begin...." This is an easy tool to push time forward, and overdone in poorly written novels.
Fergus' n...more
Fergus' n...more
It's a bodice-ripper! It took me to page 80 to figure that out and then I laughed aloud. Tana recommended it to me, and I usually value her recommendations, but I forgot that this is a genre she finds fun. I was just so disappointed. This book would appeal to those who like the "Outlander" series. There is the heroine who has no faults or failings but who is consistently misunderstood. There are evil characters lurking on the edges, but she feels safe in the arms of a series of fantastic heroes...more
I enjoyed this book and the creative storyline but.... TWO things drove me up a tree - yes, I must play armchair author. I feel terrible criticizing Mr. Fergus in such a trivial manner but my criticisms really took away from my reading experience thus taking away from thoroughly enjoying OTWW. I know, who am I to be so anal I haven't even penned a novel. I am just a humble avid reader that knows exactly what tickles my fancy. Ok, enough rambling on to my two criticisms.
1- I am a stickler for di...more
1- I am a stickler for di...more
1.5 stars.
This is another one of those disappointing books where the idea is really neat and the execution is incredibly bad. The main issue is how flawed the writing of the characters is. For one thing, he seems to confuse people having accents for people having personalities. There are Irish accents, southern accents, German accents. And he WRITES OUT the accents, which is supremely annoying. (He also sporadically writes things in French and then doesn't translate them.) On top of that, there'...more
This is another one of those disappointing books where the idea is really neat and the execution is incredibly bad. The main issue is how flawed the writing of the characters is. For one thing, he seems to confuse people having accents for people having personalities. There are Irish accents, southern accents, German accents. And he WRITES OUT the accents, which is supremely annoying. (He also sporadically writes things in French and then doesn't translate them.) On top of that, there'...more
One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd is a very interesting and original book. In 1854 a Cheyenne chief proposed a plan to exchange 1000 horses for 1000 white brides for his warriors. The plan was rejected, but Fergus basis his fictional novel on a similar situation set in 1875. In the novel, the Cheyenne are promised 1000 white brides, and May Dodd, resident of an insane asylum, is one of the women selected. The character May Dodd was a strong woman and her story was compelling.
187...more
187...more
A fun romp through the west just after the civil war. The characters were really strong women and that was my favorite part; all colorful and independent in spirit. Though written by a man, Jim Fergus has a good perspective on the female psyche. It may have been a little misogynistic in some parts, maybe a brutal attack/rape too many imo, but I enjoyed the book a lot. Parts are true, the Cheyenne did ask President Grant for 1000 white women to help them assimilate into the "American" way, but Gr...more
I am always up for speculative historical fiction in which an author takes an event that didn't happen but writes a book about if it did happen. This is the premise for Roth's Plot Against America in which he asks what if Charles Lindbergh had been elected president. Well in Jim Fergus' One Thousand White Women, Fergus tells the reader of how a Cheyenne chief asked the US government for one thousand white women so that the Americans and Cheyenne could bear children together for the purpose of pe...more
What a remarkable story to read with such a great heroine in May Dodd. This is one fantastic story in journal format that relates the story of a woman who fell in love with the foreman of her father's mill and had two children with the man. For this her family banishes her to an insane asylum on the grounds of mental illness and promiscuity. She was neither mad nor promiscous just fell in love with the guy from the wrong side of the tracks. The US government made the inmates a great offer for th...more
What an odd title for a book. It sounds racist at the same time as it's a very dull description of what the book is about (which is to say, the book is far more interesting than its title).
When book club first selected this book, I was somewhat skeptical about it, since I hadn't heard of the author before, and usually don't read 'historical' fiction of this sort. It's pseudo-autobiographical nature usually would turn me off, but I found myself very immersed in the book, to the point where my fam...more
When book club first selected this book, I was somewhat skeptical about it, since I hadn't heard of the author before, and usually don't read 'historical' fiction of this sort. It's pseudo-autobiographical nature usually would turn me off, but I found myself very immersed in the book, to the point where my fam...more
I keep forgetting to review this book. I think because I'm not quite sure what to make of it. The next time you're browsing in a bookstore pick it up just to read the kick-ass premise in the prologue. You probably don't need to bother with the rest. I didn't find it as trite or cliche as other readers. It's just that you can tell the experiment is doomed from the beginning and the storytelling isn't so revelatory that it's worth investing yourself in the poor characters.
Other thoughts.
1. I did l...more
Other thoughts.
1. I did l...more
The concept of this book is quite intriguing. After the Civil War, the Cheyenne approached President Grant about exchanging 1000 white women for 1000 horses in an attempt to help integrate the two nations, Native Americans and the United States. In reality, the suggestion was turned down. The premise of this novel is that Grant accepted. However, despite an interesting concept, the book just doesn't seem to work. Two aspects bothered me the most: while the narrator May Dodd is described as a fem...more
Although a fiction book, this tale reads as if it were true which is what makes it all the more interesting. It begins after the Civil War at a time when western expansion of the plains was occuring. The government decides to institut an experimental program to help "assimilate" the "Red Menace" into White culture.
The story follows the life of May Dodd through her diaries.
Mary, an unconventional woman, lives "in sin" with a man she loves and has two of his children. Her father, a rich businessm...more
The story follows the life of May Dodd through her diaries.
Mary, an unconventional woman, lives "in sin" with a man she loves and has two of his children. Her father, a rich businessm...more
This is the October Mothers' League book to be discussed October 29th.
Finished last night - entertaining but depressing too.
This is about a group of white women who go to live with the Cheyenne Indians in the late 1800s.
It starts with a fictionalized account of an actual historical event - Chief Little Wolf meeting with President Grant for peace talks asks for 1,000 white woman to help integrate the Indian People and the white man. In real life Grant said no. In fiction he publicly said no but...more
Finished last night - entertaining but depressing too.
This is about a group of white women who go to live with the Cheyenne Indians in the late 1800s.
It starts with a fictionalized account of an actual historical event - Chief Little Wolf meeting with President Grant for peace talks asks for 1,000 white woman to help integrate the Indian People and the white man. In real life Grant said no. In fiction he publicly said no but...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Historical Fictio...: April 2013: One Thousand White Women | 35 | 107 | May 13, 2013 07:03pm | |
| Starting this book tonight | 23 | 99 | Apr 30, 2013 06:59pm | |
| History we never knew about... | 33 | 233 | Feb 10, 2013 12:47pm | |
| Goodreads Librari...: Update book cover - merge | 4 | 31 | Jan 29, 2013 09:23pm |
Jim Fergus was born in Chicago on March 23, 1950. He attended high school in Massachusetts and graduated as an English major from Colorado College in 1971. He has traveled extensively and lived over the years in Colorado, Florida, the French West Indies, Idaho, France, and Arizona. For ten years he worked as a teaching tennis professional in Colorado and Florida, and in 1980 moved to the tiny town...more
More about Jim Fergus...
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“Don't you know that I laugh because it is my last defense against tears?
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“that's exactly the good thing about the Injun life--you don't have to stop and think about whether or not you're 'happy'--which in my opinionis a highly overrated human condition invented by white folks”
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Apr 22, 2013 05:51pm
Was referred to your review by someone I am following. When I asked why the rating was so low I was referred to your review.
Quite a thorough...more
May 09, 2013 07:26pm