We Rode the Wind: Recollections of Native American Life

by Jane B. Katz (Contributor)

1975 Hardcover. No dust jacket. Minimal wear. No markings are highlights, otherwise nice clean copy.

128 pages, Library Binding

First published August 1, 1995

Reviews

[Jaymes Dunlap · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although edited and annotated as a young adult's book, I kept it from my childhood due to the excepts from the writers who aimed to preserve their tribal heritage either directly or through an editor.

We Rode the Wind serves as a primer for young readers (and even older ones alike) with very little familiarity with social and life customs between select tribes. It is evident the text is intended for a younger audience due to explanations of the word "forked tongue" and "dogmatic" for instance. The depth unfortunately only focuses on narrative highlights. I am familiar with Black Elk Speaks so it was wonderful to get a few refreshers, but advocate for the complete text as the excepts here cannot do it justice. Being fair, Black Elk Speaks is a complex narrative that cannot easily be condensed with a few excepts.

In all, Katz did well condensing the original texts, and I found as an adult reader I wanted to know more about these authors finishing their excerpts from their main text. I believe she achieved what any non-fiction writer hopes to accomplish: Getting her readers exposed to the idea while cultivating inspiration to potentially pursue the content further.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book for middle grade and high school (and up) readers--although the glossary defines "scalping" as a Native American practice and not as a genocidal business perpetrated by white settler-colonists. So, these excerpts from autobiographies are best read alongside Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz's "Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People."