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Book Review of One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd

One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd
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Helpful Score: 22


I found this book to be extremely interesting. In May Dodd's words, in referring to her wedding night to an Indian chief "Yes, I think that's a fine way of putting it. Like this whole adventure, a dream that's actually happening." May, a socialite from Chicogo, finds herself institutionalized by her family for promiscuity for marrying and having children with a man "below her status". At the same time a deal has been struck by the U.S. government to civilize the Indian population through trading 1,000 white women for 1,000 horses so that the Indian population, through having children with white women will be tamed and become civilized. May agrees to become an Indian bride to escape the horrors of the asylum. Her optimizim through it all gives us a unique insight into the Indian culture of the late 1800s. I enjoyed the book and recommend it highly.