Jim Fergus
Paperback | Pages: 434 pages Rating: 3.88 | 110404 Users | 8582 Reviews
Identify Books Concering One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd (One Thousand White Women #1)
| Original Title: | One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd |
| ISBN: | 0312199430 (ISBN13: 9780312199432) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | One Thousand White Women #1 |
| Characters: | May Dodd, Little Wolf, Ulysses S. Grant |
| Setting: | United States of America |
Chronicle Conducive To Books One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd (One Thousand White Women #1)
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 into the white man's world. Toward that end May and her friends embark upon the adventure of their lifetime. Jim Fergus has so vividly depicted the American West that it is as if these diaries are a capsule in time.Point Based On Books One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd (One Thousand White Women #1)
| Title | : | One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd (One Thousand White Women #1) |
| Author | : | Jim Fergus |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 434 pages |
| Published | : | February 15th 1999 by St. Martin's Griffin (first published 1998) |
| Categories | : | Historical. Historical Fiction. Fiction. Book Club |
Rating Based On Books One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd (One Thousand White Women #1)
Ratings: 3.88 From 110404 Users | 8582 ReviewsJudge Based On Books One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd (One Thousand White Women #1)
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.Author: I have this book I want to publish.Publisher: Okay, let me make sure it has what we are looking for in a book. After all, the bulk of your previous writing experience appears to be for an outdoors magazine. Correct?Author: Yes that is correct.Publisher: Okay, is your book an attempt to write from a womans point of view?Author: Yes!Publisher: Fantastic, do you have the slightest clue or insight into womens thoughts or emotions?Author: Nope.Publisher: Great! Is your book riddled with women
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
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
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
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'
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