Sitting Bull

By Bill Yenne

A look at the life of one of the most famous Native Americans, Sitting Bull, author Bill Yenne reveals the truth about the great Lakota leader, carefully pointing out how terribly Sitting Bull was misrepresented to the American public of that time.
Born in the early 1830s in what is now known as South Dakota, Sitting Bull, or as he was named then, Jumping Badger, grew up in a time when the white man was a very rare sight in Sioux territory. This territory was a vast area including Nebraska, the Dakotas, Wyoming, Montana and up into Canada. In fact, a treaty had been signed granting these lands to the Sioux, protecting them from being settled by American citizens. Too bad for the Sioux when gold was discovered in the Black Hills. Greed always wins out whenever it comes to a choice between gold and respecting native people's sovereignty.
Naturally, Americans wanted access to the gold and naturally the Sioux didn't want foreigners exploiting and destroying their sacred holy Black Hills. And naturally, when the Sioux resisted this violation of the treaty, they were the ones labelled as treaty breakers and they were the one punished for standing up for their right to control their own lands.
Sitting Bull, a visionary who foresaw the massacre of American soldiers at Custer's last stand on the Little Bighorn and who also foresaw his own death at the hands of his own people, tried to save his people from destruction and preserve a way of life that had existed for thousands of years. Ultimately, due to the heartless elimination of the vast herds of bison, Sitting Bull and his people were forced to surrender or starve. Powerless to resist American encroachments, forced on to reservations, stripped of guns and horses, the Sioux could only protest verbally as their vast territory was divided and opened to foreign settlement.
As a result of this despair, many of them turned to a new religious movement, the Ghost Dance, which promised deliverance and a return to life as it was before the white man. Those in charge of the reservation and those in Washington DC mistakenly linked Sitting Bull to this movement. Sitting Bull himself had strong doubts about the Ghost Dancers. But white hysteria demanded something be done to stop the perceived "Indian uprising" so Lakota Sioux police were sent to take Sitting Bull into custody. In the process, Sitting Bull was shot and killed, ending his life just as he had foreseen.

This was an illuminating book about a man who deserves his place in American history. As the book points out Sitting Bull was a man of vision, who struggled to preserve his people even if it ultimately meant surrender. The story of his life as detailed by Bill Yenne is the classic story of Native people's fates all over the world. This was an interesting book about a very interesting man.

By the way, the term Sioux is felt by some to be derogatory. However it is a convenient term for the various tribes that compose the Sioux Nation. It is just easier to use and more familiar to most. So no offense was meant by the use of the word Sioux in this blog.

Review by Publishers Weekly.