Every Author Has Their Own Style - Here's What I Found
Every author has their own style, beliefs and biases, it doesn’t matter if the author is a historian or hobbyist writer, it’s all the same. Of the many books I have read, my conclusion is, every writer has access to the same documented information available to all who seek, such as libraries, museums, and other written materials, and interviews with witnesses. Finding or just looking at materials that support their own beliefs or assumptions. Even historical fiction has to be researched. Then it’s what the author and publisher decide what to do with that information and how it will be arranged in the book they are writing that determines how the book will be.
There has been several and more books written about Wounded Knee and Sitting Bull, but what is true and accurate? Actually, truly accurate books do not exist. Witnesses as in people who were there, can miss actions happening right in front of them. Because of the excitement, confusion, because a person can’t look everywhere at the same time, and because of a misunderstanding or a person’s own biases
With books on Sitting Bull or the Ghost Dance, much has been written but only the very basic premise is the same, and usually that’s it. There is still much controversy about Sitting Bull on the Standing Rock Reservation because of his death. The fact that Sitting Bull was murdered by McLauglin and the Indian Police doesn’t change. But was he involved in the Ghost Dance or was he not? Was he just curious or did he feel his people needed something they could believe in? Land base had been lost in the Dawes Act, a drought happened, crops failed, the people were starving and all they would have needed was food, as General Miles had stated to congress. But congress being congress, did nothing because food can always be used as a means of control and a weapon. One of the many reasons why the buffalo were gone as they were the main source of food.
The Ghost Dance was a dream of a suffering people, a dream of the old life where they were free. It wasn’t that their life was easier because it was not. They were just a people who had lost everything trying to get by. Wovoka’s message was very Christian in nature because of his relationship with Missionaries. That the Messiah was coming to the Indians because the white ones killed the Messiah and had not listened to Him. So now His chosen people were the Indians. Also in Wovoka’s message were entries much like the 10 Commandments: don’t steal, don’t lie, be fair, work hard, be good, and dance this way. Sounds like Wovoka was giving a version of heaven and of the Second Coming. One witness of the Ghost Dance said it reminded them of a Methodist Church Revival.
The Ghost Dance in Lakota Country in total only lasted about six months, more prevalent in the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations not so much on Standing Rock or Cheyenne River Reservations. The killing of Sitting Bull, and the tragedy of Wounded Knee happened because of jealousy, ignorance, incompetence, misunderstandings, lies, and most of all fear.
Staff picks by Anita Comeau on books to read:
Moon of the Popping Trees by Rex Alan Smith
https://prairieedge.com/all-products/books-music/moon-of-popping-trees-book/?searchid=199864&search_query=moon+of+popping+trees
All Guns Fired at Once by Jerome A. Greene
https://prairieedge.com/all-products/book-all-guns-fired-at-once-native-voices-of-wounded-knee-1890/?searchid=199885&search_query=all+guns+fired+at+once
The Ghost Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890 by James Mooney
https://prairieedge.com/all-products/books-music/the-ghost-dance-religion-and-the-sioux-outbreak-of-1890-book/?searchid=199892&search_query=ghost+dance
Sitting Bull: His Life and Legacy by Ernie LaPointe
https://prairieedge.com/all-products/books-music/book-sitting-bull-his-life-and-legacy-autographed-by-author/?searchid=199957&search_query=sitting
Lost Bird of Wounded Knee: Spirit of the Lakota by Renee Sansom Flood
https://prairieedge.com/all-products/lost-bird-of-wounded-knee-spirit-of-the-lakota/?searchid=199960&search_query=lost
Wovoka and the Ghost Dance by Michael Hittman
https://prairieedge.com/all-products/books-music/book-wovoka-and-the-ghost-dance/?searchid=199967&search_query=wovoka
Wounded Knee: Party Politics and the Road to an American Massacre by Heather Cox Richardson
https://prairieedge.com/all-products/wounded-knee-party-politics-and-the-road-to-an-american-massacre/
American Carnage: Wounded Knee 1890 by Jerome A. Greene
https://prairieedge.com/all-products/books-music/book-american-carnage-wounded-knee-1890/?searchid=203632&search_query=american+carnage