A thought-provoking collection of searing prose from a Sioux woman that covers race, identity, assimilation, and perceptions of Native American culture Zitkala-Sa wrestled with the conflicting influences of American Indian and white culture throughout her life. Raised on a Sioux reservation, she was educated at boarding schools that enforced assimilation and was witness to major events in white-Indian relations in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Tapping her troubled personal history, Zitkala-Sa created stories that illuminate the tragedy and complexity of the American Indian experience. In evocative prose laced with political savvy, she forces new thinking about the perceptions, assumptions, and customs of both Sioux and white cultures and raises issues of assimilation, identity, and race relations that remain compelling today.

American Indian Stories, Legends, and Other Writings (Penguin Classics)

Literature & Fiction

Zitkála-Šá

United States

Penguin Classics

Zitkala-Sa, a Sioux woman who left her reservation at the age of 8 to attend a harsh Quaker school, struggled to find a balance between her heritage and American culture. This important collection of wistful autobiographical tales, traditional short stories, and pointed political writings is a powerful testimony to her triumph over hatred and disillusionment.

American Indian Stories (Native American)

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

Dover Publications

"Whether your interest in Sioux folklore is great or small, you will find this a fascinating book to devour. Pick up a copy today and be thrilled." — The Reading Room This accessible and affordable volume combines two essential collections by Sioux author Zitkala-Sa. American Indian Stories assembles short stories, autobiographical reflections, and political essays that offer poignant reflections on the author's sense of being stranded between the white and Native American worlds. Old Indian Legends features tales from the oral tradition — legends passed down through the generations that form a genre known as the "retold tale." Born on South Dakota's Yankton Reservation in 1876, Zitkala-Sa felt "as free as the wind that blew my hair, and no less spirited than a bounding deer." At the age of eight, she traded her freedom for the iron discipline of a Quaker boarding school. Disillusioned by American society as well as her own tribe, Zitkala-Sa attended college, became a teacher, and wrote about her experiences in a variety of books and magazines. A prominent advocate for Native American rights throughout her life, she was a key figure in the legislation that granted Native Americans citizenship in 1924.

American Indian Stories and Old Indian Legends (Dover Thrift Editions: Short Stories)

Old Indian Legends

History

BiblioBazaar

Early in the century a magnificent Sioux woman named Zitkala-Ša published these legends that she learned during her childhood on the Yankton Reservation. Her eastern education developed a writing talent that was put to good use in recording from oral tradition the exploits of Iktomi the trickster, Eya the glutton, the Dragon Fly, the Blood Clot boy, and other magical and mysterious figures, human and animal, known to the Sioux. Until her death in 1938, Zitkala-Ša stood between two cultures as preserver and translator.

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

University Of Nebraska Press

Zitkala-Ša (Red Bird) (1876–1938), also known as Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, was one of the best-known and most influential Native Americans of the twentieth century. Born on the Yankton Sioux Reservation, she remained true to her indigenous heritage as a student at the Boston Conservatory and a teacher at the Carlisle Indian School, as an activist in turn attacking the Carlisle School, as an artist celebrating Native stories and myths, and as an active member of the Society of American Indians in Washington DC. All these currents of Zitkala-Ša’s rich life come together in this book, which presents her previously unpublished stories, rare poems, and the libretto of The Sun Dance Opera.

Dreams and Thunder: Stories, Poems, and The Sun Dance Opera

History & Criticism

Zitkala-Ša (Gertrude Bonnin) was one of the early Indian writers to record tribal legends and tales from oral tradition. Impressions of an Indian Childhood describes her first eight yeas on the Yankton Reservation, where she was born in 1876. Her schooling in Indiana revealed a gift for writing that led in 1901 to the publication of Old Indian Legends, also a Bison Book. For the rest of her rife, this Sioux was in the poignant but creative position of trying to bridge the gap between her own culture and the dominant white one, unable to return fully to the former or to enter fully into the latter.
These pieces, largely autobiographical, were first collected and published in 1921. With their reissue, Zitkala-Ša takes her rightful place among such native interpreters of Sioux culture as Charles A. Eastman and Luther Standing Bear.

American Indian Stories

Bison

Early in the twentieth century, a Sioux woman named Zitkala-Ša published these fourteen Native legends that she had learned during her own childhood on the Yankton Reservation. Her writing talent, developed during her education back east, was put to good use in recording from oral tradition the exploits of Iktomi the trickster, Eya the glutton, the Dragon Fly, and other magical and mysterious figures, human and animal, known to the Sioux. Until her death in 1938, Zitkala-Ša stood between two cultures as preserver and translator.

Reference

Bison Books

American Indian Stories, first published in 1921, is a collection of childhood stories, allegorical fiction, and an essay. One of the most famous Sioux writers and activists of the modern era, Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Bonnin) recalled legends and tales from oral tradition and used experiences from her life and community to educate others about the Yankton Sioux. Determined, controversial, and visionary, she creatively worked to bridge the gap between her own culture and mainstream American society and advocated for Native rights on a national level. Susan Rose Dominguez provides a new introduction to this edition.

In this renowned collection of fourteen Native stories, the noted Yankton Sioux writer Zitkala-Ša (1876–1938) shares tales learned during her childhood in the late nineteenth century. Told for generations, these stories are part of both the heritage and the legacy of the Yankton Sioux, reflecting an active, continually revitalized storytelling tradition. Power, wonder, and a distinctive understanding of the world infuse these tales. Featured here are the classic adventures of the trickster spider Iktomi, as well as the exploits of formidable animal beings and such legendary characters as Iya the glutton, the giant Anuk-ite, and the hero Blood Clot boy. P. Jane Hafen provides a new introduction for this edition. In this renowned collection of fourteen Native stories, the noted Yankton Sioux writer Zitkala-Ša (1876–1938) shares tales learned during her childhood in the late nineteenth century. Told for generations, these stories are part of both the heritage and the legacy of the Yankton Sioux, reflecting an active, continually revitalized storytelling tradition. Power, wonder, and a distinctive understanding of the world infuse these tales. Featured here are the classic adventures of the trickster spider Iktomi, as well as the exploits of formidable animal beings and such legendary characters as Iya the glutton, the giant Anuk-ite, and the hero Blood Clot boy. P. Jane Hafen provides a new introduction for this edition. In this renowned collection of fourteen Native stories, the noted Yankton Sioux writer Zitkala-Sa (1876-1938) shares tales learned during her childhood in the late nineteenth century. Told for generations, these stories are part of both the heritage and the legacy of the Yankton Sioux, reflecting an active, continually revitalized storytelling tradition. Power, wonder, and a distinctive understanding of the world infuse these tales. Featured here are the classic adventures of the trickster spider Iktomi, as well as the exploits of formidable animal beings and such legendary characters as Iya the glutton, the giant Anuk-ite, and the hero Blood Clot boy. P. Jane Hafen provides a new introduction for this edition.

Iktomi and the Ducks and Other Sioux Stories

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Books by Zitkála-Šá

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Zitkála-Šá. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

American Indian Stories, Legends, and Other Writings (Penguin Classics)

American Indian Stories (Native American)

American Indian Stories and Old Indian Legends (Dover Thrift Editions: Short Stories)

Old Indian Legends

Old Indian Legends

Dreams and Thunder: Stories, Poems, and The Sun Dance Opera

American Indian Stories

Old Indian Legends

American Indian Stories

Iktomi and the Ducks and Other Sioux Stories