Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | 921 LOST BIRD | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Reclaiming Lost Bird and providing new details of the Wounded Knee Massacre, the untold story of a kidnapped Lakota Indian child raised as white portrays a young girl robbed of her roots and abused by an alien culture.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In July 1991, the Pine Ridge Wounded Knee Survivors Association returned the remains of Zintkala Nuni (Lost Bird) from an unmarked grave in California to her South Dakota homeland. Former social worker Flood, who was instrumental in the relocation, has written a well-documented, powerful and chilling story of Lost Bird's brief life. One of the few survivors of the massacre, the infant was taken by Gen. Leonard Colby to be raised as a white child. Colby, a Nebraska lawyer, hoped to represent Indian claims; his wife, Clara, was an active suffragette who spent half of every year in Washington. Lost Bird was a lonely child confused by her identitya nonwhite physically, a non-Indian socially. She was sexually abused by Colby, had two disastrous marriages, contracting syphilis in one, and was ultimately rejected by her tribe. Lost Bird spent some time with Wild West shows, drifted into prostitution and died an outcast at the age of 30. Flood's narrative grippingly illustrates the clash between Indian and white cultures. Photos not seen by PW. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
The story of the relationship between an infant survivor of the Wounded Knee massacre and her adoptive mother, a leader of the women's suffrage movement. Although Flood, author of several Native American histories (she edited A Legend from Crazy Horse Clan, not reviewed), clearly intends her tale to be a vehicle for exposing white prejudice and celebrating the perseverance and resistance of the Lakota nation, the work gains its power from the remarkable story of Lost Bird and Clara Colby. Rescued from the arms of her dead mother four days after the December 1890 massacre of the Sioux at Wounded Knee Creek, Lost Bird is acquired as a sort of trophy by the dashing General Leonard Colby. Colby's wife, Clara, takes on the duties of raising her. The Colbys' lives intersected with those of some of the late 19th century's most important and colorful characters, several of whom--Western legend Buffalo Bill and feminist leader Susan B. Anthony, among others--make cameo appearances here. Flood's history follows the lives of both Lost Bird and Clara, chronicling the girl's increasing dissatisfaction with white society and desire, despite her love for Clara, to return to her roots. The author has done a tremendous amount of primary research, including a great number of first-hand interviews, which she uses (and in places overuses, in chunky excerpts that break up the narrative) to relate the two women's lives with remarkable detail. Probably as a result of the sources available, we learn much more about Clara Colby than about Lost Bird, though the latter is the ostensible focus of the book. This detracts somewhat from the personal and historical impact of their story. The prose is at times too flowery, and the text a bit disjointed, but Flood writes history with style and tells an informative, affecting tale. (illustrations, not seen)
Booklist Review
A heartrending biography of one of the few Native American survivors of the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890. Discovered amid a field of corpses, sheltered by the lifeless body of her slain mother, Lost Bird, an infant Lakota, emerged from the shameful slaughter miraculously unscathed. Adopted by General Leonard Wright Colby, a corrupt and unscrupulous army officer and attorney, and his wife, prominent suffrage leader, Clara B. Colby, Lost Bird was financially exploited and sexually abused by the general and patronized by the well-meaning but misguided Mrs. Colby. Rejected by and alienated from two cultures and traumatized by the nightmarish quality of her rootless childhood, Lost Bird went on to face one devastating misfortune after another during her brief and bitter adulthood. Utilizing a host of Lakota sources, Flood, a noted Native American historian, provides a haunting account of an authentic American tragedy. --Margaret Flanagan
Choice Review
Flood recounts the tragic story of Lost Bird, an infant survivor of the 1890 Massacre at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, adopted by non-Indian parents, Leonard and Clara Colby, as an example of how intercultural adoptions can go wrong. The primary focus of the book is on the Colbys, neither of whom was parent material. Leonard Colby acquired leadership in the military and was appointed assistant attorney general of the US, but he was also an opportunist and womanizer. Clara Colby was an internationally known suffragist and publisher of a women's newspaper, a career woman with little time to raise a daughter. In adolescence Lost Bird became depressed and rebellious, traits that Flood attributes to rearing a child with a Lakota "cultural imprint" in a non-Lakota society, although non-Indian children develop similar behavioral problems. Lost Bird died at age 30, her adult life a failing struggle against poverty and poor health. The issue of intercultural adoption is very current and this book provides a unique, although not unbiased, perspective on the subject. It also serves social history by depicting the darker side of upper middle class, turn-of-the-century society. All levels. M. J. Schneider; University of North Dakota
