Critique de Choice
In conjunction with the Heard Museum's exhibit on the same topic, Archuleta (exhibit curator), Child (American and American Indian studies, Univ. of Minnesota; Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families, 1900-1940, CH, May'99), and Lomawaima (American Indian studies, Univ. of Arizona; They Called It Prairie Light: The Story of Chilocco Indian School, CH, Oct'94) have edited this wonderful book on American Indian boarding school experiences. Artfully weaving old photographs, first-person accounts, and well-organized text and verse, the editors present important and predominantly Native views of some "good, bad, and ugly" aspects of Indian boarding school life, 1879 to 2000. Detailing the arrival, academic and vocational instruction, health problems, home and family connections, and resistance of Indian boarding schools students, they present some intended and unintended outcomes of students' engaging in school activities such as music, dance, art, sports, and family life. With substantial references, younger reader book list, and useful index, this insightful and sobering book provides an indispensable general reference not only for Native American studies, but for those wanting first-person voices and photographs about Indian boarding school experiences and the roles such schools played and continue to play in the education and lives of many American Indians. All collections. R. L. Brod University of Montana