A Bit Bookish

One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Written as a series of journals recording the fictitious adventures of May Dodd, as part of an imaginary "Brides for Indians" program, this book won the 1999 Fiction of the Year Award from the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Association. It's French translation was on the French bestseller list for 57 weeks and it has garnered an appreciative audience since then. The premise of the "Brides for Indians" program is that the northern Cheyenne Indians are shrinking in numbers and need a way to assimilate into white society. If they marry white women and have half blood children, the two cultures would blend naturally. The proposal is made to trade 1,000 white women for 1,000 horses. Women who are physically healthy and of child bearing age can volunteer. May Dodd, born into a wealthy family but ensconced in an asylum for promiscuity thinks the program is an excellent way to escape her captivity. The descriptions of the countryside are lovely and the journals read like they could indeed be real. If you know anything about the Indian Wars you will have an inkling how this all ends, but an enjoyable historical novel nonetheless.


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