Mari Sandoz portrays america after the frontier. In these books she tells tales of life as America grew up. Most stories are about the children of the pioneers, people who grew up with stories of indians and wild days but had adventures of their own, which Mari wonderfully captures in these books. Anyone who liked her other books like Old Jules or Cheyenne Autumn should read these stories, which give a picture of what nebraska area was like in the 1890-1930 era. Mari Sandoz writes wonderfully as usual.

Wilkerson's Scribe of the Great Plains tells the wonderful story of Mari Sandoz, writer of the definitive work on Crazy Horse. It is a work enriched with detail of Sandoz' life as a child growing up on the plains of Nebraska. Although a part of the Great Heartlander series of books written for schoolchildren, the book maintains interest for readers of all ages. It is written with excellent detail of prairie life and genuinely captures the day-to-day life of a young person living in the west.

Cheyenne Autumn is a very educational book. I learned many new things about the Cheyenne and their way of life. It was so very disturbing for me to have to learn the actual hell these people were put through. I would have enjoyed this story much more if the author had not have introduced the characters in the novel before the story actually started. When the time came for a character to be introduced, I had already forgot who they were. The only other major problem I found was that I was very confused with the transitions of paragraphs. This novel jumped time periods between paragraphs quit frequently. I am the type of reader who prefers to know exactly what is going on and with who. When so many things are going on that I can't comprehend them all and understand them completely, I get frustrated. This story takes a lot of time to read because you have to read it slow. In order to read this book all of the way through, you have to want to read it and you have got to be patient. This is not the type of book someone should read because they have to. Read this book because you wanted to be educated on the Cheyenne and their way of life. If this is your desire in reading this book, then you will enjoy it very much.

Mari Sandoz, one of the greatest American writers, amazed me once again in Cheyenne Autumn. A heartbreaking story of injustice and cruelty, Sandoz brings out the heart of the people through vivid imagery and insights that will make you feel you are on the trail with the Cheyenne.

Sandoz sees through the heart, and in this remarkable book takes the reader back in time. The book does not simply recount a tragic story, but rather reveals a people's life and their struggle to regain it. I highly recommend this book to anyone concerned with the human condition.

Sandoz captures both the big pictures and subtle nuances of the atmosphere in which these unbelieveable, but unfortunately real, events take place. She thoroughly reconstructs the characters and so completely immerses herself and the reader in events that reading Cheyenne Autumn is better than any movie or play could ever be -- you see and hear and feel as though you are part of the journey, rooting the Cheyenne on and on, and (even if you know going in know how things turn out) hoping against hope that the US government and the military will just leave the poor people alone. However sad the story is at its base (and it is tragic), the dignity and resourcefulness and love among the Cheyenne is overwhelming. Truly, they were the "civilized" people, and Sandoz conveys this without every stepping a foot on a soapbox. It's a must read for anyone who has an interest in Native American history or culture. It's also a must read for anyone who doesn't have such interests, because their ignorance will be washed away completely.

Mari Sandoz, the daughter of German-Swiss parents, was born in 1896 on the Great Plains of Nebraska, and spent much of her young life amid the Sioux tribes there at that time. This book, which is only 118 pages long, briefly depicts much of what she learned first-hand of Sioux customs and rituals. She writes with great intimacy, love, and a depth of knowledge that few could match. Her prose sometimes meanders, and often gives the sense of being unstructured, without a coherent thread. This might bother some and not others. Admittedly, it bothered me at times, as I prefer my facts and history presented in a more cohesive context. That said, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone interested in Native American history.

This gives me some sense of what it would be like to live with the Sioux. Simple enough for a child to read. No magic, but worth reading.

This is a clarification of the review below by:
natasha trotskygrad from moscow, Ussr.

Mari Sandoz was a FEMALE author from northern Nebraska. :)

And this is a great Sioux book, but even more highly recommended is Sandoz' CRAZY HORSE biography. Sandoz was quite respected by the native population and did extensive research for all of her books. Her book on Crazy Horse even used first hand oral accounts with those who knew Crazy Horse.

Sandoz wrote in such a strong and sensitive way about what she knew and lived. She was a white girl who grew up in Nebraska in the days of the frontier, and she wrote about her experiences with both the frontier settlers as well as the native inhabitants.

Her stories about the Indians are particularly piercing and exquisite. She shows beautifully what a mature and intelligent society the Native Americans had constructed, and how the whites misunderstood and disregarded their culture, and contributed to its decimation. She doesn't simply demonize the whites and exalt the natives, but she is forthright and unafraid to say who did what, and why they did what they did. She has a keen sensibility for the way the native people lived their lives, and I so appreciate getting a feel for what their existence was like during the days of the frontier, and before. I love getting to know about her life, too, about how she overcame lack of early schooling and harsh treatment from her parents.

This is a great read for anyone who lives in, or even just visits, the Great Plains region, to get a sense of its history, or for anyone who is interested in the lives and history of Native Americans or frontiersmen. It it also excellent if you just love a well-crafted story. I give it four stars because the selections are somewhat uneven in quality, but the best ones more than make up for the less stellar ones.

This book is a wonderful story of the life of author Mari Sandoz. It fueled my curiosity to read all of her books and especially to reread her book about her father "Old Jules" who was a Nebraska legend. It also provides insight into life in the Nebraska sandhills at the time she was growing up.

Many people know about Robert Henri the leader of the Ashcan School of American painters. Few people know about Robert Henry Cozad the son of a professional gambler and wheeler dealer. This is a fascinating and touching true story of a family and their struggle to stay together.

The story of Old Jules is sad but mostly it is aggravating. Jules gets a little ahead, then his idiot friends cripple him. He gets a little ahead, then nature deals a blow. Jules shows vision and works hard, lamenting that he has spent his life "Always building up the land." But the most maddening times are when he gets ahead and instead of taking care of his family's needs, he remortgages his land after finally paying it off and spends this borrowed money on stamps for his stamp collection. Everyone I know who's read the book wants to reach into the pages and just shake this man, asking "What ARE YOU DOING? Forget the stamps! Take care of your family! "

I read this book 20 years ago and it still maddening.

I found this book while looking for Sandoz's book on Crazy Horse. A western librarian friend of a friend told her it's one of the most accurate books on life in the Old West.

You'd never get from a movie that so many settlers came from Europe and spoke French or German, or that they would send mail home to find a wife, who'd abandon them after a month.

Sandoz dad's populist temperment and character is familiar back in Switzerland under another name. There's a political party of Jules-like people there called the League of Independents (the "Duttweiler" party). It's affiliated with Migros, a cooperative grocery and low-end retail chain, whose founder was a rebel like Jules.

As a child, I once read books about people whom I imagined were like my own dad, on his deathbed then. This book brought me back. I can imagine my dad living like Jules --- boisterously, grousing but not really unhappy.

Though Mari (whom Jules called Marie but who seems to have adopted the Swiss spelling Mari when she was older) was very unhappy.

After Sandoz got this book right (which took many years), she wrote the Crazy Horse book.

Mari Sandoz was the daughter of Old Jules about whom she wrote as an historian rather than as his daughter. Her success is astonishing, as is the respect she retained for a father who on one occasion nearly killed her. It is not a book for the faint of heart. Mother would have been 100 in 1998, and was raised in IA and MN under similar circumstances. She was 'down' for several days after reading it because she related so closely to Mari's life. Old Jules was a man of determination and a dream he would not let die. His story is of individuals needed to settle the midwest which was wrested from weather and cattle barrons. You may become emotionally involved with childhood memories, but you will admire Mari's honesty and the success of Jule's life. So real!

This book gives a rare chronological history of how important the beaver was to relationships between France, Spain, England and the United States from the early 1600's of eastern Canada up to the last mountain rendezvous of 1840 in Wyoming. Although very informative, the writing style is oftentimes difficult to grasp, (especially in the first half of the book), and leaves one somewhat mentally handcuffed. I did enjoy the historical information, but reading the same sentence or paragraph several times to comprehend the subject matter was simply aggravating.

I thought this book was ok. there could have been alot more action andit also could have been longer, I don't think i would recommend this book to anyone.

This book Winter Thunder wasn't the best book in the world. But I also enjoyed it because it is a pretty good survival story. If you like books that are short, get to the point, and is a little venturous then this is the book for you.

As a rural school teacher, I have read this short book to many classes on days when our schoolbus was late or stalled in the snow. The young Nebraska teacher and her brave students in this story survived a terrible blizzard by relying on each other; the memoir has become a read-aloud classic for me on the first winter storm of the year.