This book may be a little pricey, but it reveals much about Mari Sandoz, one of the foremost Nebraska authors of the 20th century. Sandoz's correspondence gives insight into her politics, publishing, friendships, and more. Spanning the years from 1928 through 1966, the letters in this book provide the reader with information about her thoughts and concerns that cannot be found elsewhere. This book was edited by Helen Winter Stauffer, Sandoz's biographer-- author of Mari Sandoz: Story Catcher of the Plains.

I love Sandoz's books about the Plains Indians, but was never sure until I read her biography, as to their historical accuracy. I now wonder why anyone else would bother to research the culture of the Lakota and Cheyenne or the Sioux Wars, or any of the historical subjects she wrote about. Not only did she get first hand accounts from survivors who are now long dead, she also delved into papers and reports which have long since disappeared, mostly due to neglect. She brought historical writing to a new level. Never being satisfied to surmize, she would spend years researching gaps in her information. I have read several histories of the Sioux wars since reading Sandoz's Crazy Horse, and though her name appears constantly in the footnotes, no one in their introduction seems to want to acknowledge her as the definitive source. Perhaps it is because her writing style was not the standard regurgitation of facts, but had a beauty of its own, perhaps, as she believed, it was because she was from the West, and had no actual college degree, or perhaps it is because she was a woman who added a woman's touch to subjects usually handled by men. I also noticed that the First Nations' Amazon site does not list even one of her books. This is very sad because she probably did more to make white people not only sympathise, but empathise with the Plains Indian, than any other person-Indian or white, before or since. My congratulations to Helen Winter Stauffer for writing a very thorough biography of a great bigrapher.