Dreams and Thunder

Zitkala-Sa (Red Bird) (1876-1938), also known as Gertrude Bonnin, was one of the best known and most influential Native women of the twentieth century. Born on the Yankton Sioux Reservation to a Sioux mother and a white father, she lived between two cultures-as a student at the Boston Conservatory and a teacher at the Carlisle Indian School, as an activist in turn attacking the Carlisle School and an artist celebrating Native stories and myths, as a founding member of the Society of American Indians in Washington, D.C., and a violin soloist performing with the American contingent at the Paris Exposition of 1900. All these currents of Zitkala-Sa's rich and difficult life come together in this book, which presents her previously unpublished stories, rare poems, and the libretto of The Sun Dance Opera. Dreams and Thunder gives full play to Zitkala-Sa's voice as she ranges from representations of her Yankton Sioux heritage to stories and legends to essays intended to educate and provoke. Included are tales about mythic characters such as the Buffalo Woman, Buzzard Skin, the Hawk Woman, the Stone Boy, and the Thunder People; short stories that carry powerful social messages; poems that blend romanticism and a growing awareness of social injustice; and the opera as a revolutionary cultural expression combining romance and ritual. Together these works allow readers to experience and appreciate more fully a uniquely creative and powerful American Indian woman. Zitkala-Sa is the author of American Indian Stories (Nebraska 1985) and Old Indian Legends (Nebraska 1985). P. Jane Hafen is associate professor of English at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and a member of the Zuni community.