Indian Boyhood & From the Deep Woods to Civilization
A Dakota Childhood, Cross-Cultural Education, and the Struggle for Native DignityBy Charles Eastman
Length9h 55m
About this audiobook
Charles Eastman's Indian Boyhood and From the Deep Woods to Civilization form a compelling autobiographical diptych tracing a Dakota childhood and the difficult passage into modern American life. In lucid, observant prose, Eastman reconstructs the social, spiritual, and ecological worlds of his youth—communal discipline, hunting, kinship, oral tradition, and the moral education provided by the land—before examining schooling, Christianity, professional training, and cultural displacement. The books belong both to the tradition of Native life writing and to the reform literature of the Progressive Era, combining ethnographic detail with personal testimony and a sustained critique of colonial assumptions. Their literary power lies in Eastman's balanced movement between narrative recollection, cultural explanation, and ethical argument. Eastman, born Ohiyesa, was a Santee Dakota physician, author, lecturer, and advocate for Native rights. Raised initially within Dakota society and later educated in mission and American institutions, he experienced firsthand the tensions between inherited identity and imposed assimilation. His medical work and involvement in relief efforts after the Wounded Knee era deepened his concern with Indigenous welfare, while his writing sought to correct popular stereotypes and preserve a record of Dakota values for both Native and non-Native readers. This volume is recommended to readers interested in Indigenous history, autobiography, American literature, and cross-cultural encounter. It offers neither a romanticized pastoral nor a simple conversion narrative, but a nuanced account of survival, adaptation, memory, and cultural responsibility. Eastman's humane intelligence makes these works indispensable for understanding Native self-representation and the contested meaning of "civilization."
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.3 (355)
Includes Amazon, Goodreads, LibraryThing, StoryGraph
GenreBiography and Memoir
Length9 hrs 55 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateDec 20, 2023
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Indian Linguistic Families Of America (Annotated)
21II. A Winter Camp
2I. Hadakah, “The Pitiful Last”
22III. Wild Harvests
3II. Early Hardships
23IV. A Meeting on the Plains
4III. My Indian Grandmother
24V. An Adventurous Journey
5IV. An Indian Sugar Camp
25XI. The Laughing Philosopher
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6V. A Midsummer Feast
26XII. First Impressions of Civilization
7II. An Indian Boy’s Training
27From the Deep Woods to Civilization
8I. Games and Sports
28Foreword
9II. My Playmates
29I. The Way Opens
10III. The Boy Hunter
30II. My First School Days
11IV. Hakadah’s First Offering
31III. On the White Man's Trail
12I. A Visit to Smoky Day
32IV. College Life in the West
13II. The Stone Boy
33V. College Life in the East
14I. Evening in the Lodge
34VI. A Doctor Among the Indians
15II. Adventures of My Uncle
35VII. The Ghost Dance War
16VII. The End of the Bear Dance
36VIII. War with the Politicians
17VIII. The Maidens’ Feast
37IX. Civilization as Preached and Practised
18I. A Legend of Devil’s Lake
38X. At the Nation's Capital
19II. Manitoshaw’s Hunting
39XI. Back to the Woods
20I. Life in the Woods
40XII. The Soul of the White Man
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