Child of Her People Paperback – November 1, 1987

This is one of the most women-positive books I have ever read. Anne Cameron is a genius when it comes to women-empowerment within her works. This book is no different. This book follows 2 women's paths through the early American days, and it is really a heavy book, spiritually and politically, even though it is fiction. The things the women go through, the things they see, it is very powerful. Buy a box of Kleenex to go with it - I cried often while reading it due to the intensity of the scenes she described. This book deals a lot with Colonialism, racism and sexism in a very empowering way.

I didn't expect the content of this book to be as good as it was. I literally could not put the book down until I read it all! It is an unprecedented view into the perspective of Native American's - viewing the encroachment of the "pioneers" and the White man. So much is hard to read - there is pain in the events which occur, but the content is necessary to have a holistic view of that period in history. I feel that such a book should be required reading in high school - along with the "sanitized" version of history currently offered, especially of the western expansion. The heroine of the book, herself a White settler, found as a baby and raised with the tribe who found her, shows the difference in how women were treated and valued by Native Americans and Whites. I wanted the story to go on, since it ends at such a terrible and awesome period. There is sadness, but also triumph in the end.