This wonderfully written and beauti - fully illustrated story describes how Joe Louis brought America together in a time of war and ex - treme racism.

With selections from Brown’s ground - breaking book, Zimmerman adds new text, maps, and photographs to create a stunning portrayal of the Sioux, from their 1862 Minnesota exile to the Wounded Knee massa - cre in 1890.

In her song "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee," Buffy Saint Marie sings "our history gets written in a liars scrawl." In the book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, author Dee Brown presented the first mainstream American Indian history presented from the perspective of Native Americans, finally bringing a sorely needed perspective to a broad audience. Saga of the Sioux is a YA adaptation of Brown's seminal work.

Saga of the Sioux narrows the scope of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee to only tell the story of the Sioux, which is compelling, multifaceted, and illustrative of the violence and indignities suffered by the first nations during westward expansion. Author Dwight Jon Zimmerman does an excellent job of reworking Brown's original content into a streamlined delivery perfect for middle school students and young high school students.

This chapter book includes maps, photos, a table of contents, sparingly used sidebars, a timeline, a glossary, information on the Sioux calendar, a resource list, and an index.

Saga of the Sioux would be an excellent addition to any classroom library, but beyond that would be a welcomed addition to any social studies curriculum. Native history is under taught and oft ignored, but should be a vital component of any American history curriculum. Because of the span of time covered by the book, it would fit seamlessly with a western expansion/manifest destiny unit. Highly recommend. ( )

As stated in the title, this is an adaptation of the 1971 book "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" and it is one intended for younger audiences. This book is valuable in that, like its predecessor, this book tells the tale of the Sioux, or rather its final years as American encroachment threatened their way of life, and does so from their perspective rather than that of their conquerors. What is also important about this book is that it makes a conscious effort to distance itself from the old, cliched, trope of the "noble savage." By this I mean that rather than portraying the American Indians as a passive people living in harmony with nature, the author demonstrated agency and an actualized capacity for active resistance against the American invaders.
I would recommend this for High School students ( )

“Saga of the Sioux” is an adaptation by Dwight Jon Zimmerman of Dee Brown’s “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.” This brings a classic book of the Native American experience to the younger readers. In order to abridge this classic work, which I unfortunately had not heard of until picking up this book, Zimmerman focuses on the stories of the Sioux as a representative of the Native American story. I supposed this was an alternative to watering down Brown’s original work. The book covers the history of the Sioux nation from 1862 to 1890. The stories in the book are fascinating and often heartbreaking. In all, I consider this book to be engaging and informative. However, I do question Zimmerman’s choice to adapt a 1971 book rather than write a new work. He seems to be piggy-backing on a classic, and, as a result, there is no bibliography or much evidence to suggest he introduced new information to story. He loses some points with me for this reason.

Despite some weaknesses, I do appreciate that this is available as a resource. It is well-written, engaging, and informative. It does feel appropriate for the target age, which is likely middle school. The story of America’s native people is a tragic one, and it is too often glossed over. This book is would be useful in teaching students about history from the Native American perspective beyond the initial interactions they had with early settlers. It is very much from the Native American perspective and gives the reader an opportunity to empathize with their experience. ( )