One Thousand White Women

This novel is written in the style of fictionalised journal entries and letters from a white American woman who takes part in an attempt by the American government to treat with the Cheyenne nation by supplying them with 1,000 white women to be their wives and aid assimilation to white culture. In spite of the novel's attempts (including the blurb on the back cover) to set this out as historical truth, an author's note at the back of the book states that although this was a request from the Cheyenne, it was turned down flat with considerable disgust by the authorities. Nonetheless, it is an interesting construct - looking at a sad time in American history when the Cheyenne knew their days as an independent and proud nation were numbered. The wives who were drawn from mental homes, prisons and the vulnerable in society have a remarkable adventure facing troubles and happinesses - identifying with their new husbands and families but unable to understand the more brutal aspects of their culture.

Wendy