The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, an American Legend

Gr 6 Up—While nominally a celebration of the life of Red Cloud, a renowned Oglala Lakota leader, this young readers edition of the 2013 work of the same name disappointingly reinforces many offensive stereotypes. Red Cloud, a contemporary of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, was a masterful military and political strategist who formed alliances with other tribes, leading successful raids against encroaching white settlers. Waters presents Red Cloud's fight to save his people against the backdrop of the U.S. government's focus on the Civil War, westward expansion, the discovery of gold in Montana, and the construction of the railways. The text is enhanced by photographs and maps. Unfortunately, the authors use outdated, value-laden, and exoticizing language ("braves grunted and yipped" and "jeered [and] shrieked"): teaching young people hunting strategies is framed as "knowledge and wisdom that dominated conversation in each tepee," and some Lakota are described as "docile." By contrast, whites are differentiated as well-rounded individuals of varying temperaments and viewpoints. For example, the killing of General Custer and his soldiers is a "shocking slaughter." Statements such as, "For the Lakota were not finished dying" also convey the mistaken impression that the Lakota Nation no longer exists. There are frequent references to American Indians scalping whites, including sensationalistic chapter headings (for instance, "Scalped Alive"). It does a disservice to readers and the subjects of this book when white people's reactions to death and devastation are described, evoking sympathy ("frantic, terrified cavalrymen"), but not those of American Indians, who are portrayed as "cunning," "sly," and "turbulent and vicious."