Thank you Net Galley for the ARC. I have been reading both fiction and non-fiction books involving the Native American boarding school experience. This book has a personal viewpoint, as the author's mother was sent away, and she shares how this impacted her mother and her, as well as other family members' stories. However, as the author is a journalist, she also shares a large amount of research on the boarding schools in Canada and the United States and their long term impact on generations of families. The author also delves into the role the Catholic Church played into this system, and discusses the moves toward reparation by Canada. I very much appreciated learning about the move for natural healing approaches being conducted in Alaska, recognizing that their own culture has tools for healing that can be more effective than those tools created by the same group that was responsible for the horrendous action originally.
Very well researched and written, and brings the issue to a personal level as well.

Medicine River: A Story of Survival and the Legacy of Indian Boarding Schools
To be published April 22, 2025
By Mary Annette Pember
Penguin Random House, 304 pages.
★★★

Native Americans have been called America’s “forgotten minority.” Discussions of discrimination and racism often focus on other groups, yet if one looks at negative social data (poverty, poor housing, substance abuse, poor health, infant death, unemployment, etc.) indigenous Americans are at the bottom of most of them. Mary Annette Pember, an Ojibwe*, argues this is by design, not an unfortunate twist of history.

Many books have been written about white land grabs, Indian wars, and broken treaties, but Pember cuts to the quick by noting that indigenous history is where the Great Commission–the command for Christians to evangelize the globe–meets the Great Chain of Being, a biological taxonomy that ranks living things from simple to complex. At the height of the eugenics movement, the latter view extended the rankings to humankind. The eugenics movement merely reiterated older ideals. When the U.S. Constitution was approved, enslaved Africans were counted as 3/5th of a person; Indians were not counted at all.

Pember’s book is at once a sweeping historical account, a family history, and a personal memoir. There is an extensive historiography of Native American history, but Pember adds detail to the lesser discussed tale of Indian boarding schools, a topic that often goes no deeper than mentions of the Carlisle Indian School to give context for the prowess of famed athlete Jim Thorpe during the early 20th century. Pember notes that by the 1920s, a startling 76 percent of Indian children were sent to boarding schools. “Sent” is the operative word, as many of them were judicial and legislative kidnappings undertaken to “assimilate” indigenous children into mainstream society. That meant bans of native languages, dress, customs, and rituals.

This is a personal issue for Pember, whose mother Bernice attended St. Mary’s Catholic Indian School in Odanah, Wisconsin, to the chagrin of her mother Cece, an early Ojibwe activist. In many ways Bernice bought into assimilation; she adopted a prim image as if to prove wrong a nun who called Indians “dirty.” Pember, however, presents boarding schools in a Dickensian light, institutions marked by body-numbing hard work, food deprivation, authoritarian regimentation, and corporal punishment. Her descriptions call to mind Irish laundries for unwed mothers, and the treatment of Māori in New Zealand and Aborigines in Australia. To cite just one impact of poor conditions, in 1925, 87 out every 100,000 individuals in the United States contracted TB; among indigenous peoples the level was nearly seven times higher.

What Bernice missed–as did Pember in her youth–was deep immersion in Ojibwe language and culture. The band to which Pember belongs lives in northern Wisconsin along the shores of Lake Superior. Much of their land and that of some Sioux and Ho–Chunk was grafted away by lumber interests in 1837, but roughly 125,000 acres plus the right to conduct rituals on Madeline Island were guaranteed by an 1854 treaty. It is today land belonging to the Medicine River reservation**.

Pember traces a legacy of harm and cultural damage done by boarding schools. It is a powerful story, though it must be said that the book occasionally stumbles by trying to do too much. Particularly noticeable are its tonal shifts. Pember is didactic when reviewing history, personal in discussing her family saga, and righteously angry at some of her own experiences. Because she often crams history and memoir into the same chapters, it is easy to get lost chronologically and thematically. Chapter 2, for instance, begins with an incident in Bernice’s life, jumps back to Pope Nicholas V (1447-55) and wends its way forward, cuts away to Ojibwe culture, and returns to Bernice. Most of the material on boarding schools is found in chapters 5-8 of the book’s 10 chapters and even then, Pember shifts between broader and personal history. Although it was published before Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) became President Obama’s Secretary of the Interior, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s An Indigenous History of the United States (2014) is an easier read for anyone looking for a survey of Native American history. Then again, Dunbar-Ortiz devotes but six pages to boarding schools.

I recommend Medicine River, but take your time.

Rob Weir


*Ojibwe references an Algonquian dialect. Tribal members are properly called Anishinaabe, meaning “True People,” though many whites called them Chippewa.

** In a telltale etymological shift, white French traders called the stream emptying into Lake Superior, “Bad River.”

Part history book, part memoir, this was very educational. I, like many grew up not knowing about residential boarding schools in the United States and am learning about it well past school age. I appreciated the deep dive research so much and found myself shocked by a lot of what I read. So much heartbreak over generations caused by these schools trying to force assimilation instead of embracing the culture of the people who were here first. I would definitely recommend this one to others. Thank you Netgalley for the e-arc

Disclaimer: ARC via Netgally

Like many countries, the Untied States has to reckon with the abuses of its part. And like many countries, it does not always, if ever, do so. For many years, the US education system has not fully taught what the US did to Native Americans, outside of Trail of Tears. The impact of residential schools as well as their history is not usually taught, even in states or cities where such a school existed. People may know who Jim Thorpe was, but what exactly Carlisle was and what happened there, most people don’t know. Even if a residential school is mentioned, it is done with implication that it was a less ritzy boarding school. Not what it really was not about the abuses, not about the graves.
Pember’s book goes into detail about the residential school. She includes information about the development of the schools, the wide spread abuse, and halfhearted attempts by the US government to reform or better the schools. She even includes bit about how some survivors fought back and turned the US legal system against the government with varying degrees of success.
But mostly, the book is a memoir of the impact of the residential schools. Pember’s mother went one and the fall out of that travels down generations and impacts all relationships. The trauma that Pember’s mother went though plays out in her relationships to her children, in particular Pember who was the only daughter. This meant that in many ways she became the keeper of some of her mother’s secrets. The effect of the residential shows in both Pember and her brothers.
But the book does also offer hope. The section where Pember details how some tribes and clans are dealing with the trauma is particularly insightful.
Pember’s book would make good introduction to the history of residential schools and their impact. It is an engrossing read, but not overly heavy or scholarly. It offers more in depth analysis of the residential school. It offers a more complete view than simply detailing the various abuses that occurred. It offers

This book is an important one in the sense that it provides a detailed historical perspective on Indian boarding schools and their impacts upon native Americans. It's clearly a very well researched endeavor. The tone is very academic though despite the fact that a significant part of the book is personal. I was anticipating a book more like "Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City" which addresses a social justice issue and uses storytelling to bring it to life. The first 10 or so pages of this book lived up to that promise, but unfortunately after that, it seemed more like a doctoral dissertation. Some extremely harrowing scenes are described in the book, but they are written in an arms length way, as if by an outsider. It just didn't feel like memoir where the reader can literally feel the depth of the emotion. That being said, if you are a lover of history, this book does an excellent job of explaining the scope and depth of the injustices perpetrated against native American Indians in a factual manner with tons of footnotes so it's clear where the information originated.

This book was very good. The author does a great job writing about colonialism and Indian policies. While reading about her life and interactions with her mother, you can feel the love and confusion she felt. The author includes many footnotes, which I like, as well as a lot of information about the history of Indian policies and reforms and about trauma. Reading about children as young as three being sent to Indian schools is heartbreaking to me as a mother. Reading about parents who can't get their children back from those schools makes me angry on their behalf. I think every person of every race should read this book to see how the white people have genuinely impacted the indigenous people of this country.

Medicine River broke my heart over and over. I took a Native American culture class in college and THOUGHT I had a basic understanding of Indian boarding schools. The way the author tells her family’s personal experience, while also providing facts in a professional tone is incredible. I felt rage, sadness, laughed, and cried.. a lot. I will recommend this book to anyone willing to take the time to learn. It was a heartbreaking wake up to our government systems. I am sure I will reflecting on some of my previous held views for the foreseeable future.

-Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, and Vintage and NetGallery for the Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for my honest review.-

Mary Annette Pember takes a deep dive into a very difficult subject, Indian Boarding Schools in this book which is equal parts historical exposition and anecdotal narrative. Her background in journalism shone through in this book. Pember provides a detailed account of Indian Boarding Schools and the atrocities that occurred within those schools. Pember elucidates the immediate, deleterious effects these boarding schools had on Indigenous communities and the continued psychological and physical health outcomes.

My only gripe with this book is that I didn't have access to it while I was writing my dissertation on the subject! Pember's personal account made me reflect on my own family's history with Indian Boarding Schools which, at times, had me pacing myself. It was very emotional to read this book; my grandfather attended such a school in Michigan, as did his siblings and mother. I am so grateful to Pember for having the courage to share her truth and bring continued awareness to this subject.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
The Indian boarding schools is a part of history that isn't as well known as it should be. This book is well researched and provides a lot of information.

It’s rare I give a 5 star rating, but here it is. The author has done an amazing job weaving the profoundly personal with sweeping movements of US history. Most Americans are unwilling to claim this story, but Pember tells it with clarity and authenticity. She is an extraordinary storyteller, especially for a story as complex and blood drenched as this one. As a US history teacher, I think this should be required reading for anyone with a teaching endorsement in Social Studies. It’s a story we get wrong altogether too many times. Essential reading. Compelling.

The fact that I learned about Canada’s residential schools before I learned about the United States’ system of Native American boarding schools speaks volumes about just how much this particular part of the country’s history has probably never been given its just share of attention - like so many other aspects of the nation's past. To say the least, we need plenty more books (and other media) to educate and remind us of what has happened, and of the lasting effects that continue to be felt into the present day.

Medicine River" doesn’t just go a long way to helping others fill in this major gap left by our respective history educations - it could almost be considered a gold standard for reads on this subject. Marie Annatte Pember expertly blends both general history with her family’s own history, and together these two combined narratives go a long way in both teaching and really bringing home the scope and reach of the damage and trauma that was wrought.

As an academic librarian, this is one of those titles that I definitely consider a must-have for my university’s library history section.

I really didn’t know a lot about Indian Boarding Schools so this was a great education. It was written perfectly and had that overall feel with what it was trying to tell. It told the story that it needed to and thought Mary Annette Pember does a fantastic job in the research and stories being told.