Member Reviews
I started reading this book with the incorrect assumption that it was a dual biography of Father De Smet and Chief Charlo. While they are both integral parts of the story being told here, at its heart this book tackles the changing lifeways of the Salish Indians in the nineteenth century as they were exposed to white settlers, first through Jesuit missionaries such as De Smet who sought to convert them to Christianity, and later the homesteaders who pushed the Native Americans off their land.
I thought the author did an excellent job of focusing on the Native American perspective. Even the sections about Father De Smet related mainly to his missionary years, or else the life events and decisions that led to him becoming a missionary. The traditions and lifeways of the Salish were well explained, although frequently place names were referred to by their Salish name without an accompanying pronunciation guide, which would have been helpful when encountering these words.
The bulk of the book is a year-by-year account of life for the Bitterroot Salish, detailing their winter hunts and the constant encroachment on their lands and conflicts with white settlers. This approach of summarizing each year made the book move very slowly, and the information was often repetitive. The book could easily have been fifty or so pages shorter while retaining the quality of content. There is a lot of interesting information in this book, but I'm not sure I would have gotten as much out of it if I wasn't already aware of a lot of the background context. Further, the dry tone and repetitiveness of the text made it difficult to connect with the events being described. It was frustrating, after the wonderful descriptions of Salish culture early in the book, to feel as if I was being held at arm's length for much of the rest of the text.
I would recommend this to people who already have some background knowledge of the subject and are looking for a deeper dive.
Every story has two sides that compete for the sympathies of those most affected. Sally Thompson seeks to bring history to the readers as she details the history of Jesuit priests who shared their faith to the Bitterroot Salish tribes. Historical details paint what happens when two diverse belief values end up working against each other's interests. One side is always the loser and the Salish suffer the same fate as many of their native brethren. This is a wonderfully written saga of the period. Thompson has done a skillful job of detailing the actions and consequences of each decision from both sides. If you love history, this is a must read.