One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd

Jim Fergus

Apr 2010 · One Thousand White Women Series Book 1 · Sold by St. Martin's Press

About this ebook

Based on an actual historical event but told through fictional diaries, this is the story of May Dodd—a remarkable woman who, in 1875, travels through the American West to marry the chief of the Cheyenne Nation.

One Thousand White Women begins with May Dodd’s journey into an unknown world. Having been committed to an insane asylum by her blue-blood family for the crime of loving a man beneath her station, May finds that her only hope for freedom and redemption is to participate in a secret government program whereby women from “civilized” society become the brides of Cheyenne warriors. What follows is a series of breathtaking adventures—May’s brief, passionate romance with the gallant young army captain John Bourke; her marriage to the great chief Little Wolf; and her conflict of being caught between loving two men and living two completely different lives.

“Fergus portrays the perceptions and emotions of women...with tremendous insight and sensitivity.”—Booklist

“A superb tale of sorrow, suspense, exultation, and triumph.” —Winston Groom, author of Forrest Gump

Ratings and reviews

If I hadn't just read Chris Hannan's wonderful _Missy_ I would not have accepted this book on principle, because mostly I avoid historical novels, but I decided I would not decline the recommendation and took it on. I am abashed to say that I have misplaced it (I can't remember this ever happening to me before. Keys, wallet, lighter, bills, shopping lists, small pieces of paper with important phone #s on them, yes, but I do not lose track of books that I'm reading!). I was not very far into it and I will say that the guy's writing has failed to impress and I already found a couple of typos (something I find unbearably irritating in a published text) but I am interested in the story nonetheless and I was very aggravated to have to pick up another book when I couldn't find it. (I am aggressively linear in my reading approach and it's vanishingly rare for me to engage with more than one book at the same time.) I hope it turns up again soon. Postscript: I found this book a while back (had left it somehow in my daughter's bedroom and unearthed it during a massive cleaning) finished it in November, immediately after Alan Weisman's incredible _The World Without Us_. Though the narrator, May Dodd, is a rather unprepossessing character the novel's conceit -- based on an actual historical event, the request of a Cheyenne chief for white brides for his braves in order to help them assimilate into European culture -- was an interesting one. In real life the experiment was never undertaken; unsurprisingly, the fictional outcome is a tragic one.

I love this book. I have read it a couple of times now, each time I find a small detail in the story that I missed. I would recommend it.

This is a five star book! I would not have ever imagined that this HISTORY is there for all to read and see it through this story for themselves. I will recommend this to others that I exchange reading ideas with. This book by the way was purchased with a $5 off coupon, I would have gladly paid the full price!

About the author

Jim Fergus is field editor and monthly columnist for Sports Afield magazine and also writes a monthly feature on the AllOutdoors.com website. His work has appeared in numerous national magazines and newspapers, and he is the author of the nonfiction book A Hunter's Road. He lives in northern Colorado.