An Endangered Species - by Frances Washburn (Paperback)

About the Book

Set on the Pine Ridge Reservation, An Endangered Species is a tale of two families, each with their own problems and failures, and both bound into circumstances beyond their control, surviving on the Great Plains during the 1960s.

Book Synopsis

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Tom Warder, born on the Pine Ridge Reservation, works at the LaCreek refuge, which hosts the nation's last remaining trumpeter swans. The refuge manager assigns Tom, who owns land adjacent to the refuge, to be the swans' day-to-day caretaker. Tom's land isn't productive enough to make a sole living from it, so he leases grazing rights to white rancher Bart Johnson.

Bart has fallen into debt and is unable to pay the lease he owes not only on Tom's land but also on land he leases from other Native landowners. As he sinks into debt his wife, Betty, becomes more extravagant and resistant to pleas for economy, while their son, Brian, becomes fascinated with hunting and begins stalking the trumpeter swans for the thrill of killing one. As his finances and his family fall apart, Bart takes to drinking. Meanwhile Tom's wife, Anna, and three daughters struggle to make ends meet, though their eldest daughter, Bit, who often assists her father in the care of the swans, is bright and determined to become something. Where Bit is the hope of her family, Brian is the disaster of his.

An Endangered Species is a tale of two families, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, bound to circumstances largely beyond their control, and struggling to survive on the upper Great Plains during the 1960s.

Review Quotes

"Gifted with an astonishing ability to create vivid characters, Frances Washburn pulls a real sleight of hand in this hypnotic novel."--Charlotte Hinger, Roundup Magazine

"This is an exquisitely written story of two families struggling to survive in the Great Plains of the 1960s. Swans and circumstances bring these families--one Native and one white--together in Washburn's graceful and insightful prose."--Ms. Magazine

"Frances Washburn is a consummate storyteller. An Endangered Species, her newest book, is a poignant, tragic, and brilliant tale of two families, one Native and one white, trying to cope with changing times on the Northern Plains in the early 1960s. Washburn's forte is character development. The reader gets to know not only the time and place of the story, but also what makes her characters tick. The book is a masterwork of prose, rich in simile and active in voice. The story moves artfully to its final, surprising conclusion. It is indeed difficult to put down."--Tom Holm, author of Ira Hayes and The Osage Rose

About the Author

Frances Washburn (Lakota) is emerita professor of American Indian studies and English at the University of Arizona. She is the author of Elsie's Business (Nebraska, 2006), Sacred White Turkey (Nebraska, 2010), and The Red Bird All-Indian Traveling Band.