Broken - by Lisa Jones (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Broken is the the story of a woman's transformation through her work with an Arapaho medicine man and horse trainer.

Writer Lisa Jones went to Wyoming for a four-day magazine assignment. She was committed to a long-term relationship, building a career, and searching for something she could not name.

At a dusty corral on the Wind River Indian Reservation, she met Stanford Addison, a Northern Arapaho who seemed to transform everything around him. He gentled horses rather than breaking them. It was said he could heal people of everything from cancer to bipolar disorder. He did all this from a wheelchair; he had been a quadriplegic for more than twenty years.

Intrigued, Lisa sat at Stanford's kitchen table and watched. And she listened to his story. Stanford spent his teenage years busting broncos, seducing girls, and dealing drugs. At twenty, he left the house for another night of partying. By morning, a violent accident had robbed him of his physical prowess and left in its place unwelcome spiritual powers--an exchange so shocking that Stanford spent several years trying to kill himself. Eventually he surrendered to his new life and mysterious gifts. Over the years Lisa was a frequent visitor to Stanford's place, the reservation and its people worked on her, exposing and healing the places where she, too, was broken. This is her story, intertwined with Stanford's, and it explores powerful spirits, material poverty, spiritual wealth, friendship, violence, confusion, death, and above all else, love.

Review Quotes

"[Lisa Jones] has a knack for describing events, people, and scenery so well that the reader can almost taste the weak, sugary coffee and feel the oppressive heat of the ceremonial sweat lodge."
-- Library Journal (starred review).

"A beautifully written, heart wrenching journey into the depths of the soul. A tale of mystery, courage, and love between men, women and horses."
-- Jim Fergus, author of One Thousand White Women and The Wild Girl

"A great endeavor; a beautiful and powerful tale. I would treat myself to BROKEN, relishing the language, and like a woman with the best dark chocolate red chile fudge, I would savor its pages."
-- Winona LaDuke, Anishinaabe activist and author of All our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life and Recovering the Sacred: the Power of Naming and Claiming

"A stunning accomplishment! Lisa Jones captures the wild beauty of the Wind River Reservation, the pathos and joy of the Arapahos who live there, and the remarkable life of a modern-day medicine man. All of this while on a healing journey into the broken places of her own heart."
- Margaret Coel, author of Blood Memory

"An incredible and soul-moving account of a Northern Arapaho's own healing journey, and his impact on others. Nowhere else will you find such an inspirational and uplifting book that reveals the power of the unlimited healing force that is present, and the startling results it will produce when used to serve and help others."
--Angeles Arrien, author of The Four-Fold Way


"Arapaho elder Stanford Addison is the most wonderful of heroes - and Jones is exactly the guide to bring him to us."
--Alexandra Fuller, author of The Legend of Colton H. Bryant and Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight

"BROKEN is about life loving us all equally and connecting us to spiritual responsibility. If you don't read BROKEN, you are missing out!"

Tiokasin Ghosthorse - Host of First Voices Indigenous Radio, WBAI NY.

"I love this book... a harrowing and ecstatic journey of mind, body and soul--so beautifully told that the reader is not just transfixed but transformed."

--Abigail Thomas, author of A Three Dog Life

"Intrepid only begins to describe Lisa Jones, who goes to admirable and adventuresome lengths to take the measure of a singular American spirit."
--Ted Conover, author of The Routes of Man and Newjack

"It is the rare non-Native writer who can gain access to the hearts of Native people to share their stories; rarer still is the non-Native writer who tells those stories with both a clear eye and a compassionate heart. Lisa Jones has not only succeeded on both counts, she has offered us a story of a man, a people, and the bond between human and animal that will touch the heart of any reader...What a fine book."
--Kent Nerburn, author of Neither Wolf nor Dog and The Wolf at Twilight

"Jones locates herself beautifully in a story that is hers and not hers. This is her first book. We look forward to the next." - Los Angeles Times

About the Author

Lisa Jones has written for The New York Times Magazine, High Country News, and National Public Radio. She is the author of Broken: A Love Story. She lives in Colorado with her husband and two cats.