Love and Loss After Wounded Knee - by Julie Dobrow (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A dual biography of two activists whose marriage challenged the gender and racial norms of their time

Like any set of star-crossed lovers, Elaine and Charles came from different worlds. Elaine, an acclaimed childhood poet from a remote corner of the Massachusetts Berkshires, traveled to the Dakota Territories to teach Native American students, undaunted by society's admonitions. Charles, a Dakota Sioux from Minnesota, educated at Dartmouth and Boston University Medical School, was considered by his Euro-American mentors the epitome of an assimilated Indian. But when they met just ahead of the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890, the magnetic pull of love brought them together despite the tremendous odds stacked against them.

Love and Loss after Wounded Knee offers a dual biography of Elaine Goodale and Ohíye'Sa, (Dr. Charles Alexander Eastman), exploring their individual lives as well as their highly publicized interracial marriage. Both well-known in their own time- Elaine as a poet, journalist and advocate for Indian education and Charles as writer, public speaker, and ardent activist for Indian rights- their marriage started with a shared vision to work on behalf of Indians. In the face of extreme prejudice, financial burden, and personal tragedy however, the marriage began to unravel.

Dobrow paints an intimate, emotional portrait of the Eastmans' lives drawn from Elaine and Charles' letters, papers, and hundreds of accounts of the Eastmans' lives from newspapers. Along the way, she skillfully illuminates the shifting late 19th and early 20th century definitions of Indigenous identity, and reveals how the Eastmans' legacies reflect changing American attitudes toward gender, interracial relationships and biracial children. The result is a compelling new history that weds the private and the political, and Native America and the United States of America- entwined yet separated, inextricable yet never fully joined, just like Elaine and Charles themselves.

Review Quotes

"Brings to life the fascinating story of Elaine Goodale and Charles Eastman's unconventional marriage - one that challenged taboos regarding inter-racial relationships and women's roles in public and literary spheres. While working on the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1890, Goodale and Eastman met. In the wake of the devastating Wounded Knee massacre, they wed. Digging deep into sources other historians have missed, the author illuminates the ties that bound and the tensions and fissures that challenged this marriage. Written with clarity and compassion, this book is an invaluable contribution to Native American, gender, and marriage and family history."--Sherry Smith, author of Bohemians West: Free Love, Family and Radicals in Twentieth Century America.

"History books have answers; this one asks questions. While the Eastmans have been described separately many times, no one before now has described them as a couple. Their widely-publicized interracial marriage symbolized a moment of promise. But it did not last. Why? What drove them apart and what did their separation mean? These and many other wonderful questions permeate Dobrow's riveting story."--Frederick E. Hoxie, University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign

"Presents a fascinating, comprehensive, double biographical study of Dr. Charles and Elaine Goodale Eastman, detailing their professional achievements and failures, as well as their relationships and their shortcomings. Their marriage, publications, and activism attracted national attention, centering on needed reforms to improve reservation conditions and Native peoples' rights. Dobrow contextualizes the Eastmans within a broad swarth of national events, particularly emphasizing 19 th and 20 th century federal Indian policies. Love and Loss after Wounded Knee will become one of the major sources to consult on this remarkable couple."--Raymond Wilson, author of Ohiyesa: Charles Eastman, Santee Sioux

About the Author

Julie Dobrow (Author)
Julie Dobrow is Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies and a professor at Tufts University, and the author of After Emily: Two Remarkable Women and the Legacy of America's Greatest Poet.