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by Mary Butler Renville (Author), Carrie Reber Zeman (Editor), Kathryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodola (Editor)
This edition of A Thrilling Narrative of Indian Captivity rescues from obscurity a crucially important work about the bitterly contested 1862 U.S.-Dakota War in Minnesota. Written by Mary Butler Renville, an Anglo woman, with the assistance of her Dakota husband, John Baptiste Renville, A Thrilling Narrative of Indian Captivity was printed as a book only once, in 1863, and has not been republished since. The work details the Renvilles' experiences as "captives" among their Dakota kin in the Upper Camp and chronicles the story of the Dakota Peace Party. Their sympathetic portrayal of those who opposed the war in 1862 combats the stereotypical view that most Dakotas supported it and illuminates the injustice of their exile from Dakota homelands. From the authors' unique perspective as an interracial couple, they paint a complex picture of race, gender, and class relations on successive midwestern frontiers.
This narrative provides fresh insights into the most controversial event in the region's history, and includes groundbreaking historical and literary contexts for the text and a first-time collection of extant Dakota correspondence with authorities during the war.Author Biography
Mary Butler Renville (1830-1895) and John Baptiste Renville (1831-1903) dedicated their lives to education and mission work among the Dakotas. Carrie Reber Zeman is an independent historian specializing in the context and historiography of the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. Kathryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodola is a professor of English emerita at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the author of The War in Words: Reading the Dakota Conflict through the Captivity Literature (Nebraska, 2009). Dakota scholar Gwen N. Westerman is a professor at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and coauthor of Mni Sota Makoce: The Land of the Dakota, winner of the Hognander Minnesota History Award.
