Mari Sandoz came out of the Sandhills of Nebraska to write at least three enduring books: Old Jules, Cheyenne Autumn, and Crazy Horse, the Strange Man of the Oglalas. She was a tireless researcher, a true storyteller, an artist passionately dedicated to a place little known and a people largely misunderstood. Blasted by some critics, revered by others for her vivid detail and depth of feeling, Sandoz has achieved a secure place in American literature. Her letters, edited by Helen Winter Stauffer, reveal extraordinary courage and zest for life. Included here are letters written by Sandoz over nearly forty years?from 1928, the year of her father's death and a critical one for her creative development, to 1966, the year of her own death. They allow memorable flimpses of the professional and private person: her struggles to learn her craft in spite of an unsupportive family and hard-won formal education, her experiences in gathering material, her relationships with editors and publishers, her work with fledgling writers, and her commitment to art and to various social concerns.

"The collected correspondence of Mari Sandoz focusing on her political activism in behalf of American Indians in the mid-twentieth century. Introduced and edited by Kimberli Lee, the letters document Sandoz's role as a non-Native chronicler and advocate for Plains Indian cultures"--Provided by publisher.

Letters to Robert A. Griffen of Reno, Nev., from Mari Sandoz. In Sandoz' letter of June 28, 1959, she discusses her book Hostiles and Friendlies and other literature about the American West. Letter of Aug. 28, 1961, discusses the publication of her book, Ram in the Thicket by Readers Digest, a re-issue of Cheyenne Autumn, and her desire to obtain some of Griffen's Indian bead work and photos of his paintings. Letter of Dec. 27, 1961, thanks Griffen for his gift of a sketch of a bar.

"The Sioux Indians came into my life before I had any preconceived notions about them," writes Mari Sandoz about the visitors to her family homestead in the Sandhills of Nebraska when she was a child. These Were the Sioux, written in her last decade, takes the reader far inside a world of rituals surrounding puberty, courtship, and marriage, as well as the hunt and the battle.