A Cheyenne Voice: The Complete John Stands In Timber Interviews by John Stands (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: A Cheyenne Voice: The Complete John Stands In Timber Interviews by John Stands Christina Gish Hill A Cheyenne Voice: The Complete John Stands In Timber Interviews. By John Stands In Timber and Margot Liberty. Foreword by Raymond J. DeMallie. Map commentary by Michael N. Donahue. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2013. xxi + 495 pp. Illustrations, maps, map notes, index. $34.95 cloth. By publishing A Cheyenne Voice, a compilation of the transcribed interviews of John Stands In Timber, Margot Liberty has made available a priceless resource on Northern Plains history. This volume represents not only years of careful scholarship by both Liberty and Stands In Timber, but it is also a model of collaborative research between Native and non- Native scholars. Since 1967, thousands of readers have enjoyed Cheyenne Memories, the first book to emerge from the long scholarly relationship between these two historians. Whereas Cheyenne Memories resembles other as- told-to Indigenous life histories, presenting a rather seamless historical narrative woven together from unseen interviews, A Cheyenne Voice records each interview in the order recorded, including the questions posed by Liberty, revealing a record of a life and a research process that is rarely available to the public. Most field notes and interviews languish away in archives, inaccessible without time and money for travel. By publishing these transcriptions, Liberty has made the fruits of her collaboration with Stands In Timber accessible to anyone. A Cheyenne Voice provides insight into both Cheyenne history and the methodology of learning and recording these narratives from both a scholarly and an Indigenous perspective. Through the foreword and introduction, readers learn about the life of John Stands In Timber and his diligent efforts to learn about Northern Cheyenne histories from the oldest generations of his home community. They also discover the potential of collaborative relationships between scholars and Native historians. The interviews themselves reveal the depth of knowledge Stands In Timber had gained [End Page 189] about Northern Cheyenne history and culture. It is obvious from the text that he was a natural historian, not only learning narratives but also carefully documenting dates of important events and names of participants. The volume provides detailed information on almost any topic related to Cheyenne culture and history, including early migrations, practices of the military societies, expectations of the chiefs, courtship, marriage, battles with other tribal nations and with US troops, the transition to reservation life, and even religious narratives and ceremonies. The text also reproduces three maps of the Battle of Little Big Horn, drawn by Stands In Timber himself. Though long, at 480 pages of narrative, this book is a treasure for anyone wishing to learn more about the Northern Cheyenne. Readers have Stands In Timber’s words before them, almost unadulterated by an editor’s pen. In these pages, they will find one Cheyenne man’s perspective on his people’s history and their adaptations to the dramatic transition of life on the Plains to life on the reservation, including the violence that accompanied this process. This book is not merely an autobiographical account of this powerful history, it is also a carefully researched ethnohistory of a people. Stands In Timber certainly deserves the title of historian for his detailed exploration of oral histories preserved by the generations who came before him. Now his important research is finally available to us all. Christina Gish Hill Iowa State University Copyright © 2015 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln