The Long Journey Home by Don Coldsmith
John Buffalo, a Lakota Sioux, is taken from his family and his home as a young boy and forced into the hostile world of the white man. His is first sent to a school for Indian boys where he learns the customs and ways of whites. It is at this school where it is soon discovered that John has an extraordinary talent in sports. He is then sponsored by a famous Senator to go to a college in Pennsylvania to study and participate in sports there, particulary football and track and field, to possibly be in the Olympics. He then falls in love with the Senators white daughter and upon discovery of the love affair, the Senator sends him back West to a lesser school and the daughter is sent to Europe to dissaude the couple. After the two are broken apart, he is heartbroken and throws himself into his studies and sports, as well as his love of horses. John decides to pursue a career of coaching but because of the prejudice of the times, is unable to find a job in that field. He then goes to work for a German farmer breaking horses and has a real talent in that and is soon asked to go to work for The Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Circus as a horse trainer. It is during this time that he meets a young cowgirl whom he instantly falls in love with, but knowing that the union of the two would be frowned upon, they must hide their love and never marry. While touring with 101 Show, an old coach from the University hunts him down and asks him to go to the Olympics in Stockholm in 1912 as an assistant coach. He would be working with the famous Jim Thorpe. After his stint at the Olympics, John decides to go back to the 101 to see his girl, only to find her gone. Heartbroken again, John continues his work with the Wild West Show as a cowboy or an Indian, or a horse trainer, whatever is needed. Eventually the 101 gang is broken up and John moves on to work at various ranches and playing poker in small town saloons. This is when World War I breaks out, and John joins the cavalry as an Indian Volunteer. At the end of the war, John discovers that his cowgirl love has died and has had a son by him, who also died in New Mexico of tuberculosis. Finally, John can take no more of the white mans ways and "bad medicine" and travels West to the Indian Reservation where he was originally from.
You'll have to read the book tofind out what happens in the end, but I absolutely loved it and I really learned a lot. The book was published by Tom Doherty Associates in New York in the year of 2001. Check it out!
