Turtle Lung Woman's Granddaughter is the unforgettable story of several generations of Lakota women, told in their words. Delphine Red Shirt-like her mother, Lone Woman, and her mother's grandmother, Turtle Lung Woman-grew up on the wide open Plains of northern Nebraska and southern South Dakota. Lone Woman told her daughter the story of her life growing up on Pine Ridge in the early and mid-twentieth century. Remarkably, Lone Woman also recounted the life of her own grandmother, Turtle Lung Woman, who had grown up Lakota before her people had been forced to live on reservations in the late nineteenth century. These two women's lives overlapped by fifteen years, allowing the younger to learn many fascinating details and stories about the life and times of the elder. Delphine Red Shirt has delicately woven the life stories of her mother and great-grandmother into a continuous narrative that succeeds triumphantly as a moving, epic saga of Lakota women from traditional times to the present. Especially revealing and riveting are Turtle Lung Woman's relationship with her husband, Paints His Face with Clay Land, her healing practice as a medicine woman (where turtle shells become animated and crawl during the Yuw'pi ceremony), Lone Woman's hardships and celebrations growing up in the early twentieth century, and many wonderful details of their domestic lives before and during the early reservation years. Lone Woman passed away just after telling her story to her daughter. This splendid, magical story is a legacy for her and for all Lakota women. Delphine Red Shirt is a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and is an adjunct professor of American studies and English at Yale University. She is a columnist and correspondent for Indian Country Today and is the author of Bead on an Anthill: A Lakota Childhood (Nebraska 1997).

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments; Orthographic and Pronunciation Key; IntroductionPart 1: Turtle Lung Woman (Kheglezela Chaguwi)1. Beading by Moonlight2. Khagi Wichasa, Crow Men3. Turtle Lung Woman4. Stones and Turtle Shells5. Wakiyela, The Mourning Dove6. Ite Siyakhiya's Wives7. Lakota Code of Conduct--Part 18. Lakota Code of Conduct--Part 29. Thathaka Naz, Standing Buffalo10. Matho Cha Wigni Iya, Bear Goes in the Wood11. Akhe Ikto, Again, Iktomi, the Trickster12. "Bliheiciya Wau, With Dauntless Courage, I LivePart 2: Lone Woman (Wiya Isnala)13. Raised on Canned Milk14. "Wichicalala, Small Girl15. Horses of Many Colors16. Whispers17. The Grasses They Grew--Part 118. The Grasses They Grew--Part 219. Canvas Moccasins20. My Father Was a Dancing Man21. My Father's Dreadful Dream22. Kettle DancePart 3: Death23. Rations24. Taya Wablake, Clear Eyes25. Apetu ki hel, On a Given Day, I Became a Woman26. Buffalo Ceremony27. Mata, A Cheyenne Woman28. Phezuta, Peyote29. Thawicuku, Marriage30. Brooks HorseEpilogue