Co-ge-we-a, The Half-Blood: A Depiction of the Great Montana Cattle Range is a 1927 Western romance novel by Mourning Dove, also known as Hum-Ishu-Ma, or Christine Quintasket (Okanogan and Arrow Lakes). It is one of the earliest novels written by an indigenous woman from the Plateau region. The novel includes the first example of Native American literary criticism. Cogewea, the eponymous protagonist, is a woman of mixed-race ancestry, both Indigenous and Euro-American, who feels caught between her two worlds. She works ...
Read More
Co-ge-we-a, The Half-Blood: A Depiction of the Great Montana Cattle Range is a 1927 Western romance novel by Mourning Dove, also known as Hum-Ishu-Ma, or Christine Quintasket (Okanogan and Arrow Lakes). It is one of the earliest novels written by an indigenous woman from the Plateau region. The novel includes the first example of Native American literary criticism. Cogewea, the eponymous protagonist, is a woman of mixed-race ancestry, both Indigenous and Euro-American, who feels caught between her two worlds. She works on the ranch of her sister and white brother-in-law in Montana, where she is respected for her talents and skills. A European American from the East, Alfred Densmore, joins the ranch as an inexperienced ranch-hand. Cogewea is torn between the world of her white father and that of her Okanagan (spelled "Okanogan" in the novel) grandmother, Stemteema. Her work was supported by editor Lucullus Virgil McWhorter, an American anthropologist and activist for Native Americans. He threatened the publishing company, Four Seas Press, in order to get the novel published. Controversy has developed over McWhorter's influence over and changes in the novel. While some scholars believe his edits were typical for the genre and his time, others consider McWhorter to be a second author of the novel. McWhorter denied having that large a role. When the book was first published, audiences found the novel's style awkward. Mourning Dove was accused by one US Indian agent of falsely claiming that she written the novel. After receiving McWhorter wrote to him strongly supporting Mourning Dove's authorship, the agent recanted his statements. Over her lifetime, Mourning Dove gained both notoriety and respect as an author. It was not until the late 20th century that Cogewea gained scholarly attention, following a revival of interest in women's and indigenous people's works. Since that time, scholarship has focused on the infusion in Cogewea of Western tropes with Native American storytelling. In the novel, Alfred Densmore attempts to steal land and money he believes Cogewea possesses (she doesn't), and ends up abusing her when he finds out she is poor. Scholars agree that this plot line is a re-writing of the Silyx Okanagan oral story of Chipmunk and Owl Woman, where Owl Woman is the devourer and Chipmunk barely survives her encounter. Chipmunk is the meaning of Cogewea's name (Okanagan). Jeannette Armstrong, a First Nations woman who claims to be a grand-niece of Mourning Dove, says that the author had a "masterful knowledge of what Okanagan oral story is and how it works". Recent scholarship has also recognized the novel as a work of Indigenous empowerment. (wikipedia.org)
Read Less
Add this copy of Cogewea, the Half Blood: a Depiction of the Great to cart. $2.17, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Brownstown, MI, UNITED STATES, published 1981 by Bison Books.
Add this copy of Cogewea, the Half Blood: a Depiction of the Great to cart. $2.17, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Brownstown, MI, UNITED STATES, published 1981 by Bison Books.
Add this copy of Cogewea, the Half Blood: a Depiction of the Great to cart. $3.99, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Diamond rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1981 by University of Nebraska Press.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Cogewea, the Half Blood: a Depiction of the Great to cart. $4.99, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Emerald rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1981 by University of Nebraska Press.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Cogewea, the Half Blood: a Depiction of the Great to cart. $7.50, very good condition, Sold by Last Word Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Olympia, WA, UNITED STATES, published 1981 by Bison Books.
Add this copy of Cogewea, the Half Blood: A Depiction of the Great to cart. $8.00, very good condition, Sold by Priceless Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Urbana, IL, UNITED STATES, published 1981 by University of Nebraska Press.
Add this copy of Cogewea. The Half-Blood. A Depiction of the Great to cart. $8.00, like new condition, Sold by R & M Gerber Books rated 2.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lake Peekskill, NY, UNITED STATES, published 1981 by University of Nebraska Press.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Fine. Lt. wear to tips, tiny bit curling at top of 1st few pages, bookstore stamp ffep; (ID: 993) Notes, bio sketch by Lucullus Virgil McWhorter; intro. by Dexter Fisher. Reproduced from 1927 Four Seas Ed.
Add this copy of Cogewea, the Half Blood: A Depiction of the Great to cart. $12.00, very good condition, Sold by Hektor Dantes Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lubbock, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1981 by Bison Books.
Add this copy of Cogewea, the Half Blood: a Depiction of the Great to cart. $12.49, good condition, Sold by FirstClassBooks rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Little Rock, AR, UNITED STATES, published 1981 by Bison Books.
Add this copy of Cogewea, the Half Blood: a Depiction of the Great to cart. $12.50, very good condition, Sold by Eureka Books of CA rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Eureka, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1981 by University of Nebraska Press.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good paperback copy. One of the first known novels by a Native American woman, Cogewea (1927) is the story of a half-blood girl caught between the worlds of Anglo ranchers and full-blood reservation Indians; between the craven and false-hearted easterner Alfred Densmore and James LaGrinder, a half-blood cowboy and the best rider on the Flathead; between book learning and the folk wisdom of her full-blood grandmother. The book combines authentic Indian lore with the circumstance and dialogue of a popular romance; in its language, it shows a self-taught writer attempting to come to terms with the rift between formal written style and the comfort-able rhythms and slang of familiar speech. Mourning Dove, the author of Cogewea, was an Okanogan of eastern Washington. She lived as a migrant farmworker and, after ten-hour days in the hop fields and apple orchards, faithfully returned to the battered typewriter in her tent. Lucullus Virgil McWhorter, a respected and sympathetic student of Indian lore and history, encouraged her in her ambition to be a writer; finally she made her book a record of the folklore of the Okanogan tribe, a plea for the welfare of the half-blood, and above all the testimony to her own singleminded dedication.