A Doctor Among the Oglala Sioux Tribe
The Letters of Robert H. Ruby, 1953-1954
Published on 1. May 2010
448 pages
978-0-8032-3006-4 (ISBN)
Description
In 1953 young surgeon Robert H. Ruby began work as the chief medical officer at the hospital on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He began writing almost daily to his sister, describing the Oglala Lakota people he served, his Bureau of Indian Affairs colleagues, and day-to-day life on the reservation. Ruby and his wife were active in the social life of the non-white community, which allowed Ruby, also a self-trained ethnographer, to write in detail about the Oglala Lakota people and their culture, covering topics such as religion, art, traditions, and values. His frank and personal depiction of conditions he encountered on the reservation examines poverty, alcoholism, the educational system, and employment conditions and opportunities. Ruby also wrote critically of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, describing the bureaucracy that made it difficult for him to do his job and kept his hospital permanently understaffed and undersupplied. These engaging letters provide a compelling memoir of life at Pine Ridge in the mid-1950s.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Lincoln
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
13 b&w photos, 5 maps, 4 figures, 1 appendix
File size
2,44 MB
ISBN-13
978-0-8032-3006-4 (9780803230064)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Robert H. Ruby | Cary C. Collins | Charles V. Mutschler
A Doctor Among the Oglala Sioux Tribe
The Letters of Robert H. Ruby, 1953-1954
Book
05/2010
University of Nebraska Press
€43.50
Shipment within 10-20 days
Persons
Robert H. Ruby (1921-2013) is the author of numerous books, including Oglala Sioux: Warriors in Transition, available in a Bison Books edition. Cary C. Collins is the editor of Assimilation's Agent: My Life as a Superintendent in the Indian Boarding School System (Nebraska 2007) and Oglala Sioux: Warriors in Transition, available in a Bison Books edition. Charles V. Mutschler is the university archivist at the Eastern Washington University Archives and the author of Wired for Success: The Butte, Anaconda, and Pacific Railway, 1892-1985.
Content
- Intro
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Maps
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: The Deadliest War
- Timeline of Selected Events in the Life of Robert H. Ruby, MD
- Editors' Comment on Editorial Methodology
- One. August 1953
- Two. September 1953
- Three. October 1953
- Four. November 1953
- Five. December 1953
- Six. January 1954
- Seven. February 1954
- Eight. March 1954
- Nine. April 1954
- Ten. May 1954
- Eleven. June 1954
- Twelve. July 1954
- Thirteen. August 1954
- Fourteen. September 1954
- Fifteen. October 1954
- Sixteen. November 1954
- Seventeen. December 1954
- Editors' Postscript
- Appendix
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
