The Lost Journals of Sacajewea

De: Debra Magpie Earling

Narrado por: Mandy Smoker Broaddus

Among the most memorialized women in American history, Sacajewea served as interpreter and guide for Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery. In this visionary novel, acclaimed Indigenous author Debra Magpie Earling brings this mythologized figure vividly to life, casting unsparing light on the men who brutalized her and recentering Sacajewea as the arbiter of her own history.

Raised among the Lemhi Shoshone, the young Sacajewea, in this telling, is bright and bold, growing strong from the hard work of "learning all ways to survive." When her village is raided and her beloved Appe and Bia are killed, Sacajewea is kidnapped and then gambled away to Charbonneau, a French-Canadian trapper.

Sacajewea learns how to survive at the edge of a strange new world teeming with fur trappers and traders. When Lewis and Clark's expedition party arrives, Sacajewea knows she must cross a vast and brutal terrain with her newborn son, the white man who owns her, and a company of men who wish to conquer and commodify the world she loves. Written in lyrical prose, The Lost Journals of Sacajewea is an astonishing work of art and a powerful tale of perseverance—the Indigenous woman's story that hasn't been told.

©2023 Debra Magpie Earling (P)2024 Tantor Media

This audio enhances the reading experience

I really appreciated hearing the pronunciations of the beautifully written language in this story. The audio is very clear and easily understood. It is a difficult story to read but I found the voice of the narrator to be very calming.

Subversive Fever Dream

Though I read this bold, experimental novel when it first came out, this audio version is illuminating, hypnotic, and powerful. Mandy Smoker Broaddus brings her poet's voice and cadences to Earling's visionary tone poem, giving the narrative clarity and dimension. An absolutely mesmerizing immersion in radical Indigenous imagination. The world seems unready for this level of genius. Maybe someday it will be recognized.

A transformative masterpiece well read

This is a book that unsettles. It challenges and ultimately transforms the reader. The Lost Journals of Sacajewea is not an easy read—but being able to hear it aloud is like listening to a spell unwind. The work ungrounds you in English and language, forcing you to navigate a different rhythm of storytelling if you are accustomed to eurocentric narratives. And it gives you a different way of seeing. That disorientation is part of its brilliance, especially for white European-descended readers who are too accustomed to language reinforcing their perspective rather than shaking it.

This novel demands that you learn its language, step into its world on its terms, and in doing so, it offers something profound: a vision of a land before and during colonization, a perspective often erased or sanitized in historical narratives. It’s a difficult book, yes, but like all great works, the challenge is part of its power. The writing is masterful, the voice unforgettable, and the experience of reading it is one I hope many people take on. The rewards are immense.