Little Crow: Taoyateduta: Leader of the Dakota

Rather than simplifying the narrative into a story of inevitable white conquest over a doomed and heroic Indian leader and his people, Swain details at length the negative consequences of white encroachment, the impossible choices facing Dakota people, the compromises and lapses in integrity particularly at the time of the war, and the nastiness of the white settler population. In another example she provides the gruesome details about the chief's death, presenting an unflattering portrait of Minnesotans who dragged his body to the main street of Hutchinson, put firecrackers in his ears and nose, scalped and beheaded him, then displayed his remains at one of the state's most revered institutions, the Minnesota Historical Society.