The Girl in the Photograph

September 9, 2019
In this poignant account, former senator Dorgan connects the tale of an abused girl on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota to the larger story of the U.S. government’s mistreatment of Native Americans. Dorgan first encountered five-year-old Tamara (no last name is given) in 1990, when her photograph appeared in a Bismarck Tribune story about the beating she endured in a reservation foster home. The next weekend, Dorgan writes, he traveled from Washington, D.C., to Standing Rock to meet Tamara. But he soon lost track of her. Twenty-seven years later, she reached out to him on social media. Dorgan uses the harrowing details of Tamara’s life story—which includes sexual abuse, homelessness, untreated PTSD, and attempted suicide—to put a human face on the plight of indigenous Americans in general. Among many shocking statistics, he notes that the federal government allocates less healthcare funding per Native person than per incarcerated person. On a more positive note, Dorgan profiles young Native American leaders, such as Mariah Gladstone, whose Indigikitchen project promotes traditional foodways as a means to improving Native Americans’ health. Dorgan’s plea for change serves as an informative and moving introduction to a great injustice.

September 15, 2019
A sober and sobering testimonial about the devastating consequences of the United States government's broken promises to the Native American community. Former North Dakota Sen. Dorgan (Reckless!: How Debt, Deregulation, and Dark Money Nearly Bankrupted America (And How We Can Fix It!), 2009, etc.) continues his post-office advocacy work with this grim exposé. The central figure is Tamara, a young woman from the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Her biography distills hundreds of years of institutional dishonesty, incompetence, and malevolence, which have left the Native American community's well-being far behind that of other American demographics. Dorgan first encountered Tamara through a newspaper story in 1990. Her parents were abusive alcoholics, and at age 2, she was placed in a foster home where she was beaten nearly to death. The author launched an investigation into the reservation's child welfare system, which yielded alarming facts but left much work still to be done. This book, he explicitly hopes, will inspire readers to action. Dorgan gradually reveals Tamara's story, which exemplifies many of the most pressing concerns confronting Native Americans. Each phase of her life becomes an intimate entrance point by which to analyze a particular systemic failing. The author looks into the history and current state of issues, including child welfare, health care, education, and justice. He details problems like generational trauma, environmental degradation, and land theft while highlighting leadership within the community and offering recommendations for a brighter future. The text is well organized, balancing personal anecdotes with history and hard data. Many of the statistics, though, lack citations that would further bolster the author's credibility among skeptics. Dorgan confronts difficult realities with unblinking sensitivity and an infusion of hope. Policy change is his undisguised intention, so the authorial voice is that of a politician persuading his constituency. Simultaneously appalling and optimistic, this book will enlist many sympathetic readers to the cause of Native rights.

COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 1, 2019
Before he retired in 2001, U.S. Senator Dorgan of North Dakota served on the Committee for Indian Affairs, working to help Indian tribes find the resources to address problems like safeguarding Indian children placed in foster care. When he first met Tamara in 1990 she was five and had been severely beaten in her foster home on the Standing Rock Reservation. Dorgan also met her grandfather, and the three became friends, then Tamara disappeared. Twenty-seven years later she contacted Dorgan, and gradually revealed to him the facts of her homelessness and PTSD. Dorgan uses Tamara's sad story as the vehicle to explore the history of America's treatment of its Native population, from broken treaties and lost homelands to extreme poverty and lack of educational opportunities. He isn't without hope, citing numerous examples of young Native healthcare workers, educators, and lawyers already having an impact on public policy. But he also wants to inspire readers to address the needs of pockets of people living in third-world conditions. As Dorgan writes, Tamara is the pebble. This book is the ripple in the pond. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

September 13, 2019

While serving North Dakota in Congress in 1990, Dorgan (Take This Job and Ship It) encountered an article in the Bismarck Tribune about a Native American girl named Tamara who experienced abuse while in foster care. He was profoundly moved, especially by the accompanying photograph showing Tamara with a single tear running down her face. Angered by the account, Dorgan traveled to the Standing Rock Reservation where he met Tamara and her grandfather. During the visit, he learned about the dire condition of the reservation's child welfare system from tribal elders. He remained in touch with Tamara until her grandfather died. Remarkably, they reestablished contact nearly three decades later when he received a message from her online. Dorgan would learn the rest of Tamara's story, including her struggles with homelessness and PTSD as an adult. In recounting her story, Dorgan also explores the conditions faced by Native children throughout the United States, including poverty, hunger, crime, and abuse. Dorgan depicts several young Native leaders who are intent on making change and provides resources and organizations for those who wish to help.

VERDICT A passionate, heartfelt account that will heighten our awareness of an important issue.--Dave Pugl, Ela Area P.L., Lake Zurich, IL

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 13, 2019

In 1990, after spotting the headline "Foster home children beaten-- and nobody's helping" in the Bismarck Tribune, then senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota traveled to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, home of the little girl in the wrenching photograph accompanying the news story. He befriended five-year-old Tamara and her grandfather, but Tamara soon disappeared, and it took Dorgan decades to find her. Here he tells her story and, more largely, that of Native American children, whose lives include disproportionately high suicide and mortality rates.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2019
A sober and sobering testimonial about the devastating consequences of the United States government's broken promises to the Native American community. Former North Dakota Sen. Dorgan (Reckless!: How Debt, Deregulation, and Dark Money Nearly Bankrupted America (And How We Can Fix It!), 2009, etc.) continues his post-office advocacy work with this grim expos�. The central figure is Tamara, a young woman from the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Her biography distills hundreds of years of institutional dishonesty, incompetence, and malevolence, which have left the Native American community's well-being far behind that of other American demographics. Dorgan first encountered Tamara through a newspaper story in 1990. Her parents were abusive alcoholics, and at age 2, she was placed in a foster home where she was beaten nearly to death. The author launched an investigation into the reservation's child welfare system, which yielded alarming facts but left much work still to be done. This book, he explicitly hopes, will inspire readers to action. Dorgan gradually reveals Tamara's story, which exemplifies many of the most pressing concerns confronting Native Americans. Each phase of her life becomes an intimate entrance point by which to analyze a particular systemic failing. The author looks into the history and current state of issues, including child welfare, health care, education, and justice. He details problems like generational trauma, environmental degradation, and land theft while highlighting leadership within the community and offering recommendations for a brighter future. The text is well organized, balancing personal anecdotes with history and hard data. Many of the statistics, though, lack citations that would further bolster the author's credibility among skeptics. Dorgan confronts difficult realities with unblinking sensitivity and an infusion of hope. Policy change is his undisguised intention, so the authorial voice is that of a politician persuading his constituency. Simultaneously appalling and optimistic, this book will enlist many sympathetic readers to the cause of Native rights.

COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.