The Sea of Grass: A Family Tale from the American Heartland by Walter Echo-Hawk (review)

The Sea of Grass is a historical novel based on the author’s years of archival research as well as dedicated collection of both family and tribal histories. Walter Echo-Hawk’s brilliant work, a vastly different undertaking than writing in his professional field of law, carries readers through ten generations in a riveting story of change and survival in the Great Plains. The narrative style makes a complicated and extensive history accessible to any reader, and may be the perfect medium to provide a much-needed alternate perspective to the typical mainstream American narrative.

Echo-Hawk’s tale is at once a family, tribal, and regional history. With the vast majority of the book centered on the “Sea of Grass,” readers learn that this region in its natural splendor is truly a wellspring of life. Throughout the story, one gets a clear sense of the very real connection felt by Echo-Hawk’s people (the Pawnee or Earth Lodge People) between themselves, the creatures with whom they share the land, and the land itself. Selective, though generous, use of the Pawnee language strengthens his work.

In many ways, this is a story of invasion, not only by representatives of Europe or the United States, but by other tribal nations. Walter Echo-Hawk brings a Pawnee perspective forward in an engaging format, providing readers with a clearer cultural and historical picture as he shares the life experiences of his ancestors, their relatives, and others around them, and with great craft reveals the inextricable links between daily life, spirituality, and tradition. The author demonstrates how ravaging diseases like smallpox, intense enemy and American pressures, and dwindling bison herds failed to destroy the Pawnee.

Part 3 highlights the continued military service of the Pawnee people— especially family members— as United States soldiers in the twentieth century, writing that since the days of the Pawnee Scouts, “our patriots have served two nations living in the same land” (329). Part 4 brings readers through the latter portion of the twentieth and into the twenty-first century as Pawnee men battled alongside others in the courts and halls of government to serve and protect their people.

Echo-Hawk’s book serves as an excellent example of successfully blending the more traditional approach to history provided by written documents with oral history and cultural matter like legends, spiritual beliefs, and practices. This story of survival and resilience in the face of changing times and mounting pressures is both educational and inspiring. It is great for classroom use, particularly at the college level. Thoughtfully included are a pronunciation guide, bibliography, discussion questions, a map and other images, which help readers follow the movement of the narrative and bring the language and characters to life. It might prove beneficial in future printings to add a charted family tree for tracking the myriad characters appearing over the many generations and a glossary for the Pawnee vocabulary. Overall, this book is both an enjoyable and soundly educational read.