Andy Wilson

November 29, 2005

Dr. Hyer

Cuny Table Critique

A History of Cuny Table, South Dakota 1890-2002 by Virginia Irene

Lautenschlager is a rather interesting book. It deals with the area of Cuny Table in

southwestern South Dakota and the people that live there. Lautenschlager examines over

nearly one hundred years of history from the area and deals with the many families that

have called the area home. Lautenschlager, who is herself a descendant of Cuny Table,

examines life in southwest South Dakota and paints a picture of what life was like in the

last half of the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries.

Lautenschlager goes into very fine detail when describing life on the Table. I

found her information concerning the early history of Cuny Table to be the most

interesting. Before having read this book I new very little about the Messiah War and the

incidents that occurred at that time. Her information was detailed and very interesting; it

introduced me to period which I had heard almost nothing about. Chief Standing Bear

was one the more memorable people which Lautenschlager discussed because he showed

great courage when dealing with Ten Fingers and convincing many of the Teton to go to

Pine Ridge. I was amazed at the fact that Standing Bear did not even flinch when Crow

Ten Fingers shot directly between his legs. It would be hard for almost and person to not

move if the were being fired at, especially from close range. Standing Bear must have

been an exceptionally skilled and experienced warrior to not show fear at Ten Fingers

attack.

I found his compassion to be very admirable as well. By persuading the people

on Stronghold to leave and fight to the last person, Standing Bear saved the lives of many

people because shortly before this incident had occurred the Wounded Knee massacre. If

Standing Bear had not helped to convince the people on the Stronghold to leave, they

may very well have suffered the same fate as those at Wounded Keen.

I was also interested by Big Bat Pourier, not so much because he was a great

frontiersman, but because his name now graces the name of numerous Big Bats

convenience stores, like the one in Chadron. It brings history to life to see how different

people have influenced later generations. By talking about the Big Bat convenience

store, Lautenschlager brings history closer to home, allowing for many more students to

relate to what they are reading about.

Parts three, four and five were not as interesting as had been the previous two.

These sections dealt with the people who had at some point called Cuny Table home. For

me it was extremely boring with maybe a sentence or paragraph of interesting material

sprinkled throughout. Most of the information concerned genealogy which was very

repetitive and very boring. Lautenschlager devotes huge paragraphs to naming every

child that a family had then writes maybe a sentence about where the family came from

and how long they were in Cuny Table. These sections, with the exception of the part

pertaining to her family, are more a listing of genealogy than an actual book of any sort.

Lautenschlager should have focused more on obtaining details concerning the lives of

those families instead of simply stating who they were and how many kids they had.

I did find Lautenschlagers own personal comments concerning Cuny table very

comical. My favorite is when she alludes to getting into an argument with another

woman over who was poorer during the Great Depression. Lautenschlager is describing

a family that moved into Cuny Table and had no option to live in a rundown old house.

Later the house was refurbished and repaired but according to Lautenschlager it was

much better than the house that she lived in. I found Lautenschlagers inclusions of her

one-up manship very funny and kind of out place for a historical book but at the same

time I liked it.

In all I found Lautenschlagers book to be a bit tedious but still interesting. Her

style of writing is like nothing I have ever read before. I imagine that if my grandma

were to write a book about the history of Dundy County it would sound similar. But that

is not a bad thing; it is just unique and different than what I’m use to. I found the last two

chapters the most interesting because they dealt with moon-shining as well the air base

which I had heard mentioned throughout the book. I don’t know why but war and

whiskey always seem to excite a mans interests. Other than parts three, four and five, I

enjoyed reading Cuny Table. Lautenschlagers writing style made me laugh and made

most of the information very enjoyable to read.