Sally in Three Worlds: An Indian Captive in the House of Brigham Young by Virginia Kerns

 Genre: history/anthropology 

Who is Sally?  I love that, having read this book, I now know.  Sally was a young Indian woman captured and then sold to the son-in-law of Mormon Leader Brigham Young back when what we now know as the Salt Lake Valley belonged to the Pahvant Utes, the Shoshones and other tribes and bands of Native Americans.  Of course, Sally wasn’t the name her mother gave her or the name she was called through all the years of her life before she found herself in a fort dominated by women who - for better or worse - were all connected to the Mormon prophet.  It was in his homes - first a fort, then a log cabin then a mansion in a new gleaming city, that Sally began the process of being “civilized” - a activity that colonizers everywhere have recognized as the end goal of any foray into the “wild.”  Sally’s life, as the book says, “stands…in this telling as the special case that illustrates a general process in American settler colonialism, the process of colonizing the wild.”

This nonfiction book is a chronological study of a life  told only through the eyes and words of others.  Using an anthropological framework instead of strict history, the author does a phenomenal job of using sources to teach us about her choices (or lack of) the context of her life experience and most especially her role as a human being during a period of intentional annihilation of not just a way of life but a way of BEING.  Sally’s story is a story of assimilation, of a culture traumatically ripped away and the arduous path to create safety and a sense of family among strangers.

It is HARD to think about what my own ancestors participated in as colonizers of this land rich with its own heritage and peoples.  I acknowledge they were a part of their own society and culture, it just is still upsetting to acknowledge what was lost.  It’s a history book - so it’s not for people looking for a light read.  But if you are interested in the history of western development or of a Mormon Utah or of even just personal stories of women who deserve to have their stories told - I found this to be really interesting.