Ramona

“Siobhan Senier’s invaluable new edition effectively situates Ramona in its cultural, political, and historical contexts. The appendices assemble a riveting collection of documents, including texts on public opinion surrounding allotment and on women’s roles in Indian reform. Particularly valuable, the section on contemporary Native American voices restores historically silenced perspectives on the allotment and assimilation debates. The lucid, thoughtful introduction and the group of images related to the novel further enhance our ability to appreciate Jackson’s classic novel. Absorbing and challenging, Senier’s edition sets the standard.” ― Karen L. Kilcup, University of North Carolina

“In this new edition, Siobhan Senier insightfully reads Ramona in its many modes: a vehicle to advocate for Indian rights; a reinscription, however strategic, of the most common stereotypes of Native peoples; a record of one activist who was wholly consumed with ‘the Indian question’; and a ‘sugar-coated’ narrative of the Mission era in Alta California. Senier deftly sets the stage for readers to grasp the myriad voices echoing in Ramona through her appendices of contemporary works by tribal and non-tribal authors of the time, reflecting current trends in Native American literary studies that seek to engage indigenous perspectives. With these materials in hand, readers are better poised than ever to comprehend the complexity and longevity of the legend of Ramona.” ― Penelope Kelsey, Western Illinois University

“Siobhan Senier’s edition of Ramona finally gives this important American novel the critical attention that it deserves. Not only does Senier’s graceful introduction situate Ramona in relation to Jackson’s own activism on behalf of American Indian peoples and to the contentious historical climate of the late nineteenth-century, the included appendices provide ample context for multiple understandings of the novel and its historical moment. I could as easily teach this edition of Ramona in an American Indian rhetoric studies course as well as in a literature course. I am particularly impressed by how this serious scholarly contextualization works in relation to Senier’s equally serious consideration of the ‘Ramona myth’ and how that myth plays out in contemporary Californian culture.” ― Malea Powell, Michigan State University