The author, Steve Sheinkin, is a white middle grade historian presenting the story of Jim Thorpe, a mixed Native and white (Sac, Fox and Irish and Potawatomi and French-Canadian) football player in the early days of the sport's inception at the Carlisle Indian School.
Sheinkin clearly did an enormous amount of research and worked with Native author Joseph Bruchac, mentioned in a note at the end and himself the author of books and a film about Thorpe, while writing the history.
He makes it very clear this is a rather simplified tale that fits in a bigger, more complex history of the Carlisle Indian School and of Indian residential schools nationwide and in Canada. Before embarking on this read, be aware of recent discoveries of unmarked graves at residential schools in Canada, and how the US Army is responding to requests to exhume and return to their families the remains of children and young adults who died while in school at Carlisle.
The book tells primarily one story, that of the football team's games and star player, Jim Thorpe. Sheinkin acknowledges that for the team's stars, like Thorpe, the school wasn't an entirely odious place to live and play ball. Not so for all the other students.
Sheinkin calls out the ignominious history of Indian schools nationwide, pointing to the parts they played in stripping Native children of their languages, cultures, and connections with their families and communities throughout the US. He also factually lays out the school's founder's bigotry and clearly odious "mission" of the school.
Then he turns his focus to the early days of the game, when it looked much different than it does now. Readers will be interested to learn kids frequently died every year playing this game, as many as seven in one year. Punching was standard and not even necessarily called a foul. Uniforms had little or no padding, and only leather caps kept the teams from grabbing and yanking each others' hair.
Sheinkin documents the team's desire to win against the Ivy League teams, particularly Harvard and Yale. He highlights the "creative" plays the coach, Pop Warner, devised for his players, taking advantage of the lack of a detailed rulebook.
Then he goes on to feature Thorpe. He makes clear the education Thorpe received there was questionable, at best. The school allowed Thorpe freedoms -- like running way and coming back -- not given to non-football stars. It focuses on the famous games between the schools, the relationship with the coach, Warner, and several of the other players.
It's an interesting look at the early days of the sport, and the complex web of hurt and opportunity the Carlisle Indian School wove over its star player.
