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Resounds: Gerry Robinson

Gerry Robinson
Corby Skinner
Gerry Robinson

Gerry Robinson, an enrolled member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of Montana was recently informed that he will be awarded the Western Heritage Award for Outstanding American Western Novel in recognition of his recently published book The Cheyenne Story: An Interpretation of Courage. The novel is the first historical writing of its kind to be authored by a member of the Northern Cheyenne tribe. The book is also a finalist for the High Plains Book Awards for First Book.

Robinson is one of ten children, direct descendants of the of the two main characters in the book: William Rowland, a non-Cheyenne married into the Tribe, who served as a major interpreter and Chief Little Wolf, the legendary Northern Cheyenne Chief, who was instrumental in saving the Northern Cheyenne from literal genocide and extinction.

The story seamlessly alternates between two narrators: Little Wolf, the Cheyenne Sweet Medicine Chief, and Bill Rowland, Little Wolf's brother-in-law and an interpreter in the employ of the U.S. Army.

What follows is the Cheyenne's harrowing journey North through a blizzard as they fight for survival and Rowland's pensive, self-reflective trek back to Fort Robinson where he will be greeted by his Cheyenne wife and children and eventually reunited with his Northern Cheyenne relatives before the Army sends them all packing to Oklahoma.