Dances with Wolves was first published  in 1988 and was made into a motion picture starring Kevin Costner in 1990.  It is set on the southern plains of the American frontier of the mid-19th century, during the Civil War.  The Comanche Indians lived mainly in the area now known as northern Texas, western Oklahoma, eastern new Mexico, and southern Kansas.  This story probably took place in the northern part of this area (Kansas or Oklahoma), since the United States (the Union Army) controlled it (sort of!).  (See the map at The Texas Comanches.)  In the movie, Lakota (Sioux) Indians of the northern plains took the place of the Comanches, probably because there are still some American Bison ("buffalo") in that part of the country today.

For more information about the Comanche tribe, visit http://nativeamericans.com/Comanche.htm or  http://forttours.com/pages/comanchenation.asp.

For more information about Native American tribes and their beliefs and cultures, visit the National Museum of the American Indian at Fourth Street & Independence Ave., S.W. in Washington, open 10-5:30 daily (free admission).  You can also visit their website at http://www.nmai.si.edu/ (general website for museums in Washington, New York, and Suitland, Maryland).

For movie reviews, go to http://snipurl.com/1cklt or http://americanindian.net/reviewsdanceswithwolves.html.

For reader reviews, check out amazon.com.  You will need to scroll down!  Note that some of the reviewers preferred the movie to the book, whereas others thought the book was better.  We will watch the movie after you read the novel, and I will ask you to compare the two media.

For information about the buffalo (American bison), see the NPCA American Bison page or the Defenders of Wildlife Bison Fact Sheet.