Epilogue Summary and Analysis

Author Richard Erdoes, who has transcribed the written and recorded interviews with Lame Deer and some of his fellow Sioux, reflects upon his own life. Born in Europe and moved about among relatives, he experienced the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths with all of their ceremonies, rituals and doctrines. Religion clearly confused him, for as he practiced the rituals of one, he offended the others. Likewise, his opinions about countries and their leaders would gain him praise in one school but punishment in the next, because his country of residency had changed. As the Nazis overran Europe, Richard was forced to go underground and, finally, in 1940, to travel to America. There, he was taken in by some Viennese friends and became, eventually, an illustrator in New York City, marrying another artist and fathering three children. Endroes managed to obtain some traveling...