The autobiography of a Winnebago Indian / [edited and translated] by Paul Radin.

"The writer is referred to throughout the notes as S. B." -From Introduction.

There is no table of contents for this book, however the text is split into three sections: Introduction by Paul Radin, Part I: The story of my life, and Part II: My father's teachings.

"This new Dover edition, first published in 1963, is an unabridged and unaltered republication of the work first published by the University of California Press in the University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Volume 16, No. 7, April 15, 1920. The Publisher is grateful to the Library of Columbia University for making a copy of this book available for reproduction purposes." - From title verso.

"'The Autobiography of a Winnebago Indian,' edited by Paul Radin, has long been one of the great classics in American anthropology. Originally taken down in the field, in Winnebago, from the dictation of the Indian known as S.B., it relates to S.B.'s life as he looked back upon it: with the emphases, interpretations, and values that he considered important. Dr. Radin, without altering text, translated it into English and annotated it extensively to explain features of Winnebago culture and outlook that might not be obvious to the reader. S.B. led a remarkable life. He was born in the second half of the 19th century, when the older Indian life-pursuits and the white man's world were beginning to clash badly. He tells of his experiences in the hunt, the instructions he received from his elders in Indian life, the work of his brother-in-law the shaman, adolescence, initiation into the Medicine Dance, marriage and sexual promiscuity, entry into the white man's world when he travels with a circus, alcoholism, desire to count coup, and the ensuing murder of a Pottawattomie, trial and jail, and his release upon a technicality. After this crisis occurred his experiences with the peyote cult, which offered a new life for him: his acquaintance with members, his trial of peyote, strange visions, conversion and a new way of life. Apart from its anthropological value, S.B's autobiography is most significant to other social scientists, and fascinating reading even for laymen. Its curious mixture of insight and naïveté, its exciting events make it a very unusual book." - From back cover.

Translated into English from the Winnebago (Ho-Chunk) language.