Morning Girl, written as it is by a Native American writer and an anthropologist, is sensitive to Native American culture and to the complex history of the confrontation of Europeans and Native Americans. Dorris does not blame Columbus and the explorers, but lets Columbus speak for himself. In the epilogue to the book, which consists of an excerpt from Columbus' own journal, we hear him speak of "savages" and of his intention to take some of them out of their own world and back to Europe to exhibit.

Letting Columbus' words stand without commentary by the author, and letting them stand after the end of a narrative told from the indigenous point of view, allows readers to draw their own conclusions about the nature of European expansion into the Americas.

Dorris is also sensitive to stereotypical presentations of Native American characters. None of the characters in...