Killing the Indian Maiden examines the fascinating and often disturbing portrayal of Native American women in film. M. Elise Marubbio examines the sacrificial role in which a young Native woman allies herself with a white male hero and dies as a result of that choice. In studying thirty-four Hollywood films from the silent period to the present, she draws upon theories of colonization, gender, race, and film studies to ground her analysis in broader historical and sociopolitical context and to help answer the question, "What does it mean to be an American?"

The book reveals a cultural iconography embedded in the American psyche. As such, the Native American woman is a racialized and sexualized other. A conquerable body, she represents both the seductions and the dangers of the American frontier and the Manifest Destiny of the American nation to master it.

M. Elise Marubbio is assistant professor of American Indian Studies and English at Augsburg College.

Reviews:

Named one of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles in its January 2008 issue.

"Marubbio stunningly demonstrates how little these films actually tell us about Native peoples and how much they reveal about the intertwined Euro-American fantasies of sexuality, race, and conquest."--Annette Kolodny, author of The Lay of the Land and The Land Before Her

"An abundantly detailed and sophisticated study of the depiction of Native American women in film by a scholar who has mastered the latest currents of critical race theory and post-colonial theory. Erudite, yet accessible, the book offers a fresh and provocative angle on the Western, the genre that dominated American cinema across much of the twentieth century."--Steven Mintz, author of Huck's Raft: A History of American Childhood

"Fills a gap in film studies, critical race studies of the media, and women's studies. It will lead other scholars, young scholars, to follow in its path to engage the important role played by Native Americans in film history."-- Daniel Bernardi, author of Star Trek and History: Race-ing Toward a White Future

"A refreshing rereading of a familiar subject...demonstrates theoretical sophistication and scholarly poise in highly readable prose...This is a valuable text. It should find a place not only in research libraries and undergraduate classrooms, but also as the cornerstone to subsequent studies of Native Americans and film."  --Journal of the West