Title: Hanta yo
Description: Absolutely Fascinating.  I read this book back in the day when I was living in Texas ~1985(?).  It was a friends recommendation.  She was right, you can't put this book down.  It's the story of three generations of Lakota - Dakota Tribal Chiefs and the life they and their people live on the plains just prior to European man's arrival, and the demise of a way of life. 
 
To my understanding Ms. Hill befriended a fellow student while studying in Wyoming (?) who is/was Native American and had his family lineage documented.  With his permission she wrote the story using the names, places and time.  

It is a true American classic about love and loss and the struggle for survival that every generation and culture must face.  This should be a mandatory read in High Schools.
Subjects: Dakota Indians, Dakota Indians in fiction, Fiction, Fiction, historical, general, Indians of north america, history
Places: North America Plains- The Dakotas
People: The entire village/community of the Dakota Sioux
Time periods: Approximately 1780-1880