In Madonna Swan: a Lakota Woman's Story, Mark St Pierre skillfully weaves together his interviews with Madonna Swan-Abdalla to capture the indomitable spirit of a Lakota woman as she celebrates the joys and endures the sufferings of her remarkable life on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. Born in 1928, Madonna Swan's life on the reservation was appallingly difficult. Stricken with tuberculosis at age sixteen, she survived to marry, have a family, go to college, and teach in the reservation Head Start program. A symbol of courage for all women, Indian and not-Indian alike, Madonna Swan-Abdalla was named North American Indian Woman of the Year in 1983.