Don Coldsmith was an American author of primarily Western

Western (genre)

The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...

 fiction. A past president of Western Writers of America

Western Writers of America

Western Writers of America, founded 1953, promotes literature, both fiction and non-fiction, pertaining to the American West. Although its founders wrote traditional western fiction, the more than five hundred current members also include historians and other non-fiction writers as well as authors...

, Coldsmith wrote more than 40 books, as well as hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles. His "Spanish Bit Saga", a series of related novels, helped to re-define the Western novel by adopting the point of view of the Native Americans

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

, rather than the European immigrants.

Biography

In addition to his career as a writer, Coldsmith was a medical doctor, serving as a family practitioner in Emporia, Kansas

Emporia, Kansas

Emporia is a city in and the county seat of Lyon County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 24,916. Emporia lies between Topeka and Wichita at the intersection of U.S. Route 50 with Interstates 335 and 35 on the Kansas Turnpike...

, until 1988, when he chose to concentrate on writing. In addition, Coldsmith and his wife Edna were cattle ranchers and breeders of Appaloosa

Appaloosa

The Appaloosa is a horse breed best known for its colorful leopard-spotted coat pattern. There is a wide range of body types within the breed, stemming from the influence of multiple breeds of horses throughout its history. Each horse's color pattern is genetically the result of various spotting...

 horses.

Son of a Methodist preacher, Coldsmith attended high school in Coffeyville, Kansas

Coffeyville, Kansas

Coffeyville is a city situated along the Verdigris River in the southeastern part of Montgomery County, located in Southeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 10,295...

, and joined the U.S. Army in 1944. His role as a combat medic

Combat medic

Combat medics are trained military personnel who are responsible for providing first aid and frontline trauma care on the battlefield. They are also responsible for providing continuing medical care in the absence of a readily available physician, including care for disease and battle injury...

 in the Pacific Theater

Pacific Ocean theater of World War II

The Pacific Ocean theatre was one of four major naval theatres of war of World War II, which pitted the forces of Japan against those of the United States, the British Commonwealth, the Netherlands and France....

 of World War II led him to Japan, where he was among the first occupying troops. He was assigned to provide medical care for Japanese war criminals, including Hideki Tōjō

Hideki Tōjō

Hideki Tōjō was a general of the Imperial Japanese Army , the leader of the Taisei Yokusankai, and the 40th Prime Minister of Japan during most of World War II, from 17 October 1941 to 22 July 1944...

, the prime minister

Prime minister

A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...

.

After the war, Coldsmith matriculated at Baker University

Baker University

Baker University is a private, residential university located in Baldwin City, Kansas, United States. Founded in 1858, it is the oldest university in Kansas and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Baker University is made up of four schools...

, a small Methodist institution in Baldwin City, Kansas

Baldwin City, Kansas

Baldwin City is a city in Douglas County, Kansas, United States about south of Lawrence and west of Gardner. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 4,515. It is part of the Lawrence, Kansas Metropolitan Statistical Area...

. While there he became a brother to the Zeta Chi fraternity. After graduation, he worked as a YMCA

YMCA

The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...

 youth director in Topeka, where he helped to achieve the first interracial

Desegregation

Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups usually referring to races. This is most commonly used in reference to the United States. Desegregation was long a focus of the American Civil Rights Movement, both before and after the United States Supreme Court's decision in...

 public swimming pool in the state.

Subsequently, Coldsmith went to medical school at the University of Kansas in Kansas City, Kansas

Kansas City, Kansas

Kansas City is the third-largest city in the state of Kansas and is the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the third largest city in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The city is part of a consolidated city-county government known as the "Unified...

, where he earned his doctorate in 1958.

Coldsmith, who had periodically taught English classes at Emporia State University

Emporia State University

Emporia State University is a university in the city of Emporia in Lyon County, Kansas, just east of the Flint Hills.- History :...

, was awarded the Western Writers of America

Western Writers of America

Western Writers of America, founded 1953, promotes literature, both fiction and non-fiction, pertaining to the American West. Although its founders wrote traditional western fiction, the more than five hundred current members also include historians and other non-fiction writers as well as authors...

's Golden Spur

Golden Spur

The Golden Spur Awards are literature awards given for distinguished western fiction about the American West by the Western Writers of America. The first Spur Awards were given in 1953.-Recent winners:*Larry McMurtry for Lonesome Dove...

 award for best original paperback

Paperback

Paperback, softback or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its binding. The covers of such books are usually made of paper or paperboard, and are usually held together with glue rather than stitches or staples...

 for The Changing Wind of 1990. Other honors include Distinguished Kansan (awarded by the Native Sons and Daughters of Kansas in 1993) and the Edgar Wolfe Award for lifetime contributions to literature (1995). Coldsmith was in high demand as a speaker, especially when the subject was the High Plains

High Plains (United States)

The High Plains are a subregion of the Great Plains mostly in the Western United States, but also partly in the Midwest states of Nebraska, Kansas, and South Dakota, generally encompassing the western part of the Great Plains before the region reaches the Rocky Mountains...

 and the American West.

Coldsmith suffered a stroke

Stroke

A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...

 on June 20 after attending a conference of the Western Writers of America

Western Writers of America

Western Writers of America, founded 1953, promotes literature, both fiction and non-fiction, pertaining to the American West. Although its founders wrote traditional western fiction, the more than five hundred current members also include historians and other non-fiction writers as well as authors...

 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Oklahoma City is the capital and the largest city in the state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, the city ranks 31st among United States cities in population. The city's population, from the 2010 census, was 579,999, with a metro-area population of 1,252,987 . In 2010, the Oklahoma...

. He died on June 25 at The University of Kansas Hospital

The University of Kansas Hospital

The University of Kansas Hospital, also known as KU Med, is a nonprofit, academic medical center located in Kansas City, Kansas, United States. In 1998, it became an independent entity that receives no funding from the state of Kansas. The hospital is affiliated with the University of Kansas...

 in Kansas City, Kansas, according to his wife Edna.

Style

Coldsmith employs a distinctly lucid and deceptively simple style in his fictional narratives. His prose does not attract attention to itself, with the result that the focus is almost entirely on the story. His characters, who may at first seem uncomplicated, gradually emerge as well-rounded human beings with a complex of often conflicting motives and emotions. Coldsmith's Native American protagonists are genuine, and often likable, human beings. At the same time, Coldsmith's villains, who are usually Indians themselves, are portrayed as being misled, or suffering from delusion, more than being evil in some sinister or fundamental way.

Though generally well balanced in his portrayal of Native American societies and immigrant societies, Coldsmith's narratives often offer gentle—and sometimes not so gentle—criticism of European-American culture, especially in matters of the spirit.

Coldsmith uses English to achieve the illusion of a native point of view with consistent use of such expressions as "I am made to think. . ." and "Elk-Dog" (for horse) and "Cold Maker" (for winter) .

The Spanish Bit Saga

The Spanish Bit Saga, arguably Coldsmith's best known work, chronicles the unique moment in history when the horse was introduced to the Plains Indians by Spanish explorers, two of whom are separated from their party and are adopted by a fictional Plains tribe. The adventures and experiences of the explorers’ Spanish-Indian descendants make up the bulk of the Spanish Bit series.

Coldsmith's fictional tribe in the Spanish Bit series appears to be a synthesis of cultural traditions of the Kansa

Kaw (tribe)

The Kaw Nation are an American Indian people of the central Midwestern United States. The tribe known as Kaw have also been known as the "People of the South wind", "People of water", Kansa, Kaza, Kosa, and Kasa. Their tribal language is Kansa, classified as a Siouan language.The toponym "Kansas"...

, Lakota, Kiowa

Kiowa

The Kiowa are a nation of American Indians and indigenous people of the Great Plains. They migrated from the northern plains to the southern plains in the late 17th century. In 1867, the Kiowa moved to a reservation in southwestern Oklahoma...

, Cheyenne

Cheyenne

Cheyenne are a Native American people of the Great Plains, who are of the Algonquian language family. The Cheyenne Nation is composed of two united tribes, the Só'taeo'o and the Tsétsêhéstâhese .The Cheyenne are thought to have branched off other tribes of Algonquian stock inhabiting lands...

, Arapaho

Arapaho

The Arapaho are a tribe of Native Americans historically living on the eastern plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Sioux. Arapaho is an Algonquian language closely related to Gros Ventre, whose people are seen as an early...

, Blackfeet

Blackfeet

The Piegan Blackfeet are a tribe of Native Americans of the Algonquian language family based in Montana, having lived in this area since around 6,500 BC. Many members of the tribe live as part of the Blackfeet Nation in northwestern Montana, with population centered in Browning...

, and others. The Pawnee are often depicted as the enemy.

Spanish Bit Series

• Trail of the Spanish Bit
• The Elk Dog Heritage
• Follow the Wind
• Buffalo Medicine
• Man of the Shadows
• Daughter of the Eagle
• Moon Thunder
• The Sacred Hills
• Pale Star
• River of Swans
• Return to the River
• The Medicine Knife
• The Flower in the Mountain
• Trail from Taos
• Song of the Rock
• Fort de Chastaigne
• Quest for the White Bull
• Return of the Spanish
• Bride of the Morning Star
• Walks in the Sun
• Thunder Stick
• Track of the Bear
• Child of the Dead
• Bearer of the Pipe
• Medicine Hat
• The Lost Band
• Raven Mocker
• The Pipestone Quest
• The Moon of Madness