I was assigned to read this for my American Lit class. The class is structured around the topic of the Wild West, and Westerns apparently developed as a response to something called domestic fiction. What is domestic fiction, you might ask. Well, imagine a bunch of self-righteous middle class women seeking to reform society through tales of disadvantaged young heroines who triumph over adversity through virtue, piety, and kindness. Are you nauseous yet? Now add some saccharine-sweet sentimentality, intended to manipulate your interpretation of the book through an abundance of emotion, and you have domestic fiction. Ready to heave now? Because you're sure to be heaving after trudging your way through Ramona, hopefully my last foray into domestic fiction. I understand now, more than ever, why Virginia Woolf felt it necessary to kill off the Angel in the House. What's the story about? Do you really care? Run away, far away. Go read something violent. ( )

As as teenager I read this book and GWTW over and over again. I found it quite appealing to the teenage lovesick fool in me. ( )

From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Erica Bauermeister
Along with Uncle Tom's Cabin, Ramona is considered one of the great propaganda novels of the nineteenth century. Helen Hunt Jackson was already part of the literary elite when she learned of the efforts of the Ponca Indians to keep their land in Nebraska. She spent six months researching and writing A Century of Dishonor, which describes the treatment of Native Americans by the United States government, then mailed a copy to every United States Senator. When her book had little effect, she wrote Ramona, the fictional love story of a beautiful, illegitimate Scots-Indian orphan and the handsome and courageous Indian Alessandro. Ramona has grown up a privileged, adopted child, unaware of her ancestry. When she chooses Alessandro, she becomes Indian. Persecuted and betrayed by individuals and the government, Ramona and Alessandro struggle and flee. Their deep and powerful love is portrayed in dramatic and classical terms, while the tragedy of their lives is the tragedy of their people who endure brutal poverty and the loss of their land. Ramona succeeded where A Century of Dishonor did not, achieving bestseller status and focusing attention on an issue many did not know existed. Unfortunately, the results were not always beneficial and the book has the flaws of being created by an author who, although deeply engaged and sympathetic, had not experienced the life she was describing. Yet it is still a fascinating story - of love and of the use of fiction to attempt political change.