Book Description

Book Description

To Americans he was Wild Cat, to Mexicans, Gato del Monte. But to his own people he was Coacoochee, a warrior and diplomat who led the Seminole resistance to American injustice in their home territory of Florida and through the Spanish borderlands of North America. In the first in-depth study of this dramatic figure, Susan A. Miller, a historian and a Seminole, sorts out discrepancies between American history--where Coacoochee remains in the background--and Seminole tradition--where he stands as a great leader.

Relocated in 1841 to the Indian country in what is now Oklahoma, the Seminoles under Coacoochee resisted colonization. Coacoochee instead led his people to Mexico, along with a community of black fugitives from slavery and another of Kickapoos, where they secured land in exchange for military assistance. Coacoochee's Bones tells the dramatic story of that migration, a story of armed resistance and diplomatic intrigue that ranges across the Indian country,Texas, and Mexico. It also portrays the extraordinary leadership displayed by this man, in order to restore him to his rightful place in history.

A man born to an elite family, Coacoochee used the power of his status in creative ways, and Miller uses his career to explain his leadership in terms of Seminole knowledge and governmental structure, showing that Coacoochee's concept of leadership was linked as closely to spiritual as to political or military imperatives. Her account offers a more nuanced understanding of the Seminole cosmos--particularly the reality governing Coacoochee's awareness of his own tribe's circumstances--and of long-standing borderlands disputes. She draws on Seminole, American, and Mexican sources to help untangle the histories of various emigrant tribes to the borderlands. She also examines the status of Seminoles today in light of the suppression of Coacoochee's story, including modern Seminoles' attempts to recover their lost homeland at El Nacimiento.

By telling Coacoochee's story from a Seminole perspective, Miller presents a work of decolonization, reexamining Seminole history to affirm that people's centrality and sovereignty. Coacoochee's Bones restores a significant historical figure to his rightful place in history and is a work that cannot be ignored by anyone who wishes a fuller understanding of this continent's diverse and storied past. ... Read more

Book Description

A chronicle of the search for the truth about the life and death of a legendary Native American.

Captured in the hills of northern California in 1911, Ishi, the last stone-age Indian in North America, was brought to San Francisco by the famous anthropologist Alfred Kroeber, and became a living museum display until his death five years later.

Ishi's Brain is a first-person account by anthropologist Orin Starn, who sought to unravel the mystery of Ishi's true nature and to locate his brain in the archives of the Smithsonian museum in the hope of finally repatriating Ishi's remains. The trail to Ishi's brain leads Starn through the painful history of the extermination of the Indians, the strange and sometimes scandalous history of anthropology, and the changing, mixed-up world of Native California today.

This absorbing new portrait of Ishi, wild man of Deer Creek, museum curiosity, and last of his tribe, will appeal to anyone interested in Native America, a story of science and scandal, and the life and legend of California's most famous Indian. 15 illustrations. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Peripatetic Scholarship and Engaging Mystery!
At its simplest, this book is a beautifully lucid and often poignant account of how the author, anthropology Professor Orin Starn, tracked down the mysterious whereabouts of the last "wild" Indian's brain some 80 years after it was excised from his lifeless body on a California autopsy table. As such, the book reads like a compelling mystery novel, one that will keep the most jaded and disinterested readers hitched to a twisting and ever-surprising cross-country chain of discovery until the very end. At its most complex, it represents a keen, engaging, and constantly balanced overview of classical anthropological history in the 20th century as Professor Starn carefully uncovers, interprets, and weighs the motives and actions of one of the field's first luminaries, Alfred Kroebur, the man responsible for Ishi's emergence as a museum curiosity and stark emblem of man's "uncivilized" nature. The book will therefore delight Native American historians, political activists, college and grad students steeped in social and culture theory, and even casual readers interested in 20th century Americana. But regardless of the reader's background or incentive, he/she will find Professor Starn's ease and clarity in recounting this captivating story an uncommon joy indeed. Highly recommended!

Themes of Reconciliation
Ishi's story is too well known to need to be recounted here. In 1911, wandering aimlessly -- or was he going somewhere? Ishi (which wasn't really his name), the last of the Yahi Indians-- or was he? early one morning -- or was it late one afternoon? was taken in by a white community -- or was that taken capture?

Theodora Kroeber turns out to have taken considerable liberties in writing her book about Ishi. In retrospect, I should not be surprised, considering the way she dressed California Indian tales in tuxedos and evening gowns for the Inland Whale.

But just who was Ishi? What does he represent? How should we envisage him? Starn, who did so much to put Ishi's body back together again, in this book helps us put Ishi back together with California history, so we can better appreciate where Ishi stood at this confluence. He approaches every question with great fairness and balance. Many of his investigations of possibilities and interpretations would not occur to the average reader, and help us round out the picture.

Although I say Starn writes with justice and balance, this is not a cold treatment of a dead man. He brings Ishi back to life for us, with bones beneath his flesh. He writes movingly about Grizzly Bear's Hiding Place. The whole book is beautiful, in writing style, in treatment, in reflection, in the care he takes. I, for one, am grateful for his detailed recitation of these events, because even though it may slow the book a bit, it shows proper respect for the importance of those events.

I can't believe I am writing a whole review without saying anything nasty about a book. Okay, the photos, although superbly reproduced, are jumbled together in no particular order that I could conceive, and I have questions about one caption: which one is Hi Good?

Great book, one that was never intended to supplant Ishi in Two Worlds, but complements it perfectly.

Eye-opening and thought-provoking
Somewhere in my early years I read Theodora Kroeber's books on Ishi and they have remained among my favorite books that I have occasionally reread. After reading Ishi's Brain, however, these books will keep their mystique but never have the same ring of truth.

I was amazed to learn that I am a member of what Orin Starn calls the "Ishi cult". I had no idea there were so many people as compelled as I am by Ishi's mythology. And now I have learned that Ishi may have been far more touched by "civilization" than I had formerly believed.

I recently published a novel, Treasure Forest, in which a character shapes his life according to the Ishi I believed in before reading Starn's book. Daggett grows up in San Francisco in the 30's and comes under the care of a man who had known Ishi through the museum. When Daggett runs away at age 14 to head north, it is to capture the freedom he believes that Ishi had as a lone survivor in the wilderness. My character succeeds living his own version of Ishi's life right up into his 70's, when -- I won't ruin the story for you. But as I wrote, I sometimes wondered what Ishi would have thought of the story, if he would have felt a kinship with Daggett, and I've often wondered how Ishi would have liked Daggett's underground version of Grizzly Bear's Hiding Place.

I would recommend that anyone who is fascinated by Ishi read Orin Starn's book. The discoveries it shares ground the Ishi mythology in very human details, bringing it closer to our own experience, coloring it with more authenticity. I am sure it will influence me as I continue to write the rest of my novel's trilogy.

Page turner!
A wonderful read, like a super-smart mystery. Full of fascinating stories, and they are all true! It also pulls together many threads -- history and current issues facing Native Americans, stones and bones, contemporary politics, the way we think about scientific inquiry -- terrific!

Ishi's Brain we loved it
Bev and I have just discovered a fascinating new book............ a real story of intrigue, mystery, science, flawed human nature and a dozen other superlatives. Unlike The DaVinci Code This story is real and starts a long time ago and is only solved in modern times. This remarkable book should climb to the top of the best seller list. Orin Starn is a gifted writer and Professor of Antropology At Duke University. The book is written for readers like us rather than the academic world.

Ishi you may recall was the "last wild indian" to come out of the stone age in the USA. You'll recall his tribe had all been murdered or died of white man's diseases. Ishi was alone and spoke a language that no one on earth understood. Ishi was "captured" studied and exploited. You'll become as excited as we are about the story, Ishe the man, and Orin the author. You will find the story riveting and a real page turner. You will want to know what became of Ishi's Brain as much as Orin did

ISHI'S BRAIN BY ORIN STARN PUBLISHED BY W.W. NORTON AND COMPANY ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great Title, Fascinating Story
Thanks to Lionel Youst, Annie Miner Peterson's life story has been preserved. One of the last of the Coos Indians, she lived for 79 years in western Oregon and witnessed the demise of her culture. This remarkable narrative captures some of who she was and how she lived, enabling Annie to pass along some of the accumulated experiences of generations of her ancestors. ... Read more

Book Description

This powerful book blends the rhythms of daily arctic life with high adventure. "Jans's writing is a pleasure," said the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

A review from the Northwest Borough of Alaska
This is a must-read for anyone planning to spend time in Alaska. Jans captures the norms, customs and ways of the people in the Northwest Arctic region. This was one of my very first books when contemplating moving to Alaska. And I recently re-read the books and realized exactly how much I had missed the first time through. It has been almost two years since returning to the Arctic and I cannot believe the everyday life he captures! Read this for all it is worth and extract all you can from his words.

Like Most Sequels........
My extremely low ranking is not for this book as a stand alone, its in comparison to his first, 'Last Light Breaking', which was a masterpiece. I would equate these two books with Tarantinos two films, 'Pulp Fiction' & 'Jackie Brown', the first also being a masterpiece, but the second leaving you wanting. Not that 'Jackie Brown' or 'A Place Beyond' are wastes of time, its just that compared to what came before, and the fact that they are basically the same subject matter, you expect that level of art and when you dont get it youre dissapointed as I was with this book.

If youve already read 'Last Light', and still want a good book on the "Alaska Experience", im reading his latest now and let you know how it is when I finish.

But if you havent read 'Last Light Breaking' and are looking for a book in this genre, waste no time in buying it, its truly an amazing book. ...

After reading The Last Light Breaking, I was hungry for more.
A Place Beyond didn't disappoint. Jans writing style isbeautiful, simple, and eloquent. There are few authors who can weavethe reader into the story. Through all of Jans adventures, I was right there with him riding shotgun. The most underated and under publicized book(s) about Alaska. A must read!

Excellent writer
Nick Jans is an extremely gifted writer. I first read one of his essays in the Reader's Digest, and I was so impressed, I just had to read the rest of the book. His straightforward clarity, use of metaphor and intriguing observations make the Alaskan wilderness come to life. I personally would never want to live in Alaska, but I thoroughly enjoyed experiencing a bit of Alaska by reading this book.

A bit of a dissapointment.
Nick Jans has done what I did not think he could (would) do - dissapoint. Much of "A Place Beyond" is actually "Last Light Breaking". I was truly let down when I turned to a new chapter, only to discover that it wasn't new! I must say that his writing is superb - vivid, usually modest, captivating. If, however, I wanted a second helping of "Last Light Breaking", I could have simply grabbed my old copy. No matter how good his writing is, if he can't find the time to write enough essays for a new book, then why publish one?! ... Read more

Download Description

In this popular version of the History of King Philip, John Abbott writes a narrative on the career of Metacomet, son of Chief Massasoit of the Wampanoag. Collected from many original sources, Abbott traces the events that led to the uprising later known as King Philip?s war.Metacomet tried to maintain his father?s peaceful policies with the Colonists, but they pushed ever farther into tribal lands and tried to impose their laws on the native people.Resistance to the demands for more food, land and submission to English law escalated into open revolt. Uniting the Nipmuck, Narragansett and Wampanoag tribes, Metacomet led a doomed effort to preserve the Indian way of life. ... Read more

Book Description

John Tanner's fascinating autobiography tells the story of a man torn between white society and the Native Americans with whom he identified. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

The Best and Most Complete Indian Captivity Narrative
"The Falcon" is the autobiography of Shaw-Shaw-Wa Be-Na-Se or John Tanner, a White Indian captured by the Shawnee along the Ohio River in 1789 and later sold to an Ojibwa family in northern Michigan. He went on to live a long and fascinating life among the Indians of the Old Northwest working as a trapper for the Hudson Bay Company and serving as the interpreter at the trading post at Sault St. Marie. He spent some time searching out his white family in Kentucky before returning to Michigan to be with his Indian children, forever spurning the white way of life. He went on to write this narrative in 1830 shortly before becoming a murder suspect and disappearing into the north woods forever.

Tanner's narrative is truly amazing for it's matter-of-fact style and the wealth of information it contains on every facet of Indian life in the late 18th and early 19th century including hunting, family life, Indian-white relations, foodways, views on war and murder, even attitudes toward sexual orientation. Tanner tells a story from the point of view of a man who has lived a hard life but is determined to live it as well as he is able. He makes no romantic notions about the Indians nor does he have sentimental longings for his white family. Unlike other famous captivity narratives like those of Mary Rowlandson, James Smith, or Oliver Spencer, this story is of the unredeemed captive who willingly chooses to embrace the neo-lithic lifestyle and the hardships that such a life entails, but makes no regrets of his life choices.

The historical and ethnographical information contained here alone makes it worthwhile reading, but the pure human content the author puts into this work makes it truly great.

The Falcon, by John Tanner
The Falcon, by John Tanner, is simply one of the most incredible
books I have ever read, and must be considered a classic.
It was utterly enthralling. I found myself wondering how he
ever wrote the book, since it is very well written, but he had
little knowledge of English until later life. Found out on the
web that back in Sault Ste Marie, he narrated his life to a doctor, who wrote it all down, and later published it.

Freud and Rousseau should have read this book
This is an unsentimental account of a hunting-gathering life. Even with guns and metal knives, the Falcon faced starvation so frequently that it seemed practically routine. One of the saddest sentences is a simple, somewhat relieved declarative about a fever sweeping the area: "Only one of my children died."

The writing is intense, and builds slowly. Tanner is anything but dramatic, but the events of his life command respect. This is a book that no author could have created artficially: its power is natural.

Nonetheless, I would have liked to learn something about where, when, and by whom the book was written. I suspect my Penguin paperback may be missing something. Page 228 refers me to a note at the end of the volume, but it is not there.

Generally, I do not care for Introductions. However, the Introduction by Louise Erdrich is worth reading carefully, before and after reading the narrative.

This book is listed as out of print.
This appears to be a reprint of the original text published by Ross & Haines in 1956. There were only two thousand copies originally printed.

a harsh written pictorial of life as it was in the wildernes
Tanner tells with no embelishment to himself or others what life in the mid-north was really like in the turn of the 18th century. He gives one of the few narratives without pulling punches that at times makes him look foolish, meanhearted, and scared yet meeting those opposite traits with courage. Tanner tells of the good times and the bad, the problems of living in a dual culture and accepted by neither. Tanner explains what it was to sustain a indigenous family he had adopted and the suffering from nature and white cultures ... Read more

Book Description

What is it like to be a contemporary American Indian mystic? What sequence of experiences come together to form a mystic’s path? How would you deal with the visions that come and carry you to alternate dimensions without notice and at the most inopportune times? In The House of Shattering Light: Life as an American Indian Mystic, Joseph Rael reveals how such questions shaped his life and his visions for the future.

"This House of Shattering Light — this perceptual reality in which we live and of which we are a part — exists only for the soul’s purpose of continuing its own livelihood."

—Joseph Rael

Very early in his new book, Rael’s message is clear — trust in the path. In The House of Shattering Light, Rael lays bare the main theme of his life, one with which many of us can identify: "Without realizing it, we are led in a particular direction. We are not always completely aware of the reason, but it takes us wherever we need to go, even when we don’t know that’s what’s happening. All we know is that in some way everything’s perfect."

Rael’s life has been pulled into virtually every conceivable magical, mystical and disastrous experience. Born a "split"—half Southern Ute and half Picuris Publan—he enjoyed the sweet embrace of Native American shamanic practices while also confronting the unimaginable bitterness of inter-tribal racism, which forced early feelings of isolation. Fascinated early on by sounds and vibrations, one of Joseph’s first experiments, at age six, was to lie with his sisters Corleen and Gloria, with their ears pressed to the train tracks. Mesmerized by their ability to capture the sounds of the oncoming train—Joseph’s sisters, ages seven and eight, perished on the tracks, and only Joseph survived. From this tragedy he went on to deal with the death of his mother and being placed with a foster family, where he found a mentor, Grandfather, who schooled him in the mysteries of tribal ceremonies. Here began Rael’s life as a medicine man and his exploration of the power of language, inspired by his study of the Tiwa language in which each word and sound is a metaphor expressing some aspect of the great mystery. Through his story, he leads us beyond a mentally-oriented way of perceiving reality to one based on intuition. One observation in particular is meant for this time:

"My experience is emblematic of what all of humanity is experiencing at this moment in our history. As diverse cultures come together and different ways of thinking clash, there’s stress, tension. Because of this there’s more capacity for the visionary to come forth out of that tension and to take the front of the world stage.

"The very tension of the masses of people in turmoil creates new insights for the overall population. Out of these insights new determinations are made as to how—socially and politically—we are going to develop in the next twenty-five or thirty years on the planet."

Rael describes his most powerful vision, in which he was directed to share his medicine with the outer world, beyond the Indians. He was told that non-Indian people need this information because they’re the ones who are going to save the Indians. In House of Shattering Light, Rael inspires us all to embrace the great mystery through his life story. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Physics of String Theory Owes Debt to Pueblo Philosophy
The vision of this book is remarkable especially when viewed in the light of string theory. So much of the philosophy of the Pueblo people from whom Joseph Rael sprang seems to be confirmed by modern physics. A must read for the serious seeker. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

This story has entranced readers of all ages since it was first published twenty-five years ago. The Education of Little Tree tells of a boy orphaned very young, who is adopted by his Cherokee grandmother and half-Cherokee grandfather in the Appalachian mountains of Tennessee during the Great Depression.

“Little Tree” as his grandparents call him is shown how to hunt and survive in the mountains, to respect nature in the Cherokee Way, taking only what is needed, leaving the rest for nature to run its course.

Little Tree also learns the often callous ways of the white businessmen and tax collectors, and how Granpa, in hilarious vignettes, scares them away from his illegal attempts to enter the cash economy. Granma teaches Little Tree the joys of reading and education. But when Little Tree is taken away for schooling by whites, we learn of the cruelty meted out to Indian children in an attempt to assimilate them and of Little Tree’s perception of the Anglo world and how it differs from the Cherokee Way.

A classic of its era, and an enduring book for all ages, The Education of Little Tree has now been completely re-designed for this twenty-fifth anniversary edition. ... Read more

Reviews (163)

LIVING IN HARMONY WITH MEN AND NATURE
Where does one start to describe this extraordinary book--a literary Sleeper which defies the usual genre classification, whose autobiographical storyline transcends the mere Depression years' upbringing of a young Indian boy? The 21 chapters encompass and celebrate the meaning of Life itself--which is made more poignant by the inevitability of Death itself. They focus on developing a sense of self worth and personal dignity, valuing family, reducing stress when cultures clash and appreciating man's role in nature. Not trendy topics in this frantic, high-tech world, but then eternal truths don't need to compete for glitzy attention; they will wait quietly for eventual resepct.

Five-year-old Little Tree goes to live with his Indian grandparents--mountain folk who exist on the fringe of a white settlement in the southeast--when he is orphaned. His education consists of: Indian lore and learning THE WAY, the history of the Cherokee nation and post Civil War hardships. He studies the Dictionary and struggles through the Classics with his literate grandmother; he learns basic arithmetic from a Jewish pedlar. But this smart lad absorbs much more in his three years on the mountain, which are lovingly detailed: honest lessons from Nature, bad lessons from callous and ignorant whites, good truths from generous and caring native Americans who all contribute to his complete education. Best of all, he studies that persecuted but ever-popular "trade" of distilling corn whiskey from his wise grandfather!

This book quite simply offers the reader a little bit of everything: humor, history, wisdom, political atrocity, wit, self-sacrifice, bigotry, coping with sorrow and failure, internal growth, Indian ideals, pride in family and resepct for Nature. The plot is a bit thin in the first chapters, as the author shares his childhood reminiscences. But it gradually dawns on us that this book can not be evaluated as other novels; it stands alone, as do the Native Americans, clinging to their traditions in the face of mockery from "civilization." Little Tree emerges as a young man with a strong sense of Family, pride in his heritage, deep-rooted connections with Nature, and faith in the hereafter. He has learned enough to survive in the white man's world, but will always treasure his mountain roots. An introspective read which will touch your heart, which you will never forget.

Controversial, magical, worth reading and fighting over.
For years, I've used Little Tree in my developmental reading classes with mostly black and hispanic men and women. Before I had heard of the controversy, I was impressed by the beauty of the book. I loved the way my slow, insecure readers could feel smarter than the narrator, as they realized they knew more than the small boy did. It was the most universally appreciated book I'd ever come across; people from all over the world, ages from 17 to 70 respond deeply to it. So what happened when I found out that Carter's a fake? I took a few years off, and then returned to it. What fascinating discussions we have about human nature, about deception, about what literature is and is not, when my students, totally entranced by the book, find out that it was written by a member of the KKK. Wow! Opportunities for this kind of deeply challenging discussion are too rare to pass up. Finally,is it possible Carter was a closet liberal who made money by writing stupid, silly speeches for stupid politicians, while his heart was in his novels? I don't know, but I love the karmic irony that his book makes my students of all backgrounds re-consider their prejudices, their materialism, their government's abuse of power, their treatment of animals and the environment. Sure, I'm troubled and confused by it all, but ultimately, I smile.

My feelings about this book
The Education of Little Tree Review

This novel, The Education of Little Tree, is about a 5 years old Cherokee boy named Little Tree who has to go live with his grandparents. Living with his grandparents in a cabin, in the woods taught the way of life and how to survive in the wilderness. This whole book is about his life with his grandparents as he grows up.
I think this is a great book that everyone should read. This book will make you laugh at some points, but will also make you cry at others. This book made me laugh when Little Tree and Granpa were looking for Mr. Chunk and Mr. slick in the woods. This book also made me sad when Granpa is telling the story about the farm in the clearing. I also like this book because it's very descriptive and well written. The author wrote this novel with great detail. You will be able to imagine and see every thing the characters are doing. The author puts so many details into this book so you know exactly what something or someone looks like. The author really made the characters come to life with the details about their personalities and about their outer appearance. In one part of the book the author explains an extremely detailed scene where Granpa and Little Tree are spending the night under the star-filled sky with a full moon and fog over the mountains in the distance. When I read that scene I felt I was right there under the stars with Granpa and Little Tree. This is an exciting novel that everyone should look into reading. This book is one of the best books I've ever read.

The Education of Little Tree Book Review
The Education of Little Tree, (supposedly) by Forrest Carter, was an excellent book to learn from, but not as enjoyable to read for one's own pleasure. The story is of a boy named Little Tree of Native American descent whose parents die. He is sent to live with his grandparents, and there, he learns about nature and the Cherokee way of living in harmony with the earth. He learns about racism and what it means to be different from others. Later on, he is taken from the home he loves with his grandparents to an orphanage where he is treated badly because he is a bastard and a Cherokee.
This book teaches a hard lesson about poverty, that people should not want things they cannot ever have and that dreams are a bad thing. This is shown when a sharecropper is forced to whip his own children because they dreamed of fancy things that they would never have. One also learns about discrimination through an interesting point of view, a young child's eyes who does not understand why the people are laughing at him; he merely thinks they are being friendly. This book contains excellent morals and values, and is an excellent read for in class. Although the book is very slow-paced, this helps to give it the nature of the simple view of a six-year old which aids the reader in understanding Little Tree's point of view. It would not be a good book for solo reading, because the plot is secondary, and there is not quite one story, but series of small events, each pertaining to Little Tree's gaining knowledge. These are more fit to be discussed in groups and taken in small amounts. However, this was one of the only books I have read that has made me cry because of the sense that the protagonist is helpless. The fact that he does not understand the racism, and why what he does is "bad" makes it a tear-drawing read. Issues such as death are covered, as Little Tree's grandparents die, as well as all that remains of his old life. Surprisingly, the author was a member of the (...), a white supremacist, association that promotes racism, who took on a pen name of Forrest Carter instead of his real name Asa Earl Carter. Because of this, throughout the book, characters accept discrimination as their "place" and forbid their children from attempting to rise in society (as in the sharecropper example before). This shows that the (...) member's opinion was that they should learn to accept being what he considered them, "inferior".
This book covers some difficult issues that are better to be discussed, than read on one's own. It is an excellent book to cry over, and an excellent book to learn from, but not a particularly excellent read just for enjoyment, as the story is not thrilling nor interesting to anyone who is not particularly interested in Native American culture.

Hmm... Overall, Disappointing
The novel The Education of Little Tree, by Forrest Carter, is overall a good novel, but it would be better if it were read for school than if it were read for fun. This is because it does have a good bit of content about Cherokee life, but it is not especially interesting. The novel is about a young Cherokee boy named Little Tree. When his parents die, he lives with his grandparents, who teach him the ways of the Cherokee. Throughout his life, he is faced with prejudice and discrimination due to his Cherokee heritage.
One of the major components that detracts from the novel is that many otherwise well-written scenes do not tie together into the plotline of the novel. Throughout the novel, the feeling that multiple short story clips were pieced together into a book. For example, one scene of a foxhunt with the hounds was a nice touch, but it had nothing to do with any of the other portions of the story. Other scenes, such as the one in which Little Tree goes to the candy shop, also have nothing to do with the plot.
Another problem with the novel is that Little Tree has little characterization. He is too bland and mild to make a good character. Especially since the novel's theme is "survival despite discrimination," Little Tree does not seem to have enough mental power to fulfill this role (in most scenes, that is.) His lack of development shows up especially in the way that he nearly always agrees with what others say. He is not just meek; he does not even mentally question the truth of what others say, which is shown in the way that the phrase "Which is right." This is repeated throughout the book. In fact, Granpa would probably have made a better protagonist because he seems to have more of a personality than Little Tree.
One good point of the novel was the attention paid to detail in describing Cherokee lifestyle. Little Tree's grandparents often help him to understand this, allowing the reader to follow along. One example of this is how Granma explains how all Cherokee have a "secret place."
Overall, I would not recommend reading The Education of Little Tree unless you are particularly interested Cherokee life or another topic from the novel. It would also suffice as a school book due ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Culture, History, and Faith
I have been blessed not only to read this book but to have met the author.She is both fascinating in person and in printed word, and her story is enlightening, educational, and entertaining. If you have any interest in Native American history, you'll be glad you read this book.

The old and the new
I truly enjoyed this book.It was written in plain language and seemed very personable to me. It is a true story about Alma's life growing up on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana and how she was deeply influenced by her grandmother Pretty Shield who taught Alma the old ways...she was a grandmother's grandchild. Pretty Shield was pretty smart I think.She had an appreciation for the natural world not seen too much anymore in our modern lives.I found these "old ways" interesting.This has influenced Alma for sure and she is able to reconcile this as well as the hardships of life with her deep Christian beliefs.God Bless you too Alma!

Mine
I truly enjoyed reading the book and learning of my Aunt Alma's point of view.I have grown up hearing of Pretty Shield and truly am blessed with having an aunt that shares her story and pictures.

Understanding Indian Culture and Traditions
A wonderful book!While much of the poverty and oppression of Indian people is painful to read, one can see the wonderful connections between families in Ms. Snell's book.The love and care for Indian children by extended families is probably one of the greatest reasons the Indian people and traditions have survived.We in the "dominate culture" could learn much to change the disintigration of American families by learning more about Native American people.

So good I had to read it twice!
Grandmother's Grandchild,Alma Snell, shares memories of one of the first recorded Female Indian Elders..Pretty Shield. Pretty Shield was written about in the 1930's when women were too often overlooked. Pretty Shield sawthe buffalo leave and the reservations begin.Alma shares the experienceof making the transition to Reservation life with Pretty Shield by herside. This book is a refreshing and deeply personal life story that managesto state facts without undertones of judgement. BEAUTIFUL!READ IT! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

GREAT BOOK
This is a MUST have book. I was fortunate enough to meet "Grandpa Pete" before his death and was so excited when I saw this book. Not many have been through more than him, and he expresses his beliefs wonderfully in this book. even if you are new to Lakota spirituality, he explains things in a way anyone can understand. He was a great man, and left a great legacy with this book.

Sacred Fireplace [Oceti wakan]
This book is a must read for anyone interested in Lakota spirituality. The author tells many stories from his life, the stories are so real and touching I could not put the book down.Just the chapters describing the various Lakota ceremonies, inipi,sun dance ,hanbleceya etc are worth the price of the book. I finished the book feeling uplifted and warm.The author's love and caring for his people,the earth and allits creatures is very apparent.Buy the book.lcossutt@hotmail.com ... Read more

Reviews (6)

My family's story
Tiana Bighorse is my grandmother's aunt and the Bighorse of the title is my great-great grandfather. I love this book. It was such a find for me to finally read it. I do not speak Navajo being half Navajo and half Nakota Sioux, so this story was never told to me. And anyway, during short visits to my grandparents no one ever had time to talk this away about our family history. I love it that Noel strove to retain Tiana's voice. My grandmother, her niece, cannot actually speak English as does her aunt, so it was neat to see what she might sound like if she actually did speak the language I do! All in all a real treasure. True, it does not go into great detail about the horrors of the Long Walk, but I loved some of the nuggets of wisdom she passes down from my long-gone grandfather. One is how he urged, like a modern psychologist that survivors of the Long Walk (he did not walk it himself, but fought as a guerilla fighter against the Americans) talk about their pain and losses. So many kept it inside them and it killed them. I also love her message to the young Navajo people about how this Navajo homeland was not "given" to us but it was fought for and people died and suffered for. My family now lives in Cameron on the Western side of the reservation, but when I drove across the vast Dinetah, which is the size of Ireland or W. Virginia, it gave me a great feeling of pride to know my family had lived all over that land. From Mt. Taylor, where Bighorse is originally raised, to Navajo Mountain where he lived as a guerilla warrior and finally in the Tuba City area, where my mom's family live now. The best quote from the book and I am paraphrasing is what Big Horse told her about being a warrior, a warrior is the one who is still walking around, tending to the sick when everyone else is down. This is such a Navajo sentiment. My aunts and uncles are always urging me to stand up, keep moving, wake up early. And implicit in that urging is the belief that we all have the ability to access our inner strengths for the benefit of those we hold dearest to us.

Bighorse Warrior Comes Alive
I've met the author - Tiana Bighorse Butler. Her pride shines through as she tells the stories of her father. Written in Navajo english, the reader is taken into the traditional navajo way of life. Wonderful stories give an honest perspective and a clear understanding of warriors in that point of time. Buy this book!! Compelling reading that you'll never forget!!

Easy read
The topic which this book covers, the oppression of the Apache Indians by the American Government, particularly the Long Walk, is an amazing story of struggle and brutal oppression. However, this story, an account of the events from a family memeber of Big Horse the Warrior, leaves the reader feeling a little slighted. Very little detail of the horrific events is given and worse yet, the events end up sounding watered down, as if they really weren't that bad.

Overall, I feel the historical event of tragic proportion deserves a much better account which brings the readers into the emotional aura surrounding the events.

Worth Reading
This book reads just like a story with real life accounts. It's very entertaining and interesting, but not redundant and textbook-like. I recommend reading it! It's short enough to read in one night. It also provides great insight into the Indians and the suffering they had to go through. Great book!

Bighorse the Warrior
If you have an hour to two hours, and have any interest in Native American History from an Indian perspective, Tiana's story of Bighorse is a gem to find! Short, but sweet, this biography was told out of love, but also told because the the Indian's perspective of American History is often muted and/or erased. This book definitely keeps their spirit alive! ... Read more

Amazon.com

The Chiricahua Apache leader Cochise (1804?-1874), as nearly every American officer who faced him would testify, was an ingenious tactician and a ferocious warrior. He was also, in historian Peter Aleshire's account, a far-seeing politician and careful diplomat who balanced dedication for preserving his people's homeland with genuine efforts to keep the peace with the invading Americans who arrived in Arizona in the mid 19th century.

Renowned though he was, Cochise did not attract biographers in his own lifetime, and chroniclers preserved only a few of his words. Concerned to present Cochise's life from an Apache point of view, Aleshire draws on the ethnographic and historical literature to imagine what Cochise might have been thinking and saying as he unified scattered bands of Apaches to fend off encroaching gold miners and interlopers such as the greenhorn army lieutenant George Bascom ("only a boy, not far out of baby grass, his whiskers soft and his face smooth"), whose insulting manner led to a bloody war that would take hundreds of lives and last for many years, not ending until long after Cochise's death.

From a purely historical point of view, Aleshire's reconstructions are impossibly speculative; he admits as much, opening his book by confessing his "sins against historiography." Still, his "seminovelistic" approach is convincing and effective, and he offers a vivid picture of a great warrior and hero. --Gregory McNamee ... Read more

Reviews (2)

I was expecting a lot more from this.
I at first thought it was daring for Aleshire to write this biography in the style of Sandoz's Crazy Horse. I soon found out that it was actually a big mistake.

For those not familiar with Sandoz's biography, she wrote it more in the style of a historical novel. Though it was based on extensive research, she chose to tell the story in the style in which Crazy Horse's Indian contemporaries might have told it. Also, in cases where there were different versions of events, she chose only one version, in order to keep the story flowing. I thought Aleshie daring to write in this style because, though I thought it worked well, Sandoz suffered much ridicule for it.

However, I found that this style did not lend itself very well to the subject of Cochise, for several reasons. First, the author simply did not know as much about Cochise as Sandoz did about Crazy Horse. For the sake of the story, for example, Aleshire assumes that Pisago Cabezon was Cochise's father. However, in a footnote he tells us that Cochise's father could have been one of three different people. So, when he later uses the murder of Cabezon as one of the motives for Cochise's hatred of the whites, it falls flat.

Also,like Sandoz with Crazy Horse, Aleshire tries to present Cochise as someone who meditates, and tries to "keep his mind smooth." However, if the author is correct, he also had an uncontrollable temper, and actually killed several members of his own band in anger. And despite the author's protests that warriors followed him out of respect for his achievements in battle, it sounded much more like he ruled out of fear. This would have made him highly unusual amongst Indian leaders. However, the author seems determined to gloss over this controversial topic.

THere also appears to be little of substance here. As this is the first book I've read on the Indians of the Southwest, I can't say whether it is due to lack of research, or a simple dearth of available information. I did note that the biography seemed to be based largely on secondary sources, and that there appeared to be little orignal research. There were also some really bad errors in some of the dates contained in the footnotes, though I assume this was an editing problem.

All in all, I was hoping for much more here, and I didn't get it.

This book is bad!
I have to admit that I did not read the entire book. I started skimming through it, and was completely shocked by several errors on the basic historical facts. Such errors in a book such as this are inexcusable, and reflect poorly on both the author and his editor.

First, the author refers to the removal of the Navajo tribe to "Bosque Redondo" "on the banks of the Rio Grande." As any historian of the Southwest knows, or certainly should know, Bosque Redondo was near Ft. Sumner, New Mexico, on the banks of the PECOS RIVER, not the Rio Grande River. Such an error is just pitiful.

Second, in one footnote (n. 11, page 314), the author states that the Confederates "gathered their forces for the battle of Val Verde, where they failed to turn back a column of Union troops from Colorado. After this defeat, the Confederates abandoned New Mexico. . . ." As ANY historian of the Civil War in the Southwest would know, the battle of Valverde, south of Socorro, New Mexico, was a Confederate victory, not a defeat. As a result of that victory, the Confederates did not turn back and return to Texas; they marched right up the Rio Grande and captured Albuquerque and then the territorial capital of Santa Fe. It was later at the battle of Glorieta, not Valverde, that the Confederates met a column of soldiers from Colorado, and met with a defeat which caused them to abandon New Mexico.

I cannot believe that a book such as this could contain such basic errors. When I saw these errors, I put aside reading any more of this book since it was obvious that one could not read it with any confidence that it was based on historical accuracy. I returned the book to the bookstore for a refund. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

not just a dry anthro text... interesting life story!
This text has some very interesting (and vivid) sexual accounts, also marriage practices, family relations, etc. It's a quite interesting life story and a funny sidenote: there are obvious places where the ... author edited the Dine' autobiographer's language because it might be perceived by some as derrogatory. Overall, I like this account very much!! ...

A good anthropology book
I had to read this book for my intro to Anthropology class in college. I thought that was ok for additional anthropology reading, but I would never read this book for fun. It's the story of a Navajo from his childhood to adulthood and all of the experience and things you must go through when living in a culture that moves around a lot. It was interesting in the fact that while studying various cultures, it was an autobiography of what another culture was actually like and how in Left Handed's culture, everyone is related. It a good book for understanding other cultures, especially for a class like anthropology. ... Read more

Book Description

In this book readers will be fascinated to learn about a wide variety ofmen and women who have made significant impacts upon the history of the UnitedStates. Native Americans from various regions - spanning time from early Europeandiscovery to present day - are featured. Chronologically organized, the book begins withDekanawida, the founder of the legendary Iroquois Confederacy. A diverseselection ofother Native Americans are also included, such as Pocahontas, Metacomet, Geronimo,Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Will Rogers, Jim Thorpe, Jay Silverheels, and Dennis Banks.The book concludes with Sherman Alexie. a prolific and critically acclaimed writer.Readers will discover what Sacagawea contributed to the Lewis and Clark expedition;how Cochise went from formidable warrior to a force for peace; who was the first NativeAmerican woman to become a medical doctor; why Annie Dodge Wauneka was the firstNative American to receive a Presidential Medal of Freedom; and much more! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Succinct and informative biographical descriptions
100 Native Americans Who Shaped American History is the latest in the outstanding and very highly recommended Bluewood Books "100" series. The featured Native Americans range from an 18th century Iroquois who founded a religion which is still practiced today, to the first Native American elected to the United States Congress, to the woman who became the first Native American to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Each individual page features a black-and-white photograph and a succinct and informative biographical description of an influential Native American, ranging from the 1500's down to the modern day. A map in the upper page corner allows "at-a-glance" information as to where each of the notable Native American individuals lived. An excellent, quick-study resource for classroom and personal reference shelves, 100 Native Americans Who Shaped American History is a welcome addition to school and library Native American Studies collections. ... Read more

Book Description

Raised as a young Sioux in the 1860s and 1870s, Eastman knew some of the Indian leaders he portrays here in vivid, biographical sketches. Included are Red Cloud, Rain-in-the-Face, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Little Crow, Chief Joseph and 9 more. Enhanced with 12 portraits, these inspiring pieces will interest any student of American Indian culture and history.
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Reviews (2)

Not the best biography of Sarah Winnemucca
Zanjani's writing is academic and somewhat dry. The historical research has not advanced much since Gae Whitney Canfield's "Sarah Winnemucca of the Northern Paiutes" but Zanjani does incorporate new theoretical approaches to interpreting Sarah's own memoir and place in history. The bibliography then, is useful for scholars, but the the prose is further bogged down with unresolved (and unresolvable) intellectual issues best left to academics. Try Canfield's well researched and easily readable prose instead.

Historical Treasure
a piece of historical treasure, how often do you see a book written by an indian woman from the 1800's? it is a must own for anyone remotely interested in indians, or american history. ... Read more