Native American Books

This is a courageous and beautiful book. Bette Husted traverses the inner territories of soul as fearlessly as she takes the reader across the physical landscape which shaped her life. I was moved by this author's ability to capture with such pathos and understatement, issues of great loss and learning.

I enjoyed this book very much. It is writing in a manner not commonly seen in the post modern era. The author has a capacity with the language that is lost on most modern readers. There is a lot of heart in this book and it shows in every page. If you like stories about exemplary everyday people you should read this book.

An excellent job of narrating the recovery of lost material from existing documentation. The footnotes are well researched. The topic is fascinating, and the insights of the editors very useful. However, I would have liked to see an additional index with entry using English terms as well as the existing index of Taino words.

In addition, in analysis of a culture so intimately linked and so knowledgeable of nature as the Tainos, one should also take into account biological reality. For instance, it seems clear to a biologist that Mácocael, "he of the lidless eyes:' page 6 of the text may well be the great rainbow boa, Epicrates spp., Ma-ja, the great snake, since this serpent, like most boas, has lidless eyes.

An excellent job of narrating the recovery of lost material from existing documentation. The footnotes are well researched. The topic is fascinating, and the insights of the editors very useful. However, I would have liked to see an additional index with entry using English terms as well as the existing index of Taino words.

In addition, in analysis of a culture so intimately linked and so knowledgeable of nature as the Tainos, one should also take into account biological reality. For instance, it seems clear to a biologist that Mácocael, "he of the lidless eyes:' page 6 of the text may well be the great rainbow boa, Epicrates spp., Ma-ja, the great snake, since this serpent, like most boas, has lidless eyes.

The continuing story of the Cherokees after their arrival in present day Oklahoma. A story of the conflicts both within and outside of the Cherokee Nation. The story of how the Cherokees battled to maintain their sovereignty and ultimately failed. Meticulously researched by McLoughlin through primary sources, an excellent history for anyone interested in Native American or Cherokee history. An typical example of what happened to all tribes in America.

This book, as far as I know, is the only one that explores the fascinating history of the Cherokees after they reached Oklohoma. We all know of the 'trail of tears' where the cherokees were removed from Georgia and forced to march to Oklohoma. This book tells the great story of their attempts ot civilize the land. How they built homes how they bought slaves and how they fought with neighbooring indians(who looked like savages to the new americanized Cherokee). The Cherokees fought in the civil war and even fought civil wars among themselves. This book details the hatred of the pure blood cherokees for their brethen who seemed more white and scottish then the others. The cherokee nation then was oborbed into the state of oklohoma when the Indian territory was aboloshed. This is an extraordinary tail of a hitherto unknown american story about one of americas most talked about, but seldom understood and studied, indian tribes, the noble civilized cultured Cherokee(who so many people claim to be descended from that a modern Indian joke goes "what do you get when you have 40 Cherokees in one room? One full blooded Indian").

This book maintains that the primary purpose of the FBI, from its inception and at least through to the late 1980s when Agents of Repression was first published, was to repress political groups and individuals who posed a threat to the status quo. The text is accompanied by heavy documentation and I was often reminded of the writing style of Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman. The focus here, however, is on the domestic crimes of the government. Churchell and Vander Wall show that the FBI was willing to use massive illegal force (including assasination) to repress political enemies and serve the interests of those in power. This is an excellent eye-opener to the true nature of the Bureau and the harsh crimes visited upon the American Indian Movement, the Black Panther Party and others such as the Puerto Rican Independence Movement. One is left wondering what activities the FBI has engaged in since the '80s and especially since 9/11. The best book I've read in some time.

The reissue of Agents of Repression is not only based on the historical significance of the book, but also the concerns expressed by co-author Ward Churchill in his lectures and writings about the direction of this nation with the advent of the Department of Homeland Security and legislative measures that have trampled over the Bill of Rights.

The book was published in 1988 based on the then ongoing litigation by some government officials against an author and publisher who had a work published concerning the illegal repression of AIM.

Agents of Repression is basically split into four sections; a history of the FBI, the government's war against the Black Panther Party, a lengthy exploration of AIM and the steps taken by a variety of government departments to destroy the grass-roots movement and how nothing has changed in the 1980s.

For readers who have explored these issues through other forums, it is an outstanding history. Readers who may be researching this era for the first time, I highly recommend the book since it takes larger topics and breaks them down into succinct chapters.

Churchill became the punching bag for the lightweight talking-heads on cable "news" shows more than a year ago due to comments he made in an academic setting concerning 9/11.

I urge a potential book-buyer to disregard that rhetoric and disinformation campaign waged against the co-author Churchill and consider that perhaps the payback for truly believing in civil rights means the attempt to silence him.

This is a terrific dictionary with thousands of entries in both the Northern and Plains Cree dialects. Entries also include multiple word forms to help language learners, and there is a supplement of modern Cree words (remember, Cree is still very much a spoken language, with many people who use it as their mother tongue). Grammar and pronunciation guide are not included.

When I was a boy my uncle tryed to teach me Cree...the language of my ancestors. I can only remember his voice. But now there is this dictionary that allows me to find precise meanings for words I dont remember clearly. The book will help keep the traditions of my people alive. an excellent book...highly recomended

Outstanding documentation of the art forms created by Allan Houser. A reference treasure

This book is both beautiful and informative. It is richly illustrated with the works of this great painter and sculptor. Moreover, the text recounts Allan Houser's remarkable life, interspersed with a history of the evolution of Native American art. One does not have to be conversant with the art world to benefit from this book. Everyone should be inspired by the story of Allan Houser, the child of parents who were Chiricahua Apaches, held as prisioners of war by the United States for more than twenty years. After leaving the family farm in Oklahoma to pursue his dream of becoming an artist, Allan Houser achieved international acclaim while remaining true to his Apache heritage. You will want to read his story, and you will want to see his works.

Our standard secondary school history jumps abruptly from Jamestown and Plymouth Rock to Lexington & Concord. The intervening 150 years are barely mentioned. The Jennings trilogy examines this period. In the instant volume we see the native Americans neither as passive victims nor noble savages but as politicians, diplomats, merchants and power players. Though probably doomed from the start due to the absence of immunity to European diseases, for a period of several decades they interacted with the early colonists on a basis of near parity. The Iroquois actually attempted with some skill the become the central player that would resolve the French-English rivalry and leave them at the center and in command. Jennings shows us that though this didn't happen and though the odds may have been against it such goals were far from fantasy. It's enough to cause one to imagine that "chutzpah" is a Mohawk term. One can only wonder, if the Indians had not been devastated by disease what the political map of North America would look like today.

Francis Jennings, long associated with the Newbury Library American Indian collections has brought his vast knowledge to bear on the subject of the Iriquois as the fearsome 5 or 6 nations who independently cowed both their fellow tribes and the English and French colonists. He proves it wasn't so with so many documents of which we have never heard in our schoolbook history texts that I wonder how such material escaped notice previously. In the process he slays some American Sacred Cows such as Francis Parkman. One learns that the Indian frontier was no such thing and didn't exist but was a commonly inhabited piece of terrain, peopled by various tribes and the European invaders who traded with them. Relations were, for the most part, reasonably amicable, which accounts for the fact that during later wars the Eastern Indians frequently exhibited what we call civilized treatment of enemies and prisoners. (Of course there were the exceptions, usually well justified.) But in the beginning, the Dutch, Swedes, English and French, all found it necessary to deal with the various tribes quite diplomatically in order to survive, and use them in their wars of empire with one another. Furs in return for trade goods were king. The undoubted reality is such a vast contrast with the accepted picture of our frontier that this book, as well as Jennings others in this series, should be required reading to repair the damage done in our schools by claptrap such as Parkman and other revered historians who followed his lead, writing off the Indians as barabarians and the frontier as a clearly delineated line across which whites stepped only if they were willing to take their lives into their hands. Instead we find two cultures living amicably in common communities up until the first half of the 1700's when the balance was upset by driving out the Indians such as the Delewares and Shawnees so that they located in the Ohio country and became relatively independent. The Iriquois had a large hand in this and it was their undoing. Read the book. It is a complicated subject but well worth digesting. I recommend reading it in small doses and having an atlas nearby.

Author has great insight into American history and our language development. Excellent for anyone interested in Native Americans and how our language developed. I rate it 5 stars.

wish ,more could learn to share others worlds as well as this book is written~~the writer has insight we all can learn from and use in our every day lives!!!

apsolutly fabulous. very well assembled for truly easy indexing of
information...a to z. Great photos and historical text of past basket
makers. photos of old baskets...great color . for basket collectors
and others interested in history of this subject, this book is a must
have. eagerly waiting Vol.11. wrote and sent pics to author of a
basket i have. hope they will review it and sent opinion of the
origin. if all other books in the series are as good as this one,
they are a must have also. thanks amazon seller for providing this
book at the same rate for buyers. a great purchase . ckd

American Indian Baskets I profiles 1,500 basketmakers with 2,000 full color illustrations, 344 pages, bibliography, index.
Vol. 6 in the "American Indian Art Series."
REVIEWS:
"The American Indian Art Series books are essential reference guides, necessary to specialist and enthusiast, scholar and collector. Filled with data and up to date biographical information, these books track and illuminate the contemporary Native arts field."
David Cloutier, Executive Director, Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, producers of Indian Market, Santa Fe www.swaia.org

"Dedicated to promoting authenticity in Native American Arts."
Tony Eriacho, Jr., Council for Indigenous Arts & Cultures and the Zuni Art Certification Commission, www.ciaccouncil.org

"As a Native artist, I feel the American Indian Art Series is an excellent resource. The books are so well researched and designed."
Darryl Dean Begay, Ta'chii'nii silversmith, www.redstreakdesigns.com

"As serious collectors of Native American art, we have found the books to be invaluable. The wealth of detail and especially so many photographs of the artists, bring this world even closer."
Jane and Bill Buchsbaum, Santa Fe

"This book series is a fresh reference perspective connecting art with people -- both artists and collectors."
Marjorie Chan, Utahr

This important issue of Native American genocide is covered thoughly in this book. Another book on the subject, "The Smallpox Genocide of the Odawa Tribe at L'Arbre Croche, 1763: The History of a Native American Tribe," has just been released.

A must read for anyone interested in American Indian History. It allows the lay person to understand complicated demographic issues that shaped the American Indian population in this country. Reading this will alter your perception of the world.