Oklahoma Books

As a small child, I remember my grandparents, parents, and Aunts and Uncles telling me these stories that are now written in this book. I enjoyed listening to the different stories of various tribes from Oklahoma. I shared the stories in this book with my children as they were growing up, and now want to share these stories, not only with my grandchild, but other children in grade schools that are interested in Native American storytelling. The pictures are great! My husband amazingly had kept this same book as he was growing up! Now we can both enjoy it together.

I saw Blackhorse Mitchell (he has dropped the "Emerson" that was attached to him by the school) speak at the Cortez cultural center and immediately picked up the book. I read most of it in one night and finished it the next day. After coming home from vacation, I loaned it to a friend who speaks some Navajo, and I can't wait to discuss it with him.
This book is part autobiography and part epic poem. Blackhorse Mitchell describes a life that every child dreams of living - but may not appreciate the reality of. He leads us through a generation of dramatic change in the Navajo lifestyle, revealing things in his beautiful poetic meter that often appear to come through right between the words. Mr Mitchell has stripped his soul bare for his reader and yet, as a young man, appears to be unaware of it.
Currently having secured the rights (he never recieved any royalties!!!), Mr. Mitchell is currently working on a revised edition to be published by the University of Arizona. Godspeed, Blackhorse Mitchell, godspeed.

In a book which many might initially expect to be acontinuation of his highly-regarded _Other Destinies: Understanding the American Indian Novel_, Owens takes a large step forward before turning to bring his gaze to bear on the readers of American Indian novels. What do we expect to find in "Indian Territory?" And are Indian writers promoting "literary tourism," or are they appropriating the colonizers' language and creating something that is both fresh and disturbing to Indian and mainstream readers? Who reads these books, anyway? Who gets to review them, and who publishes them?

For scholars who have relied on Owens' steady voice, this book will be a wonderful gift. Several hard-to-find essays have been collected and reworked in this cornucopia of Owens material. While this is not a continuation of _Other Destinies,_ this text will most likely become its steady companion.

Owens examines closely several critical issues particular to mixedblood writers, and pushes some politically hot buttons in the process. Who may speak as an Indian for Indians, for mixedbloods, for the environment, for those who live in urban areas or on reservations? What are "terminal creeds" and why do Owens and his friend Gerald Vizenor oppose this form of thinking and representation? Readers will no longer be confused regarding these questions when they turn the last page before tucking _Mixedblood Messages_ onto the shelf between _Other Destinies_ and _Bone Game_.

After having reviewed some three separate Latin books for self-study, I would have to say this one was the clear winner. All the material was laid out in a consistent, concentrated manner. The chapters were very short (2 or 3 pages each) so you could sit down and run through one relatively quickly (an hour or so to do all the questions/memorize the vocabulary).

There is a glaring, unforgivable flaw with this book - or atleast how it presented on amazon.... There is no answer guide. Well let me be correct, there *IS* an answer guide, but its not in the book, and the book that it is in ... is no longer in print. So there is no way to check your work without a teacher - or an old, used answer guide (One of which I never found - thus not completing the book).

So Sadly, as well written as this book is, I cannot recommend it for purchase unless you happen to be in a school that uses this curriculum.

"Money: The Human Conflict; A Survey of Monetary Experience," is a great historical account of the effects a monetary economic class structured society has had on the human being, human culture, and society itself. If you are examining the viability of capitalism for the future of civilization this is a great place to start. Even if you are merely interested in humanity's employment of money as a resource distribution management tool, or tracing our historical trend for perpetual warfare relative to monetary systems you will learn a lot from this excellent account of humanity's economic history by Elgin Groseclose.

Elgin Groseclose is an excellent prelude to the ideas presented in "The Venus Project," of Futurist, industrial designer, and social innovator Jacque Fresco. It is not about the planet Venus - it is about the future of human society on the planet earth. You may enjoy examining the work of Jacque Fresco and how he takes his understanding of incessant human conflict over money/weath into a novel theory of a society designed without the use of money, debt, credit, or even mandatory bartering but instead, employing a concept thoroughly developed in his book "The Best that Money can't Buy," and his movie, "Future by Design," of a global resource based socioeconomic system for managing resource distribution to satisfy all of the needs of the humand being in society in a more humane and ecosystem friendly manner.

The Best That Money Can't Buy: Beyond Politics, Poverty, & War

Ther Montana Cree Book was in Excellent condition, was delivered in good time and was very professional about the deal.
Thank you.

This account of the Vigilantes of Bannack and Virginia City is well documented and verifies, or, is verified by, Dimsdale's account of the vigilantes. My great-grandfather, Bob Dempsey, was a citizen of Bannack and had a ranch between Bannack and Virginia City. He was not involved with the members of Plummer's gang but somewhat on the fringe of things. My grandfather James Dempsey married Ellen LeCompte in Virginia City. Williams was the leader of the vigilantes but did not want his name used in the Dimsdale account. This account is accurate and can be verified by historical records available. Vi

Prompt service. Very interesting book. It was a gift and the recipient was very pleased.

Jane Jayroe's book, More Grace than Glamour, is a touching and beautiful story of a young girl, celebrity, professional, mother, wife and friend sharing her amazing story with love, humor and warmth as she reveals the joys and highs/lows of her life. It is filled with inspiration and tributes and I highly recommend it for any person who is seeking delightful, inspirational books to read. It would, also, make an excellent gift for friends, sisters, daughters...... actually anyone!! I loved reading it and have shared it with many friends and family members. Norma Ferguson, Enid, Oklahoma

Gilbert Fite's "Mt Rushmore," (1952), like the great monument, is a superb piece of work and lives up to Professor Herbert T. Hoover's description of it, (to me), as the best on the subject.

I have read two new excellent books this year on the monument ('Mt Rushmore:An Icon Reconsidered' By Jesse Larner, and 'Great White Fathers' by John Taliaferro) but I agree with Hoover that Fite's work, now over half a century old, is still the best, in regard to the politics and construction of the 'Shrine of Democracy.'

Professor Fite, a South Dakotan historian now retired in Arkansas,has an easy and engaging style of writing that appeals to the general reader, as well as obvious research abilities that make him repected by his peers.

He brings to life the major players behind the creation of Rushmore monument: Doane Robinson, the lawyer turned- visionary historian who dared to dream of a great monument; Gutzon Borglum the brilliant but irascible sculptor who created something unique for the national memory; the able administrator John Boland whose financial skills were essential for success as was his humility and ability to withstand the bile and denigration of Borglum; and the political skills of Congressmen William Williamson, Francis Case and, in particular, Senator Peter Norbeck, arguably South Dakota's greatest senator and governor whose name is forever connected with the best in conservation principles.

Fite's description of Norbeck's Iron Mountain Road as ensuring the most spectacular framing, or telescoping, of Mt Rushmore by the use of three different tunnels is spot on and brought back warm personal memories of my visit in October 2001. This road plus the earlier Needles highway,together with Custer State Park and game sanctuary remain Norbeck's monument.

There are some great photos of the the early work at Rushmore and of most of the men mentioned above, including my favourite of Doane Robinson, taken in his later years. It seems to epitomise the author's description of him as "mild and even tempered" and reflects why "through the years South Dakotans had come to love and respect Doane Robinson."

Fite is understandably tough on Borglum, who could be very unfair to people who disagreed with his views, while recognising his genius,(although Taliaferro's book goes into greater biographical detail of the sculptor, his family and Ku Klux Klan background), and chronicles the financial and political struggles of the project as well as the dissenting voices to the monument.

Mt Rushmore is indeed a place to reflect, in a dramatic setting-a monument for the ages, representing the greatness and best traditions of America. However, it should also be mentioned it has been created on stolen land and the two newer books mentioned, as you would expect 50 years on, do detail Indian perspectives and grievances, and the other notable events in the history of Rushmore, since Fite's work was produced.

However, as I write this review on the second anniversary of an evil and barbarous terrorist act, it is worth reflecting on that the men of Rushmore were essentially builders-unlike the wreckers and destroyers of the Taliban whose contribution to history was to smash the great Budhist statues of antiquity because they were not monuments of their faith.

Like Mt Rushmore, Professor Fite's book is well constructed and makes us think of peoples and values of worth. Highly recommended.