Oklahoma Books

A thrilling account of this pioneer family's struggle to survive and their dramatic move from Texas to Southwestern Oklahoma in the mid 1890's. A wife and mother who had left a beautiful home and sheltered life in Ohio to become the true helpmate to a husband and father dedicated to honesty, integrity and faith in God to sustain them in this raw new frontier known as Cheyenne Land.
--- from book's back cover

A great read for anyone interested in the history of the Plains Indian tribes. It brought to life one of the lessor known, but influential, Indian chiefs of the region. I also learned a great deal about the settling of the Denver/Boulder communities during the Colorado gold rush days.

China : Ancient Culture, Modern Land (Cradles of Civilization) is a colorful well designed book that is packed full with information on the world's most populous country. For the past or the present this book provides neccesary information for anyone who is doing reaserch on China. With a large array of pictures and interesting information this is a great book to buy. Information from the dynasties to the Communist rule over China today, makes this book worth the buy.

I found this book to be a very informative guide to the history and ethnology of the Chippewa of Wisconsin and Michigan's Western Upper Penninsula over a period of 300 years. The extensive interviews shows Dr. Danzinger did his homework. I was pleased at his consistent noting of the survival mechanisms and postive attitudes of this select group who are a still growing part the largest tribe (Anishinabe or Ojibwe) of Indians in North America. The footnotes and bibliography offer the reader excellent resources for further study. I look forward to another volume. Megwetch.

There are lots of great old black and white photos here, most dated and their subjects identified. This would be a great gift for the amateur genealogist or anyone interested in Oklahoma or Choctaw history. It's a thin volume, not intended for serious research or scholarship. I liked the modern photos, including poet Leanne Howe but not sure why the author felt compelled to include pictures of Reba McIntire and Lane Frost, neither of whom is Choctaw.

The only complaint I have is the author did not expand his search beyond Choctaw territory and left out Choctaws in urban areas and other parts of the state. A casual reader might think all Choctaw people live only in this small area of the state.

Recommended.

This is a book for everyone. It's full of tales from earliest missionary times to today. There's the Presbyterian missionary who thrilled when he was greeted by the sound of church bells in what he had expected to be heathen territory and there's the story of a cowboy Christmas. "The first Christmas tree ever erected in the cattle country of the Cherokee Strip," told by Pawnee Bill of the Wild West Show, is a swift-kicking rip-snorter complete with popcorn stringing and a posse.

The recipes in the final section are specialties for the holidays: Brie Soup to Persimmon Pudding. You're bound to find a new tradition here.

Sunnye Tiedemann (aka Ruth F. Tiedemann)

This book was intended to be the first volume in a series that went up to WWI, but for obvious reasons Dr. Kissinger never finished the series. Many people have read this book and asserted that Metternich and Co. offered Kissinger his diplomatic roots, when in fact this is wrong. Do not read this book to understand Kissinger, read it to understand an often misunderstood era in history. Kissinger understood it better than anyone.

I was concentrating mostly on the Joyce chapter. It provides some very useful perspectives in reading Joyce. If you want to read Derrida's Glas, then this is book is a good resource.

In general, Sartiliot's discourse is very readable and difficult concepts are presented with enough clarity and completeness.

Florence Drake was a well-respected professor at the University of Oklahoma, when she wrote this book. She interviewed, Thomas Wildcat Alford, and he told his story to her. He was the grandson of Tecumseh. He told what he felt and thought, as he was given the opportunity to leave his tribal home and attend an American school. He was the first one of his family to do so. This book gives the reader his perspective of his story, and it is well written, so that you understand his time in history.

Caughey's book on Chief Alexander McGillivray is a "must own" book for serious students of Creek Indian or Alabama history. The primary value of this book is the reprinting of the many letters by McGillivray in his roles as Creek Chief and Creek diplomat, painstakingly taken from the Spanish archives. McGillivray was the only 18th century Indian chief who wielded a pen in such a powerful fashion dealing with various southern states, English and Spanish governors, and the US government. It also illustrates his role in the Scots owned Panton-Forbes trading company in Spanish Florida which was the "walmart" of its day which ran its own ships to the Bahamas and Europe for import/export purposes, maintaining several stores in florida and the Bahamas with sub-agents and traders in what is now Alabama,Mississippi, and Georgia.
Alexander McGillvray has a close relationship with William Panton the primary owner of the business.
The apex of his career is his meeting in person with George Washington and Thomas Jefferson in New York City to negociate the famous New York Peace Treaty of 1790 just before the US capitol is moved to Philadelphia.
With this collection of letters in his own handwriting we get to see these events through his eyes.
This book is not a complete history of Alexander and his father Lochlan but the letters presented give us a view of him we can find no other place. There are other more recent scholarly books on
Alexander and his dad Lochlan for the interested student.( see Wright or Cashin).
I see that this book has become very expensive and I hope that some University press will elect to reproduce it in paper back at a lower cost. Oklahoma Press has informed me they will not reprint this book.