University of Nebraska Books

great book! buy it!! Everything is wakan. find out why!

Lakota Belief and Ritual is a book rich in oral history. It was recorded at the a time when there were First Nations members who had the personal experiences of a lifetime and whose tradition was an oral tradition. Dr. Walker (a physician and anthropologist) collected and preserved this oral history in the face of the destruction of most First Nation's cultures through the intervention of the European cultures.

The narratives are all excellent and there are 90 + documents containing those first-person narratives along with several photographs.

The Bison Books edition has an extensive (and very valuable) series of appendices, including an extensive (modern) bibliography.

The original Walker papers (or the majority, at any rate) are now part of the Colorado Historical Society collection.

A first rate piece of work by the editors, DeMallie & Jahner, working from the primary materials created and preserved by Dr. Walker and his family.

An invaluable work. This book -or at least excerpts- should be part of any text on U.S. History. The inclusion of First Nations culture in our textbooks is rare, indeed.

James Walker went to the Pine Ridge reservation in 1896 (as a Christian) to serve the indians as a Medical Doctor.

18 years later when he left the reservation; he had adopted the Sioux form of Spirituality, and had become a wicasa wakan (holy man). He was trained by George Sword, and other medicine and holy people.

Some of this material is very dry, and dificult reading because a large part of the book (expecially the rituals and myths) were translated into English from the Language of the Sioux. But if you have a sincere wish to understand this form of Spirituality; this book is well worth reading.

I do wish to confirm one statement in this book by wicasa wakan (George Sword). "Any pipe can be used in a sacred manner" I could NOT agree more! I have used a meerschaum pipe, a pipestone (catlinite) pipe, and a briar pipe. The condition of the heart and mind is far more important than the kind of pipe one uses.

I encourage questions and comments about my reviews; Two Bears.

Wah doh Ogedoda (We give thanks Great Spirit)

This book is the litmus test for subsequent interpretations of the Lakota religion. Since the true authors felt that their culture was disappearing, they were extremely forthcoming with their information to Dr. Walker. All Lakota expressions of religion that follow this revelation of the Lakota medicine men are in fact derivative of it. Some have questioned the qualifications of the "informants" within Lakota society, but I have seen no contemporary Lakota belief or ritual that deviates from the broad strokes of this book. If you truly want to learn about traditional Lakota religion, start here, and then move on to Raymond J. DeMallie's edited texts under the title The Sixth Grandfather.

I think that the author of this book that I have just started to read is very good at give the outlook of the Lakota and the way of live that thye live and i think that if you have the change to buy or cheak it out from the library in your area that you should

I gave this book to my husband. He is a rangeland management major and he is in love with the book. I do not know anything about plants, but he seems to love it and find it extremely useful. Compare to the expensive "weeds of the west" this book is relatively cheap for the amount of plants it has.

As a Range Conservationist in WA State a great book for all range mgrs, range techs., however, I was surprised to see Thurber needlegrass taken out of the most recent issue.

This is a great reference book for North American Range plants. It includes a detailed description of each plant along with sketchs and a maps to show distribution. Grasses, forbs and shrubs are included. This book also closely follows the lists for university range plant identification team contests. An excellent reference or study book for North American plants.

This book contains 200 of the most common range plants in North America. Each entry contains a detailed illustration, range maps, scientific and common names, complete written description, growth habit, origin, livestock value, and medicinal uses of the plant. I found the illustrations to be the best I've ever seen, especially the detail included in the grass spikelets. This is an excellent reference for anyone trying to familiarize themselves with common range plants.

North American Range Plants is a great book for any beginer, taxonomy student, layman, and expert alike. It is easy for the novice, because it's not in a key format, which may disappoint some more serious plant collectors. It contains 200 of the most common, and important plants found in the United States, Canada and Mexico. I have had this book for sometime now, and it has become an invaluable resource in my studies at Texas A&M University, where I have come to know one of the co-authors, Stephan Hatch. He has an unparralled knowledge of plants and a dedication like no other to put forth a good product, so i know from experience that this book was written by folks who are the top in their field of study. Being from Texas, i have worked internships in the plains of central North Dakota and the desert "outback" of eastern Oregon and have found the book to most useful, oftentimes referring to it before trying to "key out" a plant in a more technical publication. It just doesn't get any better than this.

This is nature writing which deviates quietly and profoundly from the main American currents. In the 1940s, Sally Carrighar spent her summers in a cabin in Sequoia National Park. She distilled her observations into this exploration of the experiences of nine creature during a single day near the same granite cliff. The interlocking portraits are engaging and convincing. Carrighar keeps the inevitable anthropomorphization to a minimum. Her descriptions allow us to enter into the animals' sensations and impulses. A deer mouse "wanted the walls of the nook to press her all over, but however she crouched, one of her sides had no touch of shelter on it." A lizard is tempted by "a gamey, delicately tart green leafhopper." A chickaree giving an alarm call "jerked, as if he were a little bag filled to bursting with bright sound that piped out whenever the bag was jostled."

Unlike Thoreau and all his literary descendants, Carrighar does not focus on the spiritual reverberations of nature in the human soul, and she does not speak of herself. In his introduction to the California Legacy Book edition, David Rains Wallace highlights her "down-to-earth, impersonal" approach. Today's nature writers, perhaps influenced by postmodernism and multiculturalism's emphases on individual perspective, rarely attempt to enter the consciousness of other beings. Perhaps they avoid cuteness, projection, and presumption that way. They also miss a chance to help us realize that other creatures exist as hungrily as we do.

As a veteran reader of nature writing, I am embarrassed to say that I felt surprised when this book made me remember that the animals I glimpse and don't glimpse on the trail must have continuous, emotional and sensory lives. I felt like going outside to watch a bluejay for an hour. I felt that the jay wouldn't bore me and I might be able to figure out what the he was up to.

Carrighar didn't entice me with the promise of objective knowledge of a secret kingdom. Rather, she made me wonder if I could achieve a sense of home in that kingdom through intimate knowledge. Though she never describes her own process of observation, Carrighar offers herself as a teacher. With her clear, faithful gaze, she comes as close to joining the community of Beetle Rock as a human can.

I haven't finished reading this book because I don't want it to end. Each chapter takes you through the same day as the other chapters, only from the vantage point of a different animal. Most humans don't have a clue as to the life of any other species 24/7. The detail, the nuance, the empathy that Carrigher brings is stunning, without being anthropomorphic. I'm starting a book club based on this book.

Each chapter is about a day's adventure of one of the animals (Weasel, Sierra Grouse, Chickaree, Black Bear, Lizard, Coyote, Deer Mouse, Stellar Jay & Mule Deer) on the rock and surrounding forests and meadows. Sally Carrighar compresses her observations into one day and weaves a fine tale of the activities and imagined-thoughts of each animal.

This is one of my favorite books. Carrighar writes about the lives of nine animals during one day in Sequoia National Park, one chapter per animal. Each animal interacts with the world and fellow creatures in its own way, and each has its own problems and anxieties -- which creates dramatic interest. Carrighar anthropomorphizes her characters, but convincingly and unobtrusively -- how could you avoid it in a book of this type? The writing beautifully describes sounds, scents, the play of light on leaves, etc.

This book, written from the point of view of each of a series of animals living around Beetle Rock, follows the web of life and illustrates the beauty of the natural world. This is a book for anyone seeking to understand the natural world, and anyone who truly loves animals.

This book and Author have been our summer reading list for my three boys, myself and my parents. My eldest at 8 read it himself I read it to the younger two and all were kept interested. After reading Moody's book on the Pony Express we were able to stop at a couple of relay stations and they already new so much.

An accurate and outstanding book which contains a perfectly woven story, about the Pony Express. Probably the best ever written on the subject. Ralph Moody is one of top american authors in our nation's history.

I read this for my homeschooling and it is very well portrayed. Characters are given a very fair amount of credit. There is allot of pony express books out there and I have to say this one is the most: Accurate(to my knowledge), exiting, well written, Keep you interested all around good book. This man is a wonder with writing. You never get board. This is written so well, it sounds like being a pony express rider was like today being a NASCAR driver. Well I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who is wanting to know more about the "Pony express" or for school (naturally).

This book is ideal for the mid-primary ages, filled with visionary men and larger that life characters that fulfuilled their vision.

Authentic feeling due to Moody's extensive knowledge of horses and the west and illustrated with line drawings and maps that enhance understanding.

A true product of it era no effort was made to soften or "PC up" the relationships and attitudes of white and indian and although the feel and language used is probably understated it may concern some people to see terms such as "Injuns" perjoratively used.

There are also honest although no graphic treatments of deaths both indian and white as well as the death of some Pony Express horses in the line of duty which should be easily handled except by a very sensitive child, but if yours is please bear this in mind.


An excellent book - good source for a book report. Would make an interesting read for a family traversing the Pony Express route on vacation darwing the younger children into the expereince. Over all an excellent book but slightly dated.

180 pages of illustrated true grit, with maps. 12 short chapters chronicle the first day's crossing of mail by the Pony Express. 4 more chapters record the danger and greatest rides of actual Pony Express riders. Ralph Moody shows only a slight bias toward his beloved wild mustangs.

It is refreshing to read a book about family life that is not dysfunctional. Mimi Schwartz in her new book of essays "Thoughts From a Queen-Sized Bed," has given us a view of her life and experiences that could be anybody's "normal" family. Her thoughts on growing up, parents, love, marriage, children, celebrations, vacations, illness and death, all felt familiar and I kept finding myself nodding in agreement. In fact, in several of the essays, I thought Ms. Schwartz had been a fly on the wall of my house! I really enjoyed reading this book and would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to read about life in a humorous and touching way.

Mimi Schwartz's "Thoughts from a Queen-Sized Bed" was ordered for me as a gift. I found the book to be a most entertaining series of essays, covering a 15 years period. Particularly of interest to those of us who have been married for a number of years. I share many of Mimi's thoughts about marriage, the problems of merging a night person with a day person and it was good to see them in print. Mimi writes with honesty, humor and optimism. She has a mastectomy and husband Stu suffers a heart attack, but she is undaunted. She accepts married life with all its nuances and muses on them for our benefit. Knowing that she is loved by Stu doesn't prevent her from toying with the idea of an affair. Her husband Stu snores and she wraps her arms around him for comfort. Their marriage is like an old shoe, comfortable even if a bit shabby looking after so many years. Mimi takes us through her family history, raising children, and looking forward to grandchildren, through petty squabbles and making love after an argument. She writes from the heart. Thank you Gerry for sending me this gift. Rita Berman - author of The A - Z of Writing and Selling, 1981.

What makes for an enduring marriage? My reading of Mimi Schwartz is that a portion of wry detachment comes in handy. Unlike so many women of her (and my) generation who have abandoned a marriage or two on the way to professional success and personal fulfillment, Schwartz has stuck with her Stu, and he with her, and these essays often give off a bit of the tension that underlies such give and take. My standards for good memoir rest more on the quality of reflection than on the drama of the incidents,and Schwartz is a sharp observer of the everyday. But there is plenty of shadow here, most prominently her father's narrow escape from the Holocaust, a family historic event that left her not only cognizant of calamity but grateful for good fortune.Would I recommend this book for newly-weds? Maybe after the first big fight. The more battle-scarred among us will applaud the couples' continuing attraction to each other.

Mimi Schwartz's memoir, Thoughts from a Queen Sized Bed, had me alternately laughing out loud, and crying quietly by myself. Her book is a series of short essays about marriage, family, motherhood, illness, work, life, and more!

What is so poignant about this collection is that it is a raw, deeply honest and open memoir that reveals insights into the author's heart. But more than that, her revelations about her own life are, at times, so universal that anyone can find a thought that pertains to their own experience in the world. Her words about her life help us define our own selves more accutely.

There is a humorous chapter on a family reunion "Alan Should Have Rented a Car," that touches on everyone's experience of such an event: the joy and intensity of being with people with whom you have love, history, and future, and yet the inherent difficulty, and real frustration and saddness that such gatherings also deliver.

At times her honesty is so brutal that its makes one want to wince and look away from her pain. Her chapter on breast cancer and mastectomy, "Dreaming of Lace," was brutally honest. And yet her words make us understand the experience in a profound and yet very human way.

Other essays force us to search inside ourselves and face our own follies and foibles, as we follow along with hers. She deals with everything from friendship to betrayal, from getting lost on the way to Cape Cod (who hasn't had the argument about who forgot the map and should we ask for directions?) to finding ones way on the Galapagos Islands. She shares secrets with us about parenting her children, and watching her children become parents, and she forces us to examine our own views of death and dying as she commandingly - yet with a touch of doubt - shares her views with us.

This is a brilliant, beautiful memoir that will not only touch your heart, but aid you in knowing your own life a little deeper.

Thank you Mimi Schwartz, for such a gift!

A Review of Mimi Schwartz's Thoughts from a Queen-Sized Bed

Thoughts from a Queen-Sized Bed is a wonderful collection of personal essays about Schwartz's life as a single then a married woman, as a wife and mother, and as a women committed to her own profession. These snapshots of her life--portrayed with humor, sensitivity, and insight-make fascinating reading for women and men who, like the author, lived through the 50s and 60s and who can easily identify with her dilemmas. But it also provides other readers with an insightful peek into living, dating, and marrying in an earlier era.

In Thoughts from a Queen-Sized Bed, one encounters a range of human concerns, among them: the tensions of being a first generation American, and a Jew, in a culture of mostly established Gentiles; the desire to stay slim, attractive, and healthy in world where women weren't expected to be athletic; the stresses of juggling marriage, the demands of motherhood, and a successful career... [and] the temptations to stray from a long term marriage....
I found reading this book a great pleasure. Schwartz has mastered the form of the personal essay, and her craft is evident on every page. In "A Night for Haroset," for example, she recounts a family Passover Seder that is rich with overtones of the couple's recent illnesses, of Schwartz's fragile connection to Judaism, and of interfamilial tensions.

The family is alive and well in these essays, and I hated to have to stop reading. Had there been more, I would have gleefully continued making a glutton of myself.

This book is one of the true historically significant accounts of events that have been forever shrouded in lies and fiction. If you are interested in historically accurate accounts of the late Apache wars, this is one of the must-read books. Davis just wanted the truth told, so he did it himself after watching glory-seeking sycophants take credit for, and be lauded for the heroic actions of others. Davis's views on his enemy Apaches, as well as the Apache scouts, show the wisdom and respect only a true and sage adversary can attest to. You won't be sorry you bought this book. Another must read is "On The Border With Crook" by John G. Bourke.

For any one interested in the real facts of the Apache campains this is for you. It may take a little patience to get through the early reading, Davis is very detailed in names and dates but he has real first hand accounts of things that acctually occured. This is a man I think saw and admired the native people and did his duty in a fair and just manner. Davis is an admiral person and does a great justice to the Indian and the attrocities they endured but at the same time points out that just like in every culture a few bad apples can spoil the lot. He also points out that the government did far more decieving to the Indian they ever did to the government. I always respected the Native Americans and even more so after this book.

Here is the point of view concerning a particular portion of the late Apache/Euro conflict involving the last rag-tag remnants of the Apache tribes and the United States Army units involved in trying to keep them subdued. Its an enjoyable read because the author gives a first-hand, eye-witness account of the series of incidents known as "The Geronimo Campaigns" and he does so without injecting the slobbering Politically Correct dogma that has become so common in present day literature dealing with frontier history (of course, Davis lived at a time when Political Correctness didn't exist, so naturally his book wouldn't contain any!)

A book like this easily destroys the sky-pie nonsense found in sob-story exercises such as Dee Brown's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" and blatantly absurd and Politically Correct motion pictures like "Dances With Wolves" and "Geronimo, An American Legend". In fact, its a very nice counter weight to the drivel out there that seeks to leave unaware people with the impression that the American Indian was some sort of Red Aristocrat or Feathered Philosopher/Sage who was unfairly victimized by unreasonable invaders.

However, I have even better works to offer you if you are sincerely interested in FACT and Truth concerning the White/Indian conflicts. These are all available right here at amazon.com, and the titles to look for are; THREE YEARS AMONG THE COMANCHES ( a first-hand narrative by a Texas Ranger who was captured by Comanches and how he was brutally and sadistically treated, how he escaped, and how he evaded re-capture.) LIFE AMONG THE APACHES ( a first-hand narrative by John Cremony of the famed California Volunteers, who dealt with Apache, Comanche, Kaddo and other hostiles at a time BEFORE the United States Army had even a small force in the southwestern region of North America.) and lastly, SCALP DANCE ( a book consisting of detailed military and civilian/settler accounts of the chilling, blood-curdling wars with Southern Cheyenne, Comanche, Arapaho, Sioux, and Kiowa on the high plains). These three books will serve to provide you with an excellent AND HISTORICALLY ACCURATE overview of frontier history, and an antidote to all the Politically Correct dogma out there that is being passed off as "fact" by glib leftist "educators", self-proclaimed "experts" and psuedo-historians. Read them all, none are dry or boring, and all are of the "couldn't put it down" type of literature.

After you've finished THREE YEARS AMONG THE COMANCHES, LIFE AMONG THE APACHES, and SCALP DANCE, get "Indian Wars" by Robert Utley. By reading these books in this order, you'll grasp the gravity of the incidents that Utley superbly, but only generally deals with, and you'll not only appreciate Utley's work even more, you'll also appreciate the fine line a genuine historian like Utley has to walk while trying to make a living within the Politically Correct jungle that surrounds the academic slums of so-called "modern education".

In 99.9% of all books written by whitemen about American Indians it is hard to find even a grain of truth or fact. This book is the exception that proves the rule!

While nothing is glossed over, the author does not attempt to sway the reader with sensationalism. He tells about his experiences and gives the good with the bad. He exhibits an almost unheard of ability to set aside any preconceived notions and actually see clearly both sides of the conflict AND views the American Indian as a human being, not some sort of subspecies.

An exceptional view of reality that should be required reading in all American history classes from junior high/middle school through the college level.

Britton Davis's reason for writing this book in the 1920's was to set straight some outlandish tales that were being published about who "captured" Geronimo, and some even more fictitious writings on the "Indian Wars."
This is an excellent book, as an adventure tale, as a look at the 'civilized' persons' outlook toward "the Indians" of the day, as a look at the horrific way our government tried to solve the 'indian problem' with a one-size-fits-all method (sound familiar?), and a look at Apaches as individuals rather than all-bad or all-good.
For a tremendous balance of outlooks, read this book along with Eve Ball's "Indeh".

As the previous reviewers have noted, this is a clever, wonderfully written book that makes sense of Cather and mincemeat of decades of politically oriented criticism. It is disheartening to read of all the absurdity that has been written about Cather (and, by extension, so many other wonderful writers)and realize the amount of dreadful criticism, narrow thinking and senseless writing that is being generated and propagated by the academic presses. This book is a breath of fresh air, showing that the Emperor of Academia really has no clothes.

With great economy and acerbic wit Joan Acocella takes on the Amazons of feminist theory and vanquishes the lot. Her research is detailed and her sources impressive, and for once we have a critic who loves literature and the people who make it more than the ideologies they represent or the dogmas they profess. Acocella skewers anti-scholarly scholarship and retrieves one of America's great writers from the dark grip of the dogmatists. Her account of Cather's early life and preparation is concise and filled with understanding; what's more in the briefest space she tells the story of that life in the context of the age and gives us Cather's achievement without the burden of spurious literary theories. Students of literature and literary criticism must read this as an example of good writing and clear thinking. Excellent bibliography, marvelous notes!

Joan Acocella has written a cogent and witty review of past and current Cather criticism. If you are tired of critics imposing their political agendas on Cather's work (whether from the left or the right) you will enjoy this book. My only criticism: this was originally a New Yorker article, and although it's been expanded, it is still rather slim. More, Joan, we want more!

Joan Acocella casts a witty and penetrating eye on Cather's wildly varying treatment at the hands of both right-wing and left-wing literary critics. This book is a must-read for anyone who's weary of pretentious, precious academic criticism that strays alarmingly far from the text in order to claim an author for a particular political camp. Acocella is a wonderful writer; every thought, every sentence in this book is a delight. Best of all, she makes you want to re-read Cather, which of course can only make you happy.

In a lucid, readable style Acocella explains how in the field of Cather studies, common sense has left the building and the lunatic fringe has set up camp. To many, it does not matter how fine a author Cather was but whether she was enough of a lesbian and leftist to qualify as an Approved Writer for the academy. Acocella explains with great panache how one can be a Republican and self-styled old maid like Cather and still be a great American writer. Riveting reading.

Rubenstein's book does two things at once: It provides an insightful look into the life of the Shuar healer Alejandro Tsakimp, in which many of the complexities of this person (and the Shuar people) are presented to the reader. At the same time, Rubenstein confronts the issues of representation -- he introduces himself and explains his relationship to his subject and the representation he is making -- then steps away and allows Alejandro to tell his story.

I found this book both interesting and useful for those two reasons -- as a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the Shuar people and as a model of dealing with the critical issues of representation confronting authors (and readers) across a wide range of studies.

This book is a serious anthropological work about an indigenous Ecuadorian Shaman. I had no difficulty reading the book as a layperson. Dr. Rubenstein puts a lot of himself into the book and is upfront about his friendship with Alejandro. I liked how he confronted the ethical and objectivity issues inherent in a study involving people. He lets Alejandro Tsakimp tell the story of his life. Much of the book is dialogue from interviews of Alejandro which allowed me to draw my own conclusions about what it might be like to be Shuar and a shaman in modern Ecuador.

I enjoyed the book. I thought it was clear, expressive and well-paced. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in South American culture. It would also be an excellent resource for anyone considering working with Shuar people as a Peace Corps volunteer or with an aid organization.

This is a serious anthropological book. I was extremely impressed by Dr. Rubenstein's intellectual discussions, his research methods, and his careful approach to his informants as well as his sensitivities to and sincerity for his informants during research and writing. He is honest with his readers. In ethnographic works like this, especially ones involving different cultures, I have observed that authors tend to paint the stories heard in their own cultural colors and speak for their informants instead of allowing the informants to speak their own voices. However, in this book, the author makes sure that the readers clearly hear Alejandro's and other informants' voices and their telling their own stories.

This is a must book for students majoring in anthropology, especially graduate students. Dr. Rubenstein reviews and includes the work by anthropologists in the past such as Malinowski and Radcliff-Brown and engages his reader in great discussions about various issues in anthropology. Because the author explains each issue clearly and systematically, even a person like me, a professor of communication, who has no formal anthropological background and whose mother tongue is not English, could understand the major discussions in anthropology identified in this book. In addition, because the author deals with various issues in academia and in life, readers can apply the knowledge they gain from this book into various fields. For instance, in terms of the issue about colonizer and colonialism, this book made me think about what happened to the farmers in my own neighborhood in Japan after WWII and during 1970 when new land policies were enforced.

This book will make a useful textbook in ethnography, anthropology, or methodology. This book also will aid anyone who is interested in life history, cultural and cross-cultural studies, spirituality, politics and colonialism, social change, history, South American culture, and cross-cultural and intercultural communication. I think more communication scholars, especially the ones who conduct qualitative researches or who teach intercultural communication, should read this book.

Rubenstein's book (about Alejandro Tsakimp) intrigued me because it initially confronted many of the fallacies of the written word. I felt that it was extremely thoughtful of the author to address these anthropological and literary issues, and he succeeded in heightening my awareness of the anthropologist as a lens through which the "subject" (Alejandro) is seen, thus allowing Alejandro to retain his dignity as a subject with a voice of his own.
Rubenstein, in the tradition of Briggs and Belmonte, strives to capture the quintessence of his subject(s) yet cannot ignore the fact that he is, inevitably, a part of his subject's (Alejandro's) tale; he (Rubenstein) is conscientious in admitting to the reader that he is the medium through which Alejandro's story must pass. I view his honesty as one of his many strengths.

Unlike any other ethnography I have read, Rubenstein allows us to hear Alejandro's stories in his own words (at length). I believe that Rubenstein uses the first 4 chapters to prepare us for this framing of Alejandro's life, so that we may understand it (Alejandro's life) in terms of itself, and not through the mind of an anthropologist. We eventually see the irony in this framing of Alejandro's story, because of the interconnectedness of all things; all things and events bleed across their supposed boundaries and the reader understands that nothing is an isolated incident. I was forced to understand Alejandro in terms of his context.
Alejandro's tales reveal the confusion created by the confluence of two cultures. In order to protect themselves from state infringement, the Shuar create a Federation which only seems to further indoctrinate them into a state-level society through bureaucratic representation. The reader has to decide whether the cultural plight of the Shuar exhibits symptoms of ethnocide or a sort of ethnogenesis.
In addition, Alejandro's powerful story is further riddled with the perils of being a shaman and facing the duality of one's power, the power to kill and cure.
In the end, the most enduring thing about Rubenstein's book is his honest and cleverly constructed commentary on the human condition and Alejandro's "quixotic determination to live in that world, to reflect on it and thus, necessarily to reflect it. In this reflection the space betwen history and culture, and the myths people -not just anthropologists but Shuar and colonos and even Alejandro himself- hold about culture unravel. And in this unraveling, Alejandro is just a shuar, just a person, living the best he can."

I believe that Rubenstein's book would be of considerable interest to anyone fascinated by the indiginous peoples of South America or any serious student of anthropology (or even english major interested in literary theory).
However, this book is accessible to anyone who's willing to spend a little time with it. There are so many issues swimming within the pages of Rubenstein's book that you won't have to read far to find something of interest.
Anyone with a sense of humor can appreciate Alejandro's stories, yet Rubenstein's book is not an easy read. It will make a reader think, but it's (the book is) well worth the extra effort.

The original version of this book, published in 1972 by Alfred A Knopf, reflects the thinking of historian Roy A Medvedev in the period of August 1962 to August 1968. The revised and expanded 1989 version must first be examined in light of the original.

The original was translated by Colleen Taylor and edited by David Joravsky of Northwestern University. Medvedev couldn't get published in the USSR, and this work thus first appeared in the West. It was written primarily during the transition from Khrushev's anti-Stalinist reforms to Brezhnev's immanent social-imperialism.

August 1968 is also the month of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslavakia and the defeat of Dubcek's "socialism with a human face." This is also the period of Mao's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.

Stalin was as evil as Hitler, yet he rose to power in the first Socialist state. The Second World War played itself out as one totalitarian dictatorship in a death struggle with another, yet Stalin ended up through the course of events as an ally of the democratic and capitalist Anglo-American West in its life-or-death struggle against fascism.

Totalitarianism turns out to have been the big infatuation of the twentieth century intelligentsia. Medvedev represents Russia's awakening from this plague. He is wrong about so much, yet for his age he was so far ahead of his times.

This book is a classic, and I believe the original should be the preferred version. Stalin's terror is nearly beyond belief. It is tragic in a different way than Nazism; perhaps with consequences more evil.

If Leninism ever revives, this will be a classic, just as it is now in the wake of the Cold War defeat of Communism.

This book is a very thorough and well-written biography of Josef Stalin. It was one of the few books I read in college that I didn't mind reading. The information on Stalin's political and personal life gives the reader an opportunity to make informed judgements about Stalin's actions.

This book was the first in the Soviet Union to treat Stalin in an objective way. Prior to its release Stalin had been the great hero of the patriotic war the father of the country and so forth. Whilst the secret speech by Krushev had distanced the country from his system scholarship had not taken the step of subjecting his rule to objective analysis.

The author was a person who was an opponent of Stalin and prior to the fall of the regime was active in its criticism. The book goes through the issues associated with Stalin such as the decision to collectivize agriculture, the forced industrialization, the terror and the handling of the war. The author forms the view that Stalin was an unmitigated disaster. That is the country would have progressed economically better without him, and his handling of the war was catastrophic.

It is a good book to read with other western accounts such as Bullocks.

The late 1990's saw the publication of numerous scatterbrained, and ill-intentioned, attempts to descredit Vladimir Lenin, Nikolai Bukharin, Leon Trotsky, and Karl Marx, by associating their actions, and ideas, with those of Joseph Stalin. One must ask, "were these attempts in any way successful?" Luckily, the answer is an emphatic, no. The individuals who bought into the "Marx and Lenin created Stalinism" theory, alluded to in works such as 'The Black Book of Communism', by Mister Courtois (or Miss), 'The Passing of an Illusion', by Mister Furet, and 'The Soviet Tragedy', by Mister Malia, already harbored such fantastic illusions. Most of the population has no interest in Sovietology, so attempts at descrediting Lenin, Marx, Bukharin, and Trotsky, were, and are, virtually fruitless (I took a Public Speaking course at a local community college, and most of the students hadn't even heard of Lenin, Marx, or Trotsky!.)

To find true objectivity, on the subject of Sovietology, one must reach back into the distant past, and read Roy Medvedev's incredible, 'Let History Judge'. One could refer to Medvedev's writings, as "Solzhenitsyn, without the racism and bitterness"(a spew of biographies show that Solzhenitsyn is without question anti-semitic; however, this fact doesn't mean he's no longer one of the elite writers of the twentieth century). 'Let History Judge', is not so much a history of Stalin, but a history of Russia from 1917-1953. Described, with minute detail, is Lenin's seizure of power, Lenin's benevolent feelings toward Stalin (which ended effectively after the Eleventh All-Congress of the Bolsheviks), Trotsky's role as leader of the Red Army, Trotsky's complete ineptness in regard to the left-opposition, and Stalin's remarkable, almost super-human, political abilites. In addition, one will never discover a finer description of collectivization anywhere (although I must admit Conquest's 'Harvest of Sorrow', is pretty excellent). Russia's grain production in 1930-1933, were almost certainly below pre-WWI levels, apparently, but Stalin wanted Russia to appear forceful, so he sold grain internationally, as if it were "business as usual", which resulted in the death of millions of non-guilty peasants (however, one can not deny George Carlin's classic quote, "there are no innocent people, once you're born, you're guilty as charged").The description of the horrible Gulag system is not quite as great as Solzhenitsyn's, but it's pretty darn close. Unlike Solzhenitsyn, Medvedev doesn't slander the dead, or embark on anti-semitic diatribes (thankfully, for the population at large, Medvedev critiques much of what Solzhenitsyn wrote in the 'Gulag Archipelago' with absolute clarity).

The price is pretty high, but at 800+ pages, the person isn't really buying just one book, they are buying a multitude of books, which cover a variety of subjects. In addition to, 'Let History Judge', I would also strongly recommend you read Edvard Radzinsky's 'Stalin', Volkogonov's 'Autopsy of an Empire' (being a Yeltsin staffer, Volkogonov is biased, but there is some interesting anecdotes!), and Robert Tucker's magnificent two-volume biograpy of Stalin. Unlike other works on the subject of the Russian Revolution, these works actually take a "scholarly" approach!

A reviewer, curator of AfroAmericanHeritage.com, 03/13/2007
Highly recommended!
Brief though the period of the Wild West was, the exploits of its villains and lawmen have fascinated people around the world, and been disproportionately represented in pop culture. But the multicultural nature of the Wild West has rarely been evidenced in the plethora of films, books and television shows. Which probably explains why the arrival of Sheriff Black Bart in Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles" (1974) elicited such a stunned response from the townspeople, and a riot of laughter from the audience. Imagine: a black lawman in the Old West! Imagine no more. Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves, a former slave, served for nearly 30 years in the Oklahoma and Indian Territories, the most deadly location for U.S. marshals. And according to glowing accounts of his bravery, skill and steadfast devotion to duty (found in white newspapers of the time, mind you) nobody was laughing when he rode into to town, especially not the bad guys. As this book amply illustrates, Reeves is remarkable not merely for being a black marshal (there were others) but for being one of the greatest U.S. Marshals, period. But Reeves' story - with the exception of references published here and there - has been largely ignored by western historians. Though widely known and respected during his lifetime, he was illiterate and left behind no diaries or letters, so what little has come down has been in the form of oral history and legends. Art T. Burton has spent the better part of 20 years reclaiming the heritage of African Americans in the American West, and has scoured through a wide range of primary sources - including Reeves' federal criminal court cases available in the National Archives, and account books at Fort Smith Historic Site - to separate legend from fact and painstakingly piece together the story of this American hero. The book is not a biography in the traditional sense, but as the subtitle states, a reader. It reproduces many of the court documents and contemporary newspaper articles with just enough narrative to put them into context. Not being a Wild West buff myself, I felt the author did an excellent job providing background to help me make sense of it all. As the author recounts, one of the first responses he received from a local town historical society in Oklahoma when inquiring about Reeves was "I am sorry, we didn't keep black people's history." This book is the perfect example of the wealth of information which can be gleaned by a creative, dedicated historian who looks beyond the usual sources in order to root out the hidden history of multicultural America. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Western history and culture, law enforcement, American or African American Studies. And I hope this book inspires someone to finally bring the life and times of Bass Reeves to the big screen.

This is a very intereting book about a black marshal that rode for Judge Parker. I was amazed at the amount of money he made as a "non-paid" marshal. His influence on the court and the city of Fort Smith at the time was also interesting. An interesting twist to see a marshal on trial, and obviously, motivated by hatred.

Brief though the period of the Wild West was, the exploits of its villains and lawmen have fascinated people around the world, and been disproportionately represented in pop culture. But the multicultural nature of the Wild West has rarely been evidenced in the plethora of films, books and television shows. Which probably explains why the arrival of Sheriff Black Bart in Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles" (1974) elicited such a stunned response from the townspeople, and a riot of laughter from the audience. Imagine: a black lawman in the Old West!

Imagine no more. Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves, a former slave, served for nearly 30 years in the Oklahoma and Indian Territories, the most deadly location for U.S. marshals. And according to glowing accounts of his bravery, skill and steadfast devotion to duty (found in white newspapers of the time, mind you) nobody was laughing when he rode into to town, especially not the bad guys. As this book amply illustrates, Reeves is remarkable not merely for being a black marshal (there were others) but for being one of the greatest U.S. Marshals, period.

But Reeves' story - with the exception of references published here and there - has been largely ignored by western historians. Though widely known and respected during his lifetime, he was illiterate and left behind no diaries or letters, so what little has come down has been in the form of oral history and legends. Art T. Burton has spent the better part of 20 years reclaiming the heritage of African Americans in the American West, and has scoured through a wide range of primary sources - including Reeves' federal criminal court cases available in the National Archives, and account books at Fort Smith Historic Site - to separate legend from fact and painstakingly piece together the story of this American hero.

The book is not a biography in the traditional sense, but as the subtitle states, a reader. It reproduces many of the court documents and contemporary newspaper articles with just enough narrative to put them into context. Not being a Wild West buff myself, I felt the author did an excellent job providing background to help me make sense of it all.

As the author recounts, one of the first responses he received from a local town historical society in Oklahoma when inquiring about Reeves was "I am sorry, we didn't keep black people's history." This book is the perfect example of the wealth of information which can be gleaned by a creative, dedicated historian who looks beyond the usual sources in order to root out the hidden history of multicultural America. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Western history and culture, law enforcement, American or African American Studies.

And I hope this book inspires someone to finally bring the life and times of Bass Reeves to the big screen.

Professor Burton's book about Bass Reeves combines thorough, meticulous scholarship on the details of Reeves' long career as a lawman with a most impressive general knowledge of the times in which he lived. The result is a biography unlikely to be surpassed.

A question that has long interested me, and is asked by this book, concerns the criteria of historical remembrance. Why, for example, is Wyatt Earp (to pick just one example) remembered and even celebrated to this day, when--at the very least--equally deserving historical figures, such as Reeves, languish in relative obscurity? Were history fair (and of course it is not) the reverse should be the case, as by any objective measure Reeves was the superior lawman. One is cynically tempted to conclude that too often subsequent historical recognition is far more a result of puffery than of merit.

Burton does an admirable job of reconstructing what can now be known about Reeves' remarkable life, and adeptly separates myth from fact along the way. This was a difficult task, as Reeves was illiterate, meaning that the record of his life is only indirectly available primarily through court transcripts, oral histories by others, and sketchy accounts in contemporary newspapers not often disposed to celebrate the accomplishment of a black man.

In addition, Burton is able to present new and significant information. I, for one, had not known that, toward the end of his career, Reeves was prominently involved in a spectacular shootout (every bit as dramatic as the OK Corral) in Muskogee with a deadly gang of religious fanatics. Until now, lawman Bud Ledbetter (the "Fourth Guardsman") got most of the credit for confronting these dangerous criminals.

Professor Burton notes that he's been working on this project, intermittently, for some twenty years--the result is worth the wait.