5 comments about Tecumseh: A Life.

1. I am a fan of Tecumseh's, and this book was a good read. However, it fails in comparison with the works of Alan Eckert. Eckert's book, titled "A Sorrow In Our Heart", is a much better read and goes into more detail of Tecumseh's life and the life of his people. If you were going to read a book on Tecumseh I would only recommend Eckert's version. It is much more engrossing and by far much harder to put down. It is also three times the length of John Sugden's version.



2. John Sudgen's "Tecumseh: A Life" is one of the more recent biographies of the famous Shawnee leader. Upon first reading of this book, I was not greatly impressed as the text was rather dry and languid. However, after delving more deeply into other works on Tecumseh's background and history of the War of 1812, I felt this work perhaps deserved another look.

   Tecumseh of course is the famous Shawnee war leader who resisted American expansion into the Northwest Territory in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He has been the subject of many books and movies, many of them fanciful presentations of the mythical image that has grown up around the man that many have called the greatest Indian leader of all time. Tecumseh's dream of a powerful pan-Indian confederacy was visionary in scope as he hoped to unite not just a few, but ALL the Indian tribes east of the Missisippi and beyond against the flood of white settlers pouring across the Appalachian Mountains. Tecumseh came closer than any others to succeeding in that vision, but the British defeat in the War of 1812 and Tecumseh's death at the Battle of Moraviantown in 1813 ended that dream forever.

   Sudgen's book helps to dispel many of the myths and tries to present the known facts about Tecumseh's life. While not nearly as engaging as Allan Eckert's "A Sorrow In Our Hearts", this book serves as a decent, if still somewhat slow going telling of the life of an undeniably capable leader. Sudgen also takes time to bash research of other historians who have done work on Tecumseh, ostensibly to help clarify the many myths and misconceptions that have grown up around the Shawnee leader in the past 200 hundred years, but the chapter comes off as more of a rant against other authors and diminishes the impact of the book. After reading Sudgen's work, I would recommend checking out not only Eckert's books on Tecumseh, but also "A Wampum Denied" by Sandy Antal and "The Shawnee Prophet" by R. David Edmunds for a more in-depth understanding of Tecumseh's life and times.




3. The Shawnee war chief Tecumseh was a man of true, unbridled genius. He was hailed by nineteenth-century Americans as the epitome of the "noble savage" and later became the namesake of many thousands of boys born in the early decades of that century (including Union General William Tecumseh Sherman). Whereas in death Tecumseh was hailed with pride as a worthy adversary, in life his name struck nightmarish fear into whites from Cincinnati to Buffalo, and caused nearly the whole of the US Army to be sent west in opposition to his highly successful war against what he saw as the American invasion of his native soil
   
   This book does a spectacular job of filtering through the legend and finding the real biography of a figure whose life reads like a story of fiction. Tecumseh was a visionary (some say literally) who looked ahead and saw what the consequences of US expansion would be for the aboriginal populations of the North American continent. The preservation of his people and its culture being this wise leader's greatest priority, this amazing man laid aside his grief over the murders of two family members by expansionist whites, and at first sought to make treaties with the American government. Tecumseh kept his word and maintained peace on the frontier border, but after Washington broke its word again and again and used episodes of one-sided peace to slaughter whole Shawnee villages in Ohio, Tecumseh saw there was no alternative but to begin a war that he knew would have but one possible outcome: either the expansion of the United States into the west would be halted, or his and other native cultures would be destroyed within a generation.
   
   Tecumseh used his charisma and eloquence to persuade ardent enemies among Indian nations to lay aside their grievances and unify in an effort to stop the white man who was yearly seizing territory in the Ohio Valley homeland of so many tribes. Tecumseh crisscrossed North America, from Florida to Canada, whipping up fierce hatred of the whites and raising an army to strike at their mutual enemy. Under Tecumseh's fearless leadership, the Indian forces--warriors from a score of diverse peoples--won victory after victory over the American settlers, militia and armies. For a time US settlement into the Shawnee homeland was halted and Tecumseh's dream almost seemed within reach...and then this tactical genius made a horrible error in allying with the English in the War of 1812. Tecumseh, a man of deep personal honor, aided this European superpower in its goals of preventing the US takeover of Canada, but the English in their stead betrayed their Indian allies, whom they regarded as mere primitives, and ultimately set them up for a battle that would result in their doom.
   
   An American President once said that were it not for the presence of the United States, a man as gifted in all the arts of leadership as Tecumseh was would have established an empire that enclosed all of eastern America and surpassed that of the Aztecs in greatness. Certainly Tecumseh was a rare individual who came close to becoming for his people what George Washington was for his. This book untangles fact and fiction and gives us the story of one of the great men of the North American continent. It is a hefty, fulfilling read.



4. Sugden has put together a very important biography of this critical figure in the early national period. Tecumseh was uniquely gifted at seeing the larger picture. The tragedy of the volume is that, even given his gifts, Tecumseh was not able to bring the Native Americans together to resist those who would change their way of life. What Sugden makes clear is that, demographically speaking, it was unlikely that they could have done so. Nonetheless, that does not in any way diminish Tecumseh's accomplishments.
   
   Unlike the Eckert volumes, which feature an uncritical inclusion of many of the myths that developed regarding Tecumseh, this is a critical biography. As a result many of the stories that grew up around Tecumseh are examined carefully--many are debunked. What emerges is an all the more remarkable individual who created a legend by serving a cause greater than self. We have Sugden to thank for painting that picture compellingly.



5. The combination of excellent research and crisp narrative make this a wonderful biography. He weaves in appropriate larger issues without getting diverted from the theme of his story. One of the largest problems was discovering the truth about this legendary Indian chief, and he delivers an even-handed assessment of Tecumseh the person.

3 comments about Turtle Lung Womans Granddaughter (American Indian Lives).

1. A beautiful minds, loving words, about family, about a people, about a way of life. This story combined with the beauty in word of " Bead on an Anthill " Delphine's first book sets the mind and soul, for a journey into one's self.
   In the female voice of the Lakota, live the life set in the beauty that is the Northern Plains, of this Turtle Island.
   The writting style is such , to savor each word as if it could fill you with the images it creates.
   This is what award winning writing should be about.........



2. I was sceptical to read this book because it was assigned to me to read for one of my criminal justice courses. However, I was really absorbed in the story of the Native American Tribe, the Lakotas. The book is written from an "Americanized" point of view. It tells a story of the authors great grandmother and her life as a Lakota woman. There are many fun and interesting things that happen to the Turgle Lung Woman. She speaks of her courting rituals, battle rituals, labor divisions between men and women, children roles.
   There are interesting stories about homosexuality, adultury, death, commitment to the tribe and war.
   Definitely an interesting book that contains historical facts and the culture of the Lakota tribe.



3. Unlike the last reviewer I was excited to read the book. Unfortunately it was a big dissapointment. I was bored to tears while reading this poorly written remake of every Native American story ever written, with none of the originality. It is truly surprising to see the level of writing published today, this is horrible.

1 comments about Winning the Dust Bowl (Sun Tracks).

1. Winning The Dust Bowl is an impressive collection of Native America writer Carter Revard's poetry and prose memorializing Oklahoma Dust Bowl era bootleggers and bankrobbers, Oxford proctors and punters, American Indian Movement activists and agitators; all interwoven and augmented with his own life experiences on the Osage reservation in rural Oklahoma, his academic success as a Rhodes Scholar, Yale Ph.D., and tenure as a professor of medieval literature. Winning The Dust Bowl is both a compelling memoir and a compendium of superb poetry that can be very highly recommended for students of American literature, Native American culture, as well as an heroic and erudite reconciliation of disparate influences and heritages in the life of an exemplary scholar.

No comments about Apache Mothers and Daughters: Four Generations of a Family.

5 comments about Ishi in Two Worlds: A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America.

1. At the beginning of the 20th century a half-starved 50-year-old Indian was found in a remote farm in California. He was the last surving Yaki Indian. Before the arrival of white settlers there had been probably more than 2000 Indians of that tribe in the area. They were wiped out in less than 80 years by the diseases carried by europeans, the reduction of their natural environment and periodical retaliatory expeditions organized by band of vigilantes to revenge a stolen cow or horse or the killing of one white settler. The last surviving Yaki was lucky enough to be "adopted" by the curators of the Museum of Berkeley University. There the Indian lived happily for 5 years, working as janitor and a sort of living exhibit. The anthropologist studied him and his world, and he studied the world of whites, showing a remarkable degree of adaptability to modern American society. He was called Ishi (=man) by the staff of the museum because he always refused to say his own name. Loved by everybody and friend of everybody, he died of the tubercolosis that his natural defence did not recognize. The story was written 50 years after his death by the daughter of the museum's director through the notes of her father (she had never met Ishi). Even being a perfectly scientific book, it has the power of moving of a novel and contains a terrible caveat for the modern man.



2. This book is very enjoyable, informative, and enlightening. If you are interested in Native Americans, this is a must read. It truly describes the last "Wild Indian" that was brought into modern society. It explains both the natural heritage of Ishi along with the typical exploration of finding the last "Wild Indian". Truly, a story that had to be told



3. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and the story of Ishi. However, the binding on the new paperback fell apart before I was half way through it.



4. ALL humans can benefit from reading this fact based book. ISHI was a real MAN, and his humbleness and genuine qualities are what young people should strive to match!



5. Stunning. Only 100 years ago and the atrocities were numbing. Don't read this if you don't want to be ashamed of how our ancestors dismissed the rights, culture, and wisdom of native Americans. By the end of the book, I felt as though I was sitting with Ishi, quietly appreciating the abundance of nature and the solace of family and tribe. The book is fifty years old and some of the vocabulary and phrasing is quirky, but there is a reverence that is unmistakable.

5 comments about Looking for Lost Bird: A Jewish Woman Discovers Her Navajo Roots.

1. Like many of the readers I couldn't put the book down until I read it from cover to cover. While reading the story I found out these people were my extended family! I know everyone mentioned in the book. As a youngster I remember the crusade of Aunt Desbah, Uncle John and others in finding the twins who were stolen as babies. I wept at the end when Yvette participated in the holy Hozhoji ceremony to be reunited with her birth place, family, culture, and environment. Very moving!

   Aunt Betty, Yvette's biological mother lived a very brave life as she longed and searched everyday of her life wanting to be reunited with her twins. May God bless her soul.




2. Looking For Lost Bird:
   A Jewish Woman Discovers Her Navajo Roots.
   Yvette Melanson with Claire Safron
   Bard Books. 233 pages. $22.00
   By Elliot Fein

   Looking For Lost Bird is a true story that is disturbing yet compelling. A Native American Navajo Indian woman gives birth on her reservation home in Arizona to twins, a girl and a boy. During their infancy, both children get sick. The mother takes the children to the nearest local hospital for a diagnosis.

   Hospital staff members instruct her that they will need to keep the two children over night for observations. When the mother returns the next day, the children are gone. The hospital has no record that they were ever admitted.

   The kidnapped infant children are each adopted in Florida by two different families. One of the families is a young Jewish couple that lives in a New York City suburb. Looking for Lost Bird is the story of the Navajo girl, Yvette Melanson, who is raised in that Jewish household.

   As an adult, Melanson discovers her Navajo origins and searches for her family roots. She finds her family (minus her mother, who died of a broken heart grieving for two lost children) still living on the Navajo reservation in which she was born. At the age of forty-three, Melanson decides first to visit her birth family in Arizona, then to move there permanently with her husband and two children.

   While adjusting to the reservation, Melanson learns and begins practicing the religion, culture, and way of life of her birth family. In this process, she abandons many of the Jewish cultural practices (but not necessarily Jewish values) in which she was raised.

   Melanson's Jewish parents (particularly her mother) provide a loving and caring environment for their daughter. In Yvette's recollection of how she was raised, their warts do surface, particularly the shortcomings of her father. After her mother becomes ill and eventually dies during her teen years, the father changes into a different, less appealing character.

   Melanson never reveals whether her Jewish parents knew about her Navajo origins. The reader is left to speculate whether the knowledge, if known by her Jewish parents that she was stolen from a Native American Indian family would have impacted their decision to adopt.

   What is surprising in the telling of this life story is the absence of any form of anti-Semitism by the author. When Melanson writes critically about her mother and father, she writes about them as individuals. She does not associate her criticism of them with Judaism as a faith tradition.

   On the reservation, when she begins taking on Native American Indian ways, Melanson naturally compares Navajo culture to Judaism. In this comparison, Melanson writes with respect, affection, and even admiration about the religious tradition in which she was raised.

   Melanson tells her life story (with the help of Claire Safron) with compassion, humor, and eloquence.

   I recently led a book club at my synagogue. A member of the club recommended that I read Looking for Lost Bird. After reading it, we immediately decided to include Looking for Lost Bird one of our featured selections. The book provides a great opportunity to learn about Navajo culture and to see how it compares to Judaism as a religious tradition. The book is also a true gift for adopted individuals, particularly native American Indians, seeking to uncover their past.

   Elliot Fein teaches Jewish Studies in the Tarbut V'Torah School in Irvine.




3. I look through thousands of books a year as a reseller, but I read about 2 books a year. This one got my attention because I have a son who is 1/2 Navajo. His mother suffered the same sort of fate as Yvette. "voluntarily" seperated from brothers and sisters at the age of 5, sent to Utah, a mom she has not met, alcohol, violence etc etc etc . . .
   
   This book does a very good job of relating what rez life is really like, and gives a good insight into Navajo culture.
   
   I am a classically stoic, but I had tears in my eyes all the way through this book. I encourage anyone who is interested in the journey of the Navajo to spend some time on the reservation. Drive around, meet the people. Western culture has a lot to learn from this society.
   
   Read Ward Churchill's writings too, don't judge him by what the media has said about him.



4. This is an amazing and detailed story - and I don't want to spoil it for anyone who has not read it - suffice it to say that 'discovering ones roots' is neither an easy nor a direct path to tread - the brave people who undertake this quest never cease to amaze me .......



5. The book came and it was like new--maybe it was new. I thought it took a bit longer to get to me than usual, and, if so, it's no big deal

5 comments about The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull.

1. Ever since my childhood, I have always been enamored of the Native Indians. It wasn't the Indian of the Cowboy tv shows where they were portrayed as idiots or savages ~~ but as the people who were close to nature and the spiritual world.

   This book does not disappoint. This is a very concise portrayal of Sitting Bull from an author who took great pains to portray Sitting Bull as how the Indians viewed him and as how as the Whites viewed him. He didn't allow his emotions cloud the facts ~~ it was very obvious that he took time to research the facts and present them without boring the reader to tears. He showed Sitting Bull as the greatest Sioux leader of all time and how he worked to unite the Lakotas and the Hunkpapas as well as other Indian nations together to defeat the White invasion. He also presented the facts that allowed the readers to be aware of why the Indian battles were a losing cause ~~ simply because there were more of the Whites coming. There were not enough Indians to keep populating the land.

   This is one of the most in-depth research I've read and enjoyed on any Indian leader. This one goes beyond Sitting Bull and talk about the problems the Indians faced ~~ and yes, it does have some moments in there where you just allow your emotions to override the story ~~ Sitting Bull may not have had it easy but he sure didn't make it easy for the US military or the Indian agents on the reservations. He gave back as good as he could ~~ and he never quit fighting for his people. He is admirable not only as a man, but as a leader. This is definitely a worth-while reading for anyone who is interested in history ~~ especially Native American Indian history.

   6-26-04




2. Utley has written a fascinating account of the life of Sitting Bull, perhaps the best known and certainly one of the most influential chiefs of the Sioux Indians. Relying substantially on interviews of Sitting Bull's contemporaries conducted by Professor Walter Stanley Campbell in the 1920s and 1930s, Utley also draws upon other Indian and Anglo accounts and a wealth of military documentation.
   
   Sitting Bull was born in the 1830s, probably 1831, and probably at Many Caches in what became Dakota Territory. His father Sitting Bull was chief of the Hunkpapa tribe of the Sioux nation. Notwithstanding his lineage, the activities and lessons of his youth were the same as those of other young Hunkpapas. He learned to pray, fight, and live according to Sioux principles. By the time he was a young man, he had surpassed nearly everyone, peers and elders alike, in those capacities. His faith in Lakota spirituality was unshakeable; his fighting capability, including the extent of his bravery, was the greatest of the Hunkpapas, and ultimately would become the greatest of the Sioux nation; and he lived with concern not for himself but for his people, generous to the point of poverty. In the mid-1850s, he became a Wichasha Wakan, or someone with the gift of periodical prophesy through dreams and visions. Among the best known of these would be his stunningly accurate prediction of Custer's defeat at Little Big Horn.
   
   Sitting Bull's first interactions with white people came in trade. The Hunkpapas would exchange buffalo robes with French Canadians for firearms and metal tools. The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 would mark the beginning of new, less friendly relations with whites. Terms of the treaty were much too difficult for either party to uphold, precipitating the conflict that would last until Wounded Knee nearly forty years later. In fairly short order, the Sioux would realize that the arrival of whites necessitated a war if they were to survive as a people. At this point, Sitting Bull became almost literally and certainly figuratively the lance of his people, employing his favorite weapon in leading his warriors in battle. By 1868, however, fractures were apparent in the never particularly cohesive Sioux nation, and many Sioux chiefs thought of accepting the whites' offer of a reservation. Sitting Bull and several others, most notably Crazy Horse, refused to consider abandoning the free life the Sioux had always led, choosing instead to live free or die trying. Gradually, however, those who felt as did Sitting Bull dwindled in number, unable to survive the war of attrition the whites fought and the decline of the buffalo. In the early 1870s Sitting Bull, now about forty by most accounts, completed Utley's metaphor by becoming the shield for his people. His exceptional prowess as a warrior had granted him the loyalty of and leadership over many Sioux peoples beyond even his own Hunkpapas. Growing older, however, he increasingly, although grudgingly, turned over the actual fighting to younger warriors and became a leader of his people in faith and life.
   
   In 1877, following devastating winters and defeats, Sitting Bull led what remained of his followers into Canada. Having gained freedom from American persecution, he then tried to keep his people alive even as the buffalo continued to disappear. Notwithstanding good relations with some of the Canadian troops, and generally favorable arrangements, he created political difficulties for Canada. Besides pushing aside existing Canadian Indians, his presence also impaired Canada's relationship with the United States. Canada then pressured him to leave, and partly as a result of this pressure, but more because the buffalo had vanished and his people were starving, Sitting Bull returned to the United States in 1881 and surrendered.
   
   His life thereafter was a mixture of the remarkable and the mundane. At various times he lived on a reservation, resided in jail, and toured the country as a kind of national sensation, the latter most famously with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Throughout he continued to push for the rights of his people and the return of their native lands, even though his followers grew fewer and fewer. Having once been among the greatest warriors in the history of the Sioux, then having ascended further into the unprecedented position of leadership over the Sioux nation, he struggled with subordination to white peoples he considered well beneath him. For nine years he accumulated enemies--both white and Indian--and lost followers as a result of his vanity and pride. Furthermore, even if he would not realize it, life had changed for the Sioux people, and he was no longer a respected spokesperson. In December of 1890 he was murdered by his own people during a botched arrest, which itself was to have been an artificial means of removing him from the scene. Largely considered a disgrace to the Sioux, he was buried with no honor whatsoever, and his actual gravesite remains unknown even today.
   
   Utley's biography is an exceptional piece of history. His greatest challenge throughout was providing a scholarly biography of a man from a completely different culture, without letting his own culture seep in. In that, he succeeds admirably. His second greatest challenge was the lack of primary source material on the pre-white days of his subject; the Sioux did not keep written records, and later white interviewers were not interested in recording such relatively dull facts as comprised Sitting Bull's early life. Utley adroitly maneuvers around this substantial obstacle by telling the story of the Sioux nation as best it is known, thereby providing a foundation from which would spring the Sitting Bull of middle-aged life about whom much was recorded. A brilliant approach, and one not easily carried off. Utley does it as flawlessly as one possibly can. Furthermore, although his approach was to build his biography by historical methods as opposed to the methods of literature his predecessor Campbell employed, his book remains as readable as popular western fiction. The prose is so fluid and the story so gripping, one ought to be forgiven if one forgets he is reading nonfiction. From an academic perspective, this book is of value to scholars on Sitting Bull for obvious reasons, but also for those needing a factual foundation for Sioux culture and its interplay with white invaders. Therefore, I heartily recommend this book to all readers, regardless of background.



3. A proud man. Chief of chiefs.
   Sitting Bull was one of the last to give in to the encroachment of manifest destiny. He fought countless battles, of which the Custer clash being the most famous, to save his people's way of life, culture and heritage. Seems as though every time he attempted a compromise with the government, he was duped.
   With provisions running low and no where to go, he went into exile to Canada, the "grandmother land", where he and his people were treated kindly.
   After a few years of Canadian hospitality, provisions and food ran low again. The U. S. government once more convinced him to surrender ponies and weapons and to live at the reservations. Due to hunger he and his people went back to the Dakotas. Little did Sitting Bull realize he was to be held as prisoner of war for a year and a half.
   Then it was life on the reservation which must have been agonizing for him. He did get to travel and see other parts of the country (Buffalo Bill Show, etc.) but his way of life had changed forever. His death was piercing and still somewhat of a mystery.



4. Robert Utley does a fine job of describing the world and worldview of the nineteenth century Plains Indians in this engaging biography of the greatest of the chiefs of the Sioux Nation, Sitting Bull.
   
   Sitting Bull was a traditionalist. Simply put, he lived the way Wakantanka, the Great Spirit, decreed. His life's task was to maintain the culture and lifestyle of his people. Mr. Utley paints us a surprisingly complex and sympathetic portrait of Sitting Bull. In Tatanka Yatanka, the man and the times had met.
   
   Sitting Bull came into a Sioux world which had only recently seen the tribe's transformation from a woodland people to the quintessential quasi-nomadic buffalo hunters of legend. The Sioux largely defined themselves by war, the hunt, and their relationship with both the natural world and the spirit world, between which they made no distinction.
   
   Sitting Bull's lifespan coincided with the slow destruction of the buffalo culture at the hands of Euro-Americans. Dedicated as they were to settling the wilderness country, the Whites finally denuded the Sioux of virtually everything imaginable. As the grand "refusenik" of the Indian nations, Sitting Bull rose to become a remarkably eclectic war chief, tribal leader, wise man and holy man of the Hunkpapa Sioux. He encapsulated in himself all of the greatest virtues of the Sioux, becoming the only High Chief the Sioux tribes were ever to have.
   
   But Sitting Bull, also encapsulated all the weaknesses of his people. Understanding and valuing only those things that were time-honored, he was (unlike his contemporary Chief Red Cloud) constitutionally incapable of grasping the import of the vast changes that were undermining his world even as the sun rose every day. Temperamentally unable to appreciate any mode of thought that was not Sioux, he was reactionarily set against any accommodation with the Whites, long resisted formalized alliances with peoples other than his own, and maintained intact the historical friendships and enmities that marked Sioux relations with other tribes. As a result, the Whites branded him as the leader of "hostiles" and "renegades." Yet, it is clear that Sitting Bull did not hate Whites so much as he would have much preferred of the White Man and the Indian that the twain should never have met.
   
   Unfortunately, this was not to be the case, and Sitting Bull fought a valiant rearguard action against White encroachment in a desperate and ultimately vain attempt to preserve the Sioux way of life. His greatest triumph against Custer at the Little Bighorn, was a pyrrhic victory marking the end of everything this gallant man had fought to preserve. Little Bighorn led to the virtual extinction of the Indian nations as free peoples, their mass hypnosis by the Ghost Dance movement, the tragic Wounded Knee Massacre, and Sitting Bull's own death at the hands of fellow Sioux.
   
   During his life and after, Sitting Bull became a symbol of resistance and determination, a living legend and a man whose heart and mind did not countenance surrender.
   
   A fine book, well worth your time and attention, THE LANCE AND THE SHIELD is a testament to one man's spirit and fortitude in the face of an ultimate disaster.



5. Well researched and well rounded text. The story of Sitting Bull is
   told with respect for the man and his people without adulation. Sitting Bull's story is one of strength,integrity,and courage with enduring inspiration.

5 comments about Who Would Unbraid Her Hair : the Legend of Annie Mae.

1. This book is filled with passion and insight; they ooze from thepages....Knowing the author and knowing the book, I can state that there is honesty in each line. Integrity in each concept. Read the book. Experience the heart.



2. This book begins with a five page list of AIM casualites that occured on Pine Ridge Reservation between the years of 1973-1976. As the author points out, these are "documented homicides"-the actual number could be as high as 300 or more. One of the documented homicides is Annie Mae Pictou, a 30 year old AIM leader and mother of 2 small daughters. Claypoole's book is a passionate investigation of her life in the various genres of poetry, journalistic writing, and interviews of people who knew Annie Mae, but are reluctant (to this day) to speak any truth regarding her life, and death...she was found in a ravine on the edge of Pine Ridge Res, February 24, 1975 with a bullet wound in the base of her skull. As part of the autopsy, her hands were severed at the wrist and sent to Washington, D.C...she was then buried as "Jane Doe", cause of death listed as "exposure".Urged by Canadian family members, the body was later exhumed, revealing the execution-style death, and identified as Anna Mae Pictou...in the words of Anna Mae Pictou: "I am a part of this creation as you are, no more and no less than each of you within the sound of my voice. I have a right to continue my cycle in this Universe undisturbed." This book speaks for Anna Mae Pictou's fierce desire to exist with the dignity of a free human being among other free human beings. THIS BOOK IS HER HANDS.



3. My last critique of this book looks harsh to me now. While it is true that this isn't a who done it, it does raise awareness. The only words I still agree with from my last review after a year of contemplation is.....The (only-NOT ONLY) good thing I find about this book is that it does get Anna Mae's name out and about and on people's minds. The book is not a who done it. -- The writing style no longer seems to be so crystal mystic'y', it has a flow of its own. I recommend this book as a source of background information regarding some of the details surrounding the life of Annie Mae. Jennifer



4. My last critique of this book looks harsh to me now. While it is true that this isn't a who done it, it does raise awareness. The only words I still agree with from my last review after a year of contemplation is.....The (only-NOT ONLY) good thing I find about this book is that it does get Anna Mae's name out and about and on people's minds. The book is not a who done it. -- The writing style no longer seems to be so crystal mystic'y', it has a flow of its own. I recommend this book as a source of background information regarding some of the details surrounding the life of Annie Mae. Jennifer



5. I had the author Antoinette for English 102 and she read us some of her poems, pretty interesting stuff.

5 comments about WHEN NICKELS WERE INDIANS PB (Smithsonian Series in Native American Literatures).

1. An astonishingly brave and courageous memoir that left me in an amazement of admiration. Patricia Hilden is certainly the most brilliant Native American theorist in the world today. As a white woman, I am simply in awe that such incredibly insightful work is being accomplished in spite of eurocentric campuses and conservative white males. This is a truly great book.



2. Hilden's memoir of growing up mixedblood in LA is a fascinating study of personal experience, images of Indian people in dominant white culture (the stuff on actor Jay Silverheels [Tonto] is especially compelling),AIM, and Native studies (and Native people) in the academy. Hilden's narrative is engaging, even riveting at times. This book is sad and funny. It reads like a good novel.



3. Hilden's memoir of growing up mixedblood in LA is a fascinating study of personal experience, images of Indian people in dominant white culture (the stuff on actor Jay Silverheels [Tonto] is especially compelling),AIM, and Native studies (and Native people) in the academy. Hilden's narrative is engaging, even riveting at times. This book is sad and funny. It reads like a good novel.



4. There are so many holocausts, so many genocides. We, the humans, are evil monkeys, no two ways about it. I often doubt to the extreme that we are created in God's image. No way, Jose ! Murder, torture, rape, kidnapping, theft, insult, lies, bigotry, hatred, destruction---our stock in trade. But now, the question is, does any one group have a monopoly on these things ? I would say no. Even if your "group" has engaged in a great deal of any of the above activities are you, personally, thereby guilty ? I would say no again. That's why I found Hilden's book pretty irritating.
   
   Born a white-looking, urban, mixed-blood Indian, with Anglo-Quaker, Osage, Nez Perce and maybe Mexican roots, the author spent her youth in California passing as white, but secretly (or internally) feeling a strong Indian identity. A person in this position would be torn; a sensitive person all the more so. When Hilden writes of her personal experiences-all the influences, the traumas, and batterings of outrageous fortune that a mixed-blood Indian might face in postwar America---I find her writing clever and interesting, certainly passionate. How else would I know about such a person if not by reading her book ? I've never met any Indians and (pace Ms. Hilden) I have never wanted to be one, though when I used to go to Western movies, I always rooted for the Indians, having knowledge of my own holocaust. If Amazon browsers are interested in such an autobiography, I could strongly recommend this book. However.....
   
   The first 90 pages of WHEN NICKELS WERE INDIANS is pretty much of angry blast at whites, at the perpetrators of the genocide, at the continuous theft of Indian land, at the misappropriation of Indian culture, at the collectors of Indian bones and Indian folklore, at anthropologists, at the misrepresentation of everything Indian. Well, it's true. Events in (to choose from such a wide field) Armenia, Jewish history, Bosnia, Rwanda, Cambodia, and Tasmania show that it was hardly unique. However, do you need to read yet another blast at perfidious, lying, stupid ________s (fill in the blank)? A question. Do you want to read a book that sometimes has as many as 18 usages of ironic quotation marks on a single page ? They signal her anger, her sarcastic turning on everyone and nearly everything. I wondered, as I read, who was good in this world, who did the right thing, how should Indians actually represent themselves then, which authors wrote anything worthwhile, what is the right role for Indians, for minorities in general? I did not learn the answer. I did learn that the author was angry about a lot of things, including past mistreatments, misunderstandings, male sexism, and overly made-up women. She had a right to be, but is that enough ? Should I start my own autobiography with a 90 page blast against Germans, Russians, Poles, and all the anti-Semites of this world ? (now you can buy "cute" little Jewish "puppets" in "free" Prague. Where the "Jews" have gone is another "question".) Anger gets me nowhere, I come back to my life unchanged. Is hers a message I wanted to spend a number of hours reading carefully ? In the end I felt that it was not. I read it carefully anyway. She's got talent, but anger management might have been wise.



5. I think this book is a personal rant passing as something to inform readers about American Indians. Can anyone become an American Indian by reclaiming an identity she denied her whole life and then writing as if she represents American Indians? To me that is strange. My observation is that the three ravingly positive reviews are so vague about the book's actual contents that one can't help feeling that they were solicited by the author's friends. The one negative review was, by contrast, very detailed and seems to have been unsolicited!

5 comments about Mankiller: A Chief and Her People.

1. In "Mankiller: A Chief and Her People," author and former Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller recounts her experiences growing up on reservations, government relocation, and her activism in Indian affairs.
   This book is well written and offers, if nothing else, of a peek into the mid 20th century Native American and reservation experience.
   There is no doubt that those of us with Native American heritage, particularly Cherokees, have ancestors who have been dealt less than a fair hand throughout the history of the United States. But I find it unfortunate when such potentially powerful leaders of social movements seeking to rise above past adversities, place generalized blame on the "white" community at-large for current problems. It is regrettable that Mankiller, who is herself half-white, can wholly reject one part of her heritage while fully embracing the other.
   Mankiller speaks with contempt of the "white lady" do-gooders, who tried to reach out to her as a reservation bound child. This is precisely the type of racial bitterness that keeps many fellow modern Native Americans "victims," feeling helpless and reservation bound.
   Cherokee heritage has a long history of acceptance and assimilation, not necessarily just into white culture either. Other cultures (even Europeans) were long accepted into early tribal clans.
   While we must never forget the reprehensible Trail Of Tears or any other federally sanctioned forced relocation of any tribe or peoples. There comes a time however, when all persecuted cultures must move foreword, as the tribe most certainly has. We must begin to embrace the long acknowledged civility and citizenship of the Cherokee people and stop seeking modern scapegoats for our moments of misery.
   Having said this, I commend Mankiller for achievements in both American and Cherokee societies. To have witnessed the transitions of Native American culture at the height and hub of the American Civil Rights Movement grants Mankiller the prerogative to share her story and her perspectives in this book.
   REVIEW EVERY BOOK YOU READ, AUTHORS DESERVE READER'S OPINIONS!



2. I read this one in four days ~~ it helped that we had some downtime while camping in a small state park. It is a wonderful memoir about a strong woman who, in spite of physical obstacles, managed to lead the second largest Indian Tribe in America. It is not just a memoir about a strong woman, it is also a history of a strong Indian tribe. It is an absolutely wonderful book and one that every serious reader of history should read.
   
   I picked this book up two years ago while traveling in Cherokee, NC, and never found the time to read it till recently, when I knew that we would be outside and camping again. (It seems that I do my best reading when we're traveling ...) I found the subject title fascinating and when I did finally get to the book, I found it even more fascinating and curious. This is a woman in every sense of the word. Wilma Mankiller is a heroine that every woman should look up to ~~ young and old.
   
   Wilma Mankiller grew up in poverty-stricken Oklahoma and while she was still young, her family relocated to California as part of the Native American relocation program that was offered just after WWII. She grew up in California, married young and had two daughters. She became involved with the civil rights movement and at the same time, she has never lost sense of her own heritage. After her marriage fell apart, she moved back home to Oklahoma, went onto working for the Cherokee National Tribe doing various things and eventually became the first Woman Chief. Intermixed with her personal tale are ancient stories from the Cherokee history ~~ of the times before they left their homelands, about the Trail of Tears, and so on. It's history mixed in with personal story-telling and it's a wonderful way to read this book.
   
   Unlike some reviewers, I did not find Mankiller bashing the whites for all their problems ~~ she was very diplomatic in telling the readers about the history ~~ but the history has shown that when the white settlers came to America, they did break treaties and their promises, and there's reason why the Native Americans don't trust them ~~ the government of US and its citizens have not given them reason to. But on the same breath, Mankiller mentions that her tribe has a hard time with change ~~ she doesn't sit there and bemoaned the loss of their ancient lands, she gets out and work on solving the problems that her tribe is facing. She admits that change has occurred and she's very realistic about fixing the problems. I cannot but help admire her for that.
   
   This is an excellent book ~~ it's guaranteed to be a thought-provoker in conversations and discourses ~~ at least it has for my husband and me. It is such an interesting tale about a woman who never learned the words, I can't. She never gave up the fight for her people. This book is just a small testimony to that fight.
   
   8-13-07



3. This book was horrendous. She is an ultra-sensitive cry baby who can't move on with her life. Aside from her life which literally has almost no accomplishments, the history of the Cherokees is just as boring. She rambles on and on about treaties and agreements that were broken by the united states and won't shutup about it the whole book. We get it, america ripped the native americans off. big deal. that's history, might makes right, and many nations in history faired worse off than the indians. countries have attacked each other for land for years, at least we allowed them to continue to exist. then, somehow she compares the trail of tears to the holocaust, which is just ridiculous. theres a difference between a walk that they chose to take by not previously cooperating, and a genocide of 6 millions jews through torture and starvation.
   
   DONT READ THIS BOOK



4. For anyone interested in Native American History this is an excellent book. The book chronicles the life of the former Cherokee Chief Wilma Mankiller during times of political Native American activism and the fight of not only Cherokee people, but Native Americans as a whole during her lifetime. It is candid about the struggles Native Americans faced due to government programs of relocation and the struggle to make it in the white world while maintaining their Indian heritage and culture. In addition to providing a detailed account of Mankiller's life, the book gives a detailed account of the history of the Cherokee Nation and their struggles with removal, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, oppressive legislation, and issues faced on reservations.



5. To me this is an excellent purchase. I can relate to many of the author's passages from the time she resided in California, memories of same have been brought to mind, in a positive sense.