1 comments about Moments Rightly Placed: An Aleutian Memoir.

1. Ray Hudson's memories of Unalaska and its people form a beautiful portrait of a time and place. As a former resident of Unalaska, I highly recommend the book. Although the community can no longer be called a village, the Aleut roots described in Hudson's tale are still there. And his deeply evocative descriptions of the land--one of the most remote and beautiful in the world, I'm convinced--are wonderful. The descriptions of everything from fog to wildflowers to stormy nights are moving and accurate. A definite must to anyone traveling to the Aleutian Islands--and a terrific travelogue for the armchair traveler..

5 comments about Tecumseh and the Quest for Indian Leadership.

1. This thin book is surprisingly rich in detail. It is well written and does a very good job of separating legend from fact. It also acknowledges the situations where very little, or nothing, is accurately known about Tecumseh.



2. I read this book for a college Ohio History class. I hadn't had any previous knowledge about Tecumseh other than he was an Indian leader. Overall it was a very interesting book. Some may run into some problems if they do not fully understand the history of the War of 1812 in Ohio. Some of the battle descriptions go into detail. There is a chapter in the book that describes some of the Shawnee cultures and customs that I found very interesting.
   All said, this is a very good biography of a very respected Indian leader.



3. This book is a textbook companion of the author's biography of Tecumseh's brother, Tenskwatawa or the Prophet. R. David Edmunds is known for both his combination of ethnographic material, oral tradition, and traditional historical research with good storytelling. His unique contribution is highlighting the importance of the religious message of revitalization to Indian resistance in the Old Northwest. This book is a good introduction to Indian experiences in the Old Northwest during the Revolutionary and Early Republic Periods. Those really interested in this title may want to continue their reading with "The Shawnee Prophet" by the same author, "A Spirited Resistance" by Gregory Dowd, and "The Middle Ground" by Richard White.



4. Tecumseh was a powerful warrior and a powerful man. He led his people in what he thought was right, yet he did not stand for the massacre of those who took his people's land. This book gets that message through, but it is tedious. It reads like a high school textbook (and that is not a compliment).



5. This book is a good overall view of the life of Tecumseh, the Shawnee chief. Also mentioned are his brother, the Prophet, and important historical events of the time. A good resource for those interested in the subject, a little dry for an everyday read.

5 comments about Geronimo's Bones: A Memoir of My Brother and Me.

1. This book may be powerful, but readers need to know that the story is not a memoir. Indeed, it is not even nonfiction. As recent reviewers have noted, Nasdijj has been unmasked as a white man who previously wrote gay porn. This book--like other works by Nasdijj--is basically a novel, marketed as a "true story."
   
   There is--or should be--a contract between readers and writers so that readers know what they are buying and how much of what they are reading is actually true. Sure, genres overlap and the rules are fuzzy. A reader has one set of expectations for a work of history that adheres to academic standards and a different set of expectations for a memoir or autobiography by a Hollywood star. Ben Franklin probably fudged things a little in his AUTOBIOGRAPHY; James Frey made up a whole lot of stuff in A MILLION LITTLE PIECES.
   
   Publishers need to be more careful about what they publish and how they promote their books. Obviously, scrupulous fact-checking is a thing of the past, but Frey's "memoir" is full of totally unbelievable incidents, and Nasdijj's work was questioned by respected Native American authors and academics before it was published.
   
   That is not to say that works like A MILLION LITTLE PIECES or GEROMINO'S BONES are totally without merit as pieces of writing. But they are not memoir. They are not history. And they are not nonfiction. They are novels, and it is unfortunate that they were not presented and marketed (by their authors and publishers) more honestly.
   
   Readers beware. We need to learn from this lesson. As readers, we are moved by stories--that is good--but we need to know whether or not those stories are "true" because that does affect how we respond to a writer's work.



2. ....since the author is apparently a brotherless non-Native American named Tim Barrus (look him up -- his other works might surprise you). See the LA Weekly's story "Navahoax", available online....



3. I don't have an critical opinion of this book, but I think it would be extremely depressing to read. I did read an online article from the LA Weekly that raises questions about the authors authenticity, and just wanted to pass that along. This may be a fictional book writen by a white. http://www.laweekly.com/index.php?option=com_lawcontent&task=view&id=12468&Itemid=47



4. Navajo poet Nasdijj has produced another triumph in his latest memoir, Geronimo's Bones: A Memoir of My Brother and Me. Although the writer's earlier works centered on his adopted children, in this new book Nasdijj explores his own abusive past and that of his brother, Tso.
   
   There's no polite way to put this: Nasdijj and his brother were repeatedly raped and beaten by their father over a period of several years after their mother died. Nasdijj frequently emerged from these confrontations with broken bones that, he indicates, are to blame for a painful bone disease that threatens his life now that he is in his 50s. This cycle of abuse took place within the context of poverty, hunger and instability. A migrant worker, Nasdijj's father moves his family every few weeks. A chronic alcoholic, he rarely gets around to shopping for food or cooking for his boys. Other migrants are too scared to report the abuse to the authorities. And the arm of the law isn't long enough, apparently, to catch up with a migrant child molester.
   
   Geronimo's Bones is loosely woven around the brothers' daring escape from their father. At ages 13 and 14, they pick their father's pocket of several thousand dollars, steal a Corvette from a chop shop and drive it to California. One of their first stops is a House of Pancakes where they pick up a 16-year-old girl who is also running away from home. Her driver's license facilitates their journey since she can legally drive and can check them into motels along the way.
   
   Their journey is not told in a straight line, however. Nasdijj deliberately fragments his story, going back and forth in time, slipping years ahead without warning. By organizing his story this way, he mimics the way the human mind deals with harsh memories-in pieces that string together in random patterns.
   
   "What pisses me off about the assumption that my life, and the life of my brother, can be explained in linear ways, is, too, an assumption that my father was destroyed in degrees," explains Nasdijj. He goes on to write, "our father was destroyed in a thousand ways, a trillion ways, ways far beyond our limited ability to understand even as it was happening in front of our eyes. Even as it was happening to him, it was happening to us."
   
   Nasdijj interweaves his narrative with Native American mythology, especially the myths surrounding Indian leader Geronimo. The author reinvents himself and his brother as mythological "war twins," sons of Changing Woman, sister to White Shell Woman. Each new chapter of his narrative begins with myth, then gears back into the story of his own horrible childhood.
   
   In Geronimo's Bones, Nasdijj casts a light on the psychology of abusive parents and children who are so disempowered they don't appeal for help. Some people may find themselves drawn to this book for the lessons it offers psychologists and social workers. Others will be drawn to Nasdijj's haunting poetic style. Whether for its sociological values or for its literary merit, most readers are bound to find Geronimo's Bones a groundbreaking and important new work.



5. A lyrical, pain-filled memoir of two Native American boys, Nasdijj (To Become Again) and Tso (The Smart One), fighting to survive the harsh, oppressive world of countless migrant camps and the consistent abuse and terror inflicted on them by their white father in the 1950's.
   Before the tragic death of their alcoholic mother, she instilled in them the beauty and myth of her Navajo people, "those who walk the surface of the Earth". Nasdijj weaves the myths of Indian leader Geronimo and the War Twins, put on Earth to slay monsters, into each chapter of his narrative. These myths sustained him through illness, poverty, racism and the horror of his life, sustaining him until he and Tso were brave enough to escape the tyranny of their father and travel the open road.
   Although many may find the agony and brutality resonating from every page of Geronimo's Bones difficult to read, it is a powerful, evocative book of poetry that gives us insight into the very depths of Nasidjj's love and strength for his younger brother. Revealing a world not known to most Americans, it is an incredible testimony to the astounding resilience of human nature. Listen and learn "to walk in beauty".

5 comments about Kabloona: Among the Inuit (Graywolf Rediscovery Series).

1. I read this book and thought, yes this Frenchman makes many derogatory and embarassingly insensitive remarks about the Inuit. However, contrary to what one reviewer said below in "Good descriptions, bad insights, July 27, 2005", the author slowly develops a great respect for the intelligence, culture and abilities of these people so much so that he begins to emulate them. It is a subtle conversion story wrapped in a fabulous adventure; thoroughly enjoyable and well worth reading.



2. The audio CD is outstanding...indeed the best I have ever listened to. For one thing, the narrator is marvelous in recreating both the 1930's world of France and Frozen Canada. I can't think of any other book or audio that so successfully transported me into an alien culture. Considering that there are quite a few films and books about Eskimos, why buy this one written 70 years ago? Answer: the literary quality of this work surpasses the prose of the last quarter century. When you listen to the narrator weave his tale, it mirrors the experience of hearing a tobacco chewing explorer slowly recounting his adventures in the wild. The story dives deep into the interior life of the author as much as it details an ethnographic examination of (primitive) Inuit life. The myths and values of the Eskimos contrast sharply with the borgeouis morals of a gentleman of Paris. For example, in Eskimo culture, there is little concept of private property...that's why an Eskimo man will let you borrow his wife or a snow knife. Language in the arctic is far more concrete. A polar bear is HE WHO HAS NO SHADOW. Far away, in the cold Arctic, author Grontran De Poncins learns what it means to be human, a man preeminently. This is a romance, a classic reminiscent of Robinson Crusoe. If you buy the audio CD, you will not be disappointed.



3. This is a magical book which I first read when I was young. It inspired in me dreams of adventure which I did not follow, but which became a part of my inner life. Now that I am old, I am reading Kabloona again so that I can remember that I once was young.



4. My good friend and I were talking a while back after I had watched the movie The Fast Runner, which he had recommended. Talk got around to my deciding to send him my old childhood copy (out of print, I believe) of Peter Freuchen's Book of the Eskimos, and his deciding to send me his old childhood copy of Kabloona. Neither of us had ever heard of the other's book. I must say, as much as I've always liked Freuchen, I got the better of the deal!
   
   What a wonderful book. So well written, such nice storytelling, so enjoyable, refreshingly honest, and unexpectedly insightful. It is haunting. It really is in a class by itself, although I have trouble putting my finger on exactly why this is so. All I know is that I did not want it to end, as I'm sure the author did not want his time in the North to end. And, like him, I don't think it will be the same if I go back and try it again. And I know I also had a strange feeling throughout which only later I identified as a form of envy, envy for the experiences this man had and for his ability to experience them so deeply. I've seldom felt envy mixed with awe and admiration like this before.
   
   Of all the book, I was most deeply moved by his account of the priest out in the middle of nowhere who had survived and kept warm in incredible cold merely through the power of faith and prayer. Humbling.
   
   A man comes out of nowhere, lives these experiences, writes this incredible book, and disappears back into nowhere. Amazing. Read it.



5. I looked up at the bookshelf over my computer and spotted the battered 1941 edition of Kabloona that has been in my family for 40 years since I first read it in the village of Coppermine (now Kugluktuk) when I was a 12 year old boy in 1961. I decided to do an AMAZON.com search to see if anyone else knew of this marvel that had so enchanted me as a child, and found the site you are now visiting.
   
   We were much more civilized in the Coppermine of 1961 than the same village the author had visited 20 years earlier. We had electricity, and communication with the outside world by a Morse code key at the Department of Transport office, plus we had a scheduled visit by a single-engine Otter every two weeks. It was a magical time for me (adults found it a difficult time, but they simply did not understand things)
   
   The book Kabloona gave me insight into the minds of the people around me. We were a community of 200 Inuit (Eskimos) and 35 whites. The whites had as many of the amenities of civilization as they could garner, but the Inuit lived much as described in De Poncin's book.
   
   I was enthralled by the awesome hunters with their dog sleds and their magnificent huskies, not show dogs or racing dogs, but working dogs that made the difference between life and death. The men would bring back the carcasses of seal and caribou, and the furs they had trapped. The women sewed the furs into beautiful garments that kept man, woman and child warm in intolerably hard winters. It was also the women's job to butcher the carcasses, which they did with incredible speed and skill using only the ulu, or woman's knife. I regularly witnessed the activities of this way of life. De Poncin described all this in his book, but he also gave me insight into the underlying culture I was immersed in.
   
   You can't live the life I led 40 years ago as a boy in the high Canadian arctic, but you can vicariously journey there to an even more primitive time, and enter into the incredible peace and stillness of an arctic winter night in an igloo, or the warmth and safety of a house made of snow as an unbelievable storm rages outside around you.
   
   I recently spoke by satellite telephone to a man in Coppermine from my home in Missouri where I now live, and found that the village I once knew is now a very different place. But you can go back to an earlier era with De Poncin. I assure you, you won't regret your wonderful voyage with him.
   
   I don't know if I'm permitted to speak of it here, but I have described my life in those years in the Arctic in a book, The Boy Who Fell To Earth. It is available at Amazon.com for those would like to buy a hard copy, or can be read for free on my warmbooks.com web site.

1 comments about Courage to Follow the Vision.

1. Courage To Follow The Vision: The Journey Of Lyle Emerson George is the story of Lyle George's life, as told to friend and colleague Tom Wilson. Lyle George was a Tribal Council Chairman on the Squamish Reservation and participated in the National Indian Council. George's daily life, as well as his duties, often involved figuring out ways to combat the chronic and endemic problems plaguing the Native Americans he represented, including the all too familiar specters of poverty, alcoholism, corruption, boundary disputes, and crime. An informative and engaging account filled with memorable, candid experiences, as well as a personal look at Native American culture today, Courage To Follow The Vision is an impressive contribution to Native American Studies supplemental reading lists and academic reference collections.

5 comments about The Boy and the Dog Are Sleeping.

1. This was one of my favorite books until I found out that the author made it up, and passed it off as memoir.



2. Nasdijj is NOT NAVAJO (Dine). He is a White guy from Michigan. He lied about being "Dine". His real name is Tim Barrus. As a member of the Dine Nation I am Truly disgusted with this fraud.



3. While it appears that memoirs that have been fabricated are now coming out of the woodwork, the knee jerk reaction that people have towards Million Little Pieces isn't really fair to apply to this book.
   
   First of all, when I was working in a bookstore when this book came out, there wasn't nearly the fanfare that there was for Million Little Pieces, even before Oprah started pushing it. A lot more people are now willing to reject this book before even taking a look inside, and that's a shame.
   
   Secondly, the book reads more like a novel than MLP did. I really wasn't expecting the complete truth the further I got in. While I was a little disappointed upon finding out the actual author, and while I'm sure that any actual Navajo would have every right to be pissed off, it didn't affect the telling of the story to me. It doesn't need to have happened to be worth reading.
   
   Last of all, Boy and the Dog is a better book. MLP was written by a self-aggrandizing blowhard, and it shows in the writing. While Nasdijj (I don't remember his real name) may have been just as self serving in the long run, his books aren't nearly as juvenile.



4. I read this book a few years ago as a publishers advance and it completely broke my heart. It ranks as one of my top 5 favorites. I really don't care if it's fiction or if Nasdijj identifies with the Navajo nation.
   
   What matters most, the quality of the writing or the veracity of it?
   
   For me a book doesn't have to be true to resonate.
   
   I also feel that the problem people are having with it is that he started out writing gay leather stuff and then tried his hand at writing about the love he supposedly had for a child.



5. As an actual, real Navajo tribal member and as a writer I'm pretty disgusted by this. A hoax it is and pretty pathetic. I'm always surprised at how little most Americans know about my people. It's pretty disheartening. Definitely read the LA Weekly article http://www.laweekly.com/index.php?option=com_lawcontent&task=view&id=12468&Itemid=47 for more on the Navahoax. If you want real Navajo writing read Lucy Tapahanso or for great writing read Leslie Marmon Silko (a Pueblo writer).

5 comments about Savage: The Life And Times Of Jemmy Button.

1. It is said that narrative is the lifeblood of history, and Savage succeeds in taking a number of forgotten documents and weaving an interesting narrative out of them. Neither dry nor slow, the author takes us to from a so-called civilized England to the nether lands of so-called barbarity. We meet the influential Charles Darwin and spend time with the obscure Jemmy Button. During our voyage we watch well-meaning people succumb to starvation and surprise massacres. Through it all we compare and contrast two ways of life, and see first hand that, as Rudyard Kipling said, when comparing the Western worldview to that of the Eastern, the two often do not meet.
   After finishing this well written work last night at 5:00am, I began asking myself why it was written, and still don't have a solid answer. Did the book have an overriding purpose, other than to tell us what happened long ago in an age that no longer exists? Was it written foremost to show a clash of civilizations from another era? Was it to examine the dangers of colonialism, whether under the British flag or that of a church group? Was it written simply to relate an interesting historical footnote?
   Too, in reading what I thought the author might be saying, I came away with different conclusions. Though considered brilliant and able, I think Darwin missed the mark, and don't hold him in the esteem the author seems to. The debate over his theories goes on and on, yet it need not rage between religious groups and so-called Darwinists. Modern science, with its study of an intricate DNA almost requires me to have as much faith in a non-planned evolution as I might in intelligent design. As well, I came away with a higher view of the missionary endeavor, especially that of the later missionaries, than the author might. I live in Argentina as a missionary, and lament deeply that religious workers to these southern shores brought, albeit unknowingly, deadly diseases and colonial expectations. Yet they also brought skills, help and the desire to learn the language and some of the tribal culture. They did not bring bullets, thrive in ignorance or promote mass destruction. Might they, even with their faults, be called the "better angels" of western culture, especially in the face of others who came only to get and to force the nationals to fill labor yards or cemeteries? I know first hand from missionary accounts of oil companies that subjected tribes to such labor in Colombia that the tribesmen would go swimming just to down themselves. I know of oil companies that abused tribesmen in Indonesia with long hours and little pay so the tribesman could buy overpriced radios and other western items. This exploitation would not be recognized until later by the children of those abused. Missionaries however, for all their faults, are not usually associated with this type of cruelty. The author, in pages 301-303 of the 2000 hardback edition, nails it on the head in explaining what went wrong in the mission's earlier years and presents a casebook example of poor missiology. Yet in a wider scope good missiology prevailed around the world. Biblical Christianity helped end slavery in England; it helped stop widow burning in India. I remember my friend David who worked with tribes for 20 years in the jungles of Ecuador. Due to his work tribesmen no longer viewed twins as evil, that is, when twins were born they were no longer pierced through by spears. Yes, I digress, but there is a wider story out there that thankfully is not as colonial as was the Patagonian Missionary Society. Yet even this society, with weaknesses that shame me, did try to help the tribes and not parade them through European zoos as other groups did. The idea that the natives should have been left alone ended when Magellan circumnavigated the globe. Given the two options, I would prefer missionary limitation than determined western exploitation. In reading Savage I think that history bears this out.
   So...have I meandered? Yes. But this is in part due to the book. The Pulitzer Prize winning author Barbara Tuchman once wrote that the "why" of history often becomes apparent as history is being written, that the "why" should not be forced into the writing. I found Savage to be well written and it brought history alive, yet still wonder what it is meant to relate. What was its overriding "why"? Until I know, I can only guess, and meander.



2. Jemmy Button was not a decisive figure in human history. Indeed, he would have lived out his life and died totally forgotten were it not for the chance of his being taken to England, and returned home on the immortal voyage of the Beagle. As such, he pops up from time to time in works on Darwin and evolution, and has always left me wondering, Darwin went on to fame and authority, what ever happened to Jemmy Button? Until now, for me at least, the question has been left hanging.

   In this absorbing book, Hazlewood lets Darwin go his way, and tracks Button and the fascinating story of intentions -- good or pig-headed, as you will -- gone bad. This is not a dry academic publication. The same day I got this book, a friend lent me three detective novels -- one Jeffery Deaver and two James Pattersons -- but once I got my nose into Savage, I could hardly pull it out. From my previous reading, I had a picture of Captain Fitzroy as an unpleasant character, being forced to right his wrongs through no good will of his own. Hazlewood's research shows me that I seem to have been led astray. His Fitzroy is far more sympathetic than the one I had known.

   An inferior artist leaves you gasping at his craft. Hazlewood is such an expert writer that you may read the entire book without really noticing the skill and work that must have gone into the creation of this book: fluent writing, careful research, and fine construction throughout.

   Had Fitzroy never packed Jemmy Button off to England, perhaps the Fuegian Indians would have disappeared from this world without a trace. At least through the work of the missionaries, whatever their motive, a record has been left of their language and some of their culture (BTW, I disagree with the previous reviewer who said we are closer to the Yamana than to the Victorians; a romantic notion that hardly bears up to a moment's consideration.) This book leaves you with a lot to think about.

   Permit me to quote Alfred Russel Wallace in exposition of the book's title: "The white men in our colonies are too frequently the true savages."




3. This book is billed as a story about Jemmy Button, but Jemmy is only a starting point for this fascinating tale exploring what civilisation is, how good intentions can do wrong, and cultural misunderstanding.

   Jemmy Button came from Tierra del Fuego, the land at the very south of South America. Along with 3 others from this area, he was taken away from his primitive existence (and you can be as PC as you like - it was primitive) to England. The reasoning behind this was if Jemmy and his compatriots could be taught English and `Civilisation' he would be able to go home and teach others the benefits of good living. Well of course, it didn't quite work out that way. Jemmy and some of his compatriots were returned home (one died in England), but they were not forgotten.

   As time progressed, missionaries entered the picture. Their belief was that if they could track Jemmy down, they could use him as an interpreter and go-between to help convert the Tierra del Fuegian barbarians, and bring them to the life of Christ (and make them wear clothes - this was important to missionaries). The majority of the book is taken up with the story of the various attempts of missionaries, all of them misguided and ultimately doomed to fail. As with many a story about indigenous communities, this one ends with genocide brought about by a combination of accident (introduced disease, alcohol) and intent (settlers would go out and shoot the `vermin' that stole their sheep).

   While well researched and full of detail, I thought this was a rather dry account of this period of English colonialism. However, it is an important one that has yet to receive the exposure it deserves. Students of colonialism or the demise of indigenous cultures (and some would argue they are each the same) should definitely find a copy of this book and read it.




4. The reviews that are already submitted do an excellent job of describing the scope of the book so I won't do it again.
   Normally I would be satisfied to see that other reviewers have given the marks that are deserved and would not bother to write yet another review.
   This book is not normal, however. I was struck by Hazlewood's ability to paint all of the characters as rational and intelligent but also products of their times and cultures. The story unfolds in a nonjudmental way...and then leads the reader to be a witness to untold horrors and great tragedy.
   Well worth the read.



5. Charles Dickens wrote, "Missionaries are perfect nuisances and leave every place worse than they found it." I do not know if Dickens knew about the missionary aims of the Patagonian Missionary Society, but there he surely would have found confirmation of his opinion. In _Savage: The Life and Times of Jemmy Button_ (Thomas Dunne Books), Nick Hazlewood has written an amazing and sad story about missionaries, colonialism, and a tragic clash of cultures. Sparking the story, a shocking tale of repeated good intentions and bad results, was the high Tory captain of the HMS _Beagle_, Edward FitzRoy. FitzRoy thought it would be grand to take Fuegian specimens back to Britain. One of them, swapped for a button, became Jemmy Button, and Darwin got to see him on the _Beagle_'s trip in 1831 to take him back home (so he had influence in Darwin's _The Descent of Man_). FitzRoy's hopes were futile, as Jemmy turned native again.

   In 1845, the Patagonian Missionary Society, one of the many Protestant vanguards of British colonialism, made an effort to land on Tierra del Fuego and begin proselytizing. The mission lasted a week, because the natives merely stole from it, without improvement of their souls. In 1850, a similar attempt lead to the deaths of the missionaries. Newspapers warned the Patagonian Missionary Society off any future effort, but the public loved this British bravado, and the Society was emboldened to try a new venture. It would use one of the Falkland Islands as a staging ground to which Fuegians could be ferried, civilized, converted, and returned. To this end, Jemmy was found and was kidnapped once again, along with members of his family. They became homesick and resentful, and were cycled back home, with another nine Fuegians picked up. The Society's reports were glowing, but glossed over the frequent problems. One of the basic ones was that the Fuegians had little concept of property rights, and when they liked something, they took it, and they resented any subsequent searches. When this group was returned, eight missionaries were murdered. The Society blamed the work of Satan, but as one letter to the papers said, the massacre "...was produced by the recklessness of the society and their agents, and therefore I must conclude that Satan is much maligned in this matter."

   Hazlewood has told this astonishing and distressing story with a novelist's fluency. In the end, the efforts toward the Fuegians could not have been more futile. Ranchers and sheep-farmers soon began invading their island, and brought devastating diseases or simply hunted them down and shot them. No pure Fuegians survived. Those with intentions of greed harmed them as much as those with intentions of improvement under the guise of imposition of a strong culture over a weak one. Such were the benefits of civilization to the savages.

5 comments about What I've Always Known: Living in Full Awareness of the Earth.

1. Tom Harmer's work What I've Always Known: Living in Full Awareness of the Earth, is a deeply powerful and honest autobiography that resonates with emotion and strength. The author offers a beautifully written and personally rigorous response to the question "whose side are you on?" - the side of Earth and all its wisdom, or the side of shallowness, greed and disconnection. Harmer's time with the Salish people of the Washington/Canadian border is one of working, sweating and living towards an embodied and holistic response to this question - which may be, in fact, the only real question there is. Harmer's tone is respectful, introspective, honest, and real, and he has a knack for writing beautiful prose with a strong current of authenticity. I have not yet read Harmer's previous work, Going Native, that is a precursor to this one, but I intend to. Even without the previous book, however, What I've Always Known stands by itself as a strikingly meaningful work. I recommend this book to all who are seeking to live in full awareness of the earth, that we may all become truly awake and alive at some point and be able to answer the ultimate question - "whose side are you on?"



2. I devoured this book, along with Tom's other book, Going Native, feeling like I've felt a soul brother. Tom's gifted writing and descriptions of the mountains and forests where he lived, and his clear memories of his altered states while in sweatlodge and out on "mission" questing for the "power" -- all of these captured me as if I was alongside of him experiencing it with him. More importantly, his realizations and the teachings of his Okadogan elders echo those of my Cherokee teacher's words.
   
   Tom humbly shares his struggles with his inner demons. His willingness to walk a path of courage with his teachers and the native ways that they taught him was exceptional. Not many of us who grew up in the cities and suburbs would have the courage to walk the mountains or be on a 10 day sweatlodge walking naked in the snow as Tom did. We're so accustomed to our comforts. Yet Tom revealed his journey and proved that it is only by letting ourselves go into the wild that the wild will crack us open to reveal our true selves and relationship with Earth Mother. Powerful.
   
   I felt like I was curling up in the arms of Earth Mother reading his book/s and they grounded me in my similar path to wake up and be alive on this amazing planet with our four-legged and winged and standing people friends.
   
   Thank you, Tom for your honesty and willingness to share your stories with us so that we can also learn to walk the way of the Earth and be on her side ever more with the wisdom you share in your book/s.



3. The Book starts with Tom on a short walk that turns into a near death experience. Within in minutes of dying, Tom comes to his senses when a special power contacts him and guides him along on what to do if he wants to survive. Tom eventually quits his office job. He seeks advice from Okanogan Indian elder, Clayton Tommy Jr. He tells Clayton about the strange power that contacted him. Clayton tutors him in the Okanogan Indian ways. Tom learns something new every day from Clayton. Tom has dreams and learns that they are signs from a higher power. Clayton explains it isn't normal for white people to be this in tune with nature. Tom's powers lead him and Clayton on adventures through Washington. The book ends with Tom about to go "walkabout" to gain understanding of his powers.
   "What I've Always Known" would be interesting to some one fond of the outdoors. The book talks about hunting fishing and wildlife. His spiritual guide Clayton Tommy guides him to find his Indian powers and embarks on about all sorts of outdoor adventures.
   I found the book to be very interesting and hard to put down at times. Parts of the book can be dull when Tom listens to Clayton Talk. I wanted to hear more about Tom and Claytons journeys through the wildlife.
   I found this book to be enjoyable. Tom seems like he would be an interesting person to meet. The book appealed to me because I love the outdoors. It was well written and easy to read. I was able to get a feel of all the characters language. Tom captured how the Indians talked very well. I could hear their voices in my head as I was reading. I felt like I was watching a movie at times; he was pretty descriptive and I really enjoyed that element.



4. A lucidly written, easily followed Tale that, while essentially didactic in nature, has none of the cloying foppery and greasey psuedo-mysticism that most other books of the genre display. It is totally free of stilted diction, vaugue allusions, self importance. This book is a recounting of one man's rediscovering of "What I Have Always Known" (the 'Realm of the Spirit', for lack of a better expression), and it is so well written that the reader can easily suppose that some of the magic that Tom finds along the way rises up out of the pages to shimmer before the eyes of the reader, beckoning.



5. The information and guidance about how to live with the awareness of the Earth is often not easily accessible to us Westerners, or is set within New Age paradigms that for most are difficult to stomach. This is where Harmer's book comes in... it is based on the truth of one man's personal experience with an old indigenous medicine person. Yet, Harmer is no Castaneda and his teacher is no imaginary Yaqui sorcerer ... rather, we get so see life among present day Okanogan Salish in the American Northwest; Harmer learns from them as the Indians themselves have been learning from the time immemorial: little by little, in bits and pieces. He is taught by his Salish mentors to observe nature, his dreams, and to integrate his lifetime experiences and traumas so as to increase his ability to perceive and act in the world. I know of few books where the simplicity, pragmatism, reverence for nature and power that native peoples possess and wield has been demonstrated so effectively.
   
   There is much anthropology on Northwestern Indians, the Salish, Kwakiutl, the Tlingit.... a lot of academic crap, and very little about their real-time knowledge, wisdom and power. This book closes the gap & I recommed it highly, especially if you want to learn about native American dreaming practices, exorcism, spirits and, above all, about how to develop and practice perception skills and awareness.
   
   Above all, the book lays out quite starkly the choice each of us has to make for ourselves...do we serve the planet or its destroyers. As Clayton Woods, Tom's Salish mentor asks: "Which side you on"?

5 comments about Crow Dog: Four Generations of Sioux Medicine Men.

1. This is a great book that could be out of print soon. Get a copy while you can, you won't be disappointed.



2. The story of the Sioux leader Crow Dog. It also talks about his family and previous generations, as well as children. He has a co-writer to get all this down. This isn't too bad, and a reasonably interesting account if you are interested in that sort of history and such books as Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee.



3. THE FIRST PART OF THE BOOK IS INCREDIBLE ENLIGHTNING GUIDANCE THROUGH THE RITES, CULTURE AND LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. THEN WE MOVE INTO RECENT HISTORY WITH THE CREATION OF AIM ITS STRUGGLE AND AMAZING VICTORIES; TO MOVE ON WITH PROSECUTION PERSECUTION TORTURE OF THE PEOPLE WHO FOUGHT AND DIE FOR THEIR CULTURE AND ARE STILL FIGHTING TODAY FOR THE RIGHT TO BE WHO THEY ARE. (RESPECT!)
   WHEN CROW DOG DESCRIBE HIS JAIL TIME IT IS SO REALISTIC AND SENSITIVE YOU FEEL YOU ARE THERE INSIDE HIM AND THE WALLS, BUT WHEN YOU SHARE HIS FINAL FEAR: YOU ARE BREATHLESS ABOUT TO CHOKE!
   ALL THIS HAD TO END UP IN A SUN DANCE.
   A WONDERFUL BOOK WHICH SHOULD BE INTO EVERY LIBRARY, BOOKSTORES AND MOST DEFINETELY ON YOUR BOOK SHELVES.
   1 HEART!
   C



4. Interesting contemporary information (i.e. 1950s on). Tells of Indian's on-going plight in poverty, alcoholism, disease and lack of employment and the feelings this engenders in them. Valuable history of past Holy Men (and women) and their values.
   Since I am very interested in Indian studies, both past and present, I enjoyed this book.



5. Crow Dog is one of the best Native American books I've ever read. It is culturally rich and speaks clearly on the injustices done to the Native Americans. It talks not only about the injustices of the past but also the future, like the siege of Wounded Knee. Also this is one of the richest stories which covers the legacy of the Crow Dogs.
   
   One of the reasons this book is so affluent is its personal feel. The author, Leonard Crow Dog, can't write and so he spoke the entire book to an interpreter. This gives the entire book a slow but fluent feel which shadows the way many Native Americans talk, and so the book feels, sometimes, like a story. It makes you feel you are there in every event, and you are connected with the book in an uncanny way.
   
   This book goes in-depth in the religious aspects of Native Americans. The Crow Dog family has always been in the root of Lakota medicine men, and they are responsible for the continued practice of, and the creation of some, Native American rituals. Leonard Crow Dog, the author, was the first to bring back the banded Ghost Dance since the death of his Great-Grand Father. It happened at one of the most important sites in Native American history, Wounded Knee. However, this wouldn't be the last time Leonard Crow Dog would become history at Wounded Knee.
   
   The siege of Wounded Knee, which lasted seventy-two days, is one of the most intense events of the book. In that short time a band of Native Americans, from a rainbow of tribes, raised an independent nation, defended that nation, and fell to an enemy whom had, or maybe more has, no sense of a kept word. The siege of Wounded Knee wasn't actually a siege because the land was a part of a treaty which said it'd be Native American land, but naturally the white man didn't keep their word. It's been more than a decade since the last battle at Wounded Knee and it has been erased from most people's memory.
   
   Crow Dog seems to be more than just a book about the legacy of the Crow Dog family. It seems to be a story about the prevailing struggle that Native American have every day to keep hold of their identity, and to keep hold of their sanity as they are encircled everyday by people how've stolen their home. The important part of the book is not the continued signing and break of agreements with Native Americans, but their spirit to stand resolved and stand with the divine father.

5 comments about Where White Men Fear to Tread: The Autobiography of Russell Means.

1. As a person of part-American Indian ancestry, I have always been proud of my Indian roots more than any other, and after reading this book, I am even more proud. Russell Means is one of the leading Indian patriots and prime movers at a time when it looked like all Indians would eventually become assimilated into the mainstream, thanks to the genocidal policies of the US government. Russell Means was born just in time to ensure that someone was there to remind the American Indians of their pride and purpose in life. Mr. Means has dedicated his life in preserving the tribal heritages and languages of all tribes. He is against the homogenization of the tribes and rightfully believes in the preservation of individual tribal cultures. This is something that must be done before those languages, cultures, songs and dances become extinct, and many already have.
   This man has intelligence, courage, guts and vision. He mentioned in his book that many others had told him that he is the reincarnation of Crazy Horse and Mr.Means denies it. Well, I believe he is being modest. As much as Crazy Horse had done for the Oglala Lakota on the battlefield, Mr. Means has done for the Oglala Lakota and all tribes at places like Wounded Knee, Alcatraz, BIA Headquarters in D.C., Mt. Rushmore and so many other venues, such as small towns, courthouses and reservations where justice was finally served by the American Indian Movement, which he co-led.
   Mr. Means correctly identifies the enemies of the Indian- the Bureau of Indian Affairs and its genocidal policies, the white man's religions and the white man's culture. His message to all Indians is to retain their religion, culture and language and to resist assimilation. He is right. It is unacceptable to have any of that die and be carried away by the prairie wind.
   This book is an honest and sometimes modest account of the life of a truly great man. In the book, Mr. Means laments some of his past mistakes, and he admits he made quite a few. But most of those mistakes are simply human frailty, something we all have. For some, our mistakes bring us down. To Mr. Means it helped in the slow but steady forging of a great leader. But all heroes have flaws.
   It is incredible how much Russell Means has done for the American Indian and others during his life so far. He didn't waste his energy, it was all for a great cause. Russell Means is one of the greatest leaders and individuals this country has ever given rise to. And by "this country" I refer to all the Indian nations as well.
   This book has literally changed my life. Long live Russell Means!



2. This book is fascinating. Russell Means explains clearly and patiently his personal history and weaves the sorry, racist history of Indigenous people found by "the white man" who perpetrated genocide, stole their land and broke every single treaty ever made by the American government. One treaty was broken the same day it was made. Anyone interested in learning what really happened and continues to happen in this country would do well to read this book.



3. This is a thorough and long book by Russell Means about his life as an American Indian. He has a lot of hatred toward the white race, which is understandable, but it makes his book hard to read at times because his hatred comes through the pages. He is also obviously biased at points, but that is to be expected because it is an autobiography. However, this man has been through a lot and has done a lot for AIM (american indian movement) so this is a good read to find out about that. If you can get past the hatred in this book, it's worth the read.



4. This book is hard to put down. There's alot of time spent about his drunken adventures and scuffles with authorities. However you will have to look hard to find his beliefs. At the end is a famous speech from July 1980 which presents his philosophy. Native American struggles are intriguing.
   But Be warned: RUSSELL MEANS IS A RACIST. Also unfortunate: he is agnostic about Christianity but has not lived his own religion consistently throughout his life.



5. This book is a must read for anyone who wishes to know the true struggles of our native peoples today. This book covers it all and thumbs up.