No comments about Memory and Imagination: The Legacy of Maidu Indian Artist Frank Day.

No comments about My Playmates Were Eskimos.

5 comments about Woman Who Watches Over the World: A Native Memoir.

1. As a white 48 year old women I now realize how ignorant I have been to indigenous peoples of America. It left me yearning for more knowledge. This book expanded my mind. It is well written and easy to understand. Very straight forward.



2. I read this book in a class about violence in society. it really brought home the nessesity for violence but a productive way to turn it into a positive thing in your life and still have good energy surround you. this book especially hit home with me because i have experience with foster children that can't bond. it really helped me to understand how to deal with that. Plus Linda Hogan Rocks!!



3. Life is a journey form fragments to wholeness. Hogan's memoir tries to reveal her steps and processes of having harmony in her life. She divides her memoir into eleven sections with various topics to express her different experience of life. Each part of her personal experience is the part of life journey, though in the journey, no absolutely direction is shown to tell her when to go or what to do. In "Geography: An Introduction," Hogan says there is no maps of direction in life, even she wish to direct her life to others by saying "This way," (14) but she couldn't. From receiving the broken pieces of the clay woman named "The Woman Who Watches over the World" that she bought in the museum, Hogan starts to illustrate her journey of broken past in "Water: A Love Story," which narratives how she falls in love with a sergeant army in German, and how she decides to come back to America by through the sea. Then she says "through our time life-times it is water that sustains us, water that is the human substance, the matter of cells"(31). In her years of falling, Hogan concludes "falling isn't always bad. Sometimes it is better into world" (66). As the topics go, readers seem to have steps to penetrate Hogan's inner floating. From piecing the following topics together, including "Silence is My Mother," "Fire," "Dreams and Visions: The Given-Off Light," "Span: Of Time and Stone,¡¨ ¡§Mystery,¡¨ ¡§Bones, and Other Precious Gem,¡¨ and ¡§Phantom Worlds,¡¨ we gradually finish the journey made by Hogan's personal events by the topic steps she gave us. Reading Hogan's memoir is like playing jigsaw puzzle, which is the game from fragments to wholeness. The process of the play jigsaw puzzle is like the process of facing many events in journey life. As she describes herself from the broken past to the harmony in the living world, Hogan's memoir also reveals the situation of Native American today. Therefore, it is not only a memoir of self, but a reflection of her tribes.



4. Hogan¡¦s memoir is a book not only ¡§about love¡¨ (16), but about ¡§healing, history, and survival¡¨ (16). In this memoir of eleven chapters, the idea of history dominates the whole work in which Hogan retrieves not only her personal history but the communal history. The ¡§space-time¡¨ relationship becomes a unifying force for each chapter to construct a unified whole and present a ¡§a geography of the human spirit, common to all peoples¡¨ (16). For Hogan as a Native American, history, no matter personal or tribal one, is present in geography, no matter a spiritual or spatial one. First of all, Hogan tries to relate her ¡§self-telling¡¨ to the young people on reservations and thus connect her personal history with the history of the continent since ¡§I can lay a human history out before me and hold a light to it, and in that light is the history of a continent¡¨ (14). She then identifies herself and the world with the clay woman, ¡§the Woman who Watch Over the World¡¨ since she, the clay woman and the world/land are all broken. And the historical traumas are revealed and shown in human bodies and the land in itself. Thus, by retrieving the history of her physical pain, emotional suffering, and early inarticulateness inherited from her mothers, she presents us a suffering history of her tribe in this continent. By exploring both the personal and tribal history, she displays a map/path for herself and the young tribal men to pursue after her. It is then a map/path of healing. By healing, she means the power of words and the cure of nature. She offers a history of three generations of women in her family, herself, her mother and her two adopted daughters, who, because ¡§the destruction of the body and land have coincided in history¡¨ (62~63), have been or are, in a way or other, voiceless of their emotional, physical, or spiritual sufferings. Thus, the power of storytelling/words is significant for her to deal with her personal problems and recognition of self-identity in the tribal community. Moreover, after years of experiences with pain, she finds her cure relies on ¡§earth, water, light and air¡¨ (16). Its significance can be seen when several elements in nature are used to entitle six out of the eleven chapters. Finally, what unifies all these treads presented in the memoir into a spider web, separate but of the same direction, is the power of tribal survival through which personal survival is also attained. It is only because of a quest into her haunted past and tribal hardships can she find a power to refresh her spirit and a meaning for her life. Thus, with the presentation of both traumatic histories and ways of healings, she positions herself and establishes her subjectivity in a tribal world that, in turn, survives in face of possible genocide. And it is this urgency of survival, no matter personal or tribal, that makes the memoir and the Naitve American literature extraordinary to the Euroamerican literature.



5. As the title implies, this momoire arises form Linda Hogan her own perspective to tell the history of her tribe, her family and her own self. It is indeed a very impressive work for me. Many details and many depictions attract me very much, and I am going to illustrate some of them that impress me most.
   Drunken is a very serious problem for Hogan¡¦s family and relatives. By the description, we gradually realize that to drink is a way to elude from the painful history. ¡§I was drunk, not an alcoholic,¡¨ their reason is that ¡§the drunk wants to lose the memory of every day.¡¨ ¡§It was an escape from the pain of an American history.¡¨ For them, so many memories are unacceptable and the solution they can do is to escape from it. The Indians are the Natives of the States. But the invaders occupied most of their land and even made law to restrain the Indian territory. It is very ridiculous event.
   One thing that shocks me very much is about ¡§the Sand Creek Masacre.¡¨ It is a very painful thing for the Native people, but the Whites choose to make fun of the deathes. It reveals all the horrible history. Besides the history of the Native and the tribes, Hogan also explores herself and confesses herself to the readers. I believe this book is absolutely a good one to read and you will get more by your own reading.

1 comments about The Worlds of P'Otsunu: Geronima Cruz Montoya of San Juan Pueblo.

1. From Front Jacket:
   
   "The inspiring story of Geronima Montoya (P'otsunu), artist, educator, and San Juan Pueblo cultural leader, begins in northern New Mexico and culminates at the Smithsonian Art and Cultural Achievement Award ceremony in 1994. Like many other Native American children of the 1920s, Montoya became a boarding student at the Santa Fe Indian School, where assimilation to American culture was a primary goal. She discovered her love of painting while studying under Dorothy Dunn, who heavily influenced Pueblo Indian easel painting. Succeeding Dunn as head of the controversial Studio, she later went on to obtain a college degree, create an adult education program for the northern Pueblo villages, and found the first Native American crafts cooperative.
   
   Through this period of cultural and political change Montoya has been sustained by Pueblo and Catholic religious and ceremonial life. Shutes and Mellick tell her story in her own words, gathered from 17 years of interviews and friendship. The book is enriched by period photographs of village and school life, letters between Montoya and Dunn, and photographs of Montoya's art."

3 comments about Sarah Winnemucca (American Indian Lives).

1. A simply told tale of the complex life of a complex woman -- I did not find it dry or academic at all. I cannot judge the quality of the research, as I am not familiar with Winnemucca's life, but the biography appears both frank and well-rounded. I enjoyed the way in which the author wove contemporary sources and Paiute folklore into her story. It's not an especially sophisticated book (for good or for ill) but it is not without complexity. Nineteenth century U.S. cultural and political constraints are clearly illustrated, along with Sarah's personal life and the tribulations facing the Paiutes & other Native Americans of that era. I think it would be of interest to anyone interested in 19th century women, Native Americans, or the frontier.



2. Zanjani's writing is academic and somewhat dry. The historical research has not advanced much since Gae Whitney Canfield's "Sarah Winnemucca of the Northern Paiutes" but Zanjani does incorporate new theoretical approaches to interpreting Sarah's own memoir and place in history. The bibliography then, is useful for scholars, but the the prose is further bogged down with unresolved (and unresolvable) intellectual issues best left to academics. Try Canfield's well researched and easily readable prose instead.



3. a piece of historical treasure, how often do you see a book written by an indian woman from the 1800's? it is a must own for anyone remotely interested in indians, or american history.

1 comments about Voice of the Old Wolf: Lucullus Virgil McWhorter and the Nez Perce Indians.

1. If you've ever read Yellow Wolf and Hear Me, My Chiefs! then you must read this book. It's the not always glamorous behind the scenes of just how the books came to be. I had perhaps three very minor criticisms while reading the book but must say that Evans did a fantastic job. Long live Yellow Wolf, Peo Peo and the non-treaty Nez Perce. You have my eternal respect!

5 comments about Spirit Moves: The Story of Six Generations of Native Women.

1. I never thought I would ever find such a book that I would ever not put down..This book kept me involved like I never been involved before. I loved this book from beginning to end. Also the artwork from Ms. Boyd's mother Silversong is just breathtaking to me. I laughed and cried and cried some more. I have owned my copy for 3 years now. I also have read this book 4 times since I have owned it. This book is part of my favorite possessions and will cherish it forever. Also when my daughters are old enough I will read it to them or have them read it themselves for the simple fact is the strength, pain, love, and sense of woman and family in this book are just absolutely breathtaking. I really recommend this book to anyone with a heart and the heart of a woman...I like to thank Ms. Boyd for writing her family's story. I never will forget it and although this may not be my family story, I will pass this onto my girls and onto their girls so they can see that women can have the strength to go through anything and that love conquers all and that the SPIRIT MOVES through all of us.....



2. This book is a clear work of literature where the reality of growing up Indian in 6 Generations is laid out before the world. It is a hard life but one where the women make a difference in the lives of their children and grandchildren. Their choices were often made for them until the past 2 generations. It is a powerful and moving story the should be read by all.



3. This book does have an epic quality about it... Also, it is the type of book that calls to and connects with the spiritual side of all of us regardless of our individual culture, race or gender. Ms. Boyd's gift is bringing a beautiful narrative quality to the experiences shared by her Mother, Grandmother and Great-Grandmother as well as her own. As the challenges and hardships are recounted it seems incredible that the harshness experienced was so recent, relatively speaking. In a time before domestic-violence laws (as recently as 20 - 30 years ago) options were few and overcoming such oppressive treatment seemed to be as much an act of faith as of will. This is a story that's important to all, not just to these lovely Lawson women.



4. I am buying several copies to distribute to the women in my life. This is the best book I have ever read and I just happened upon it. It has changed my life, I am a better person for reading it. I love it, cant say enough about it, Loree Byrd is so talented, I would read anything by her.



5. Loree Boyd has done more than merely written a great book. She has demonstrated the pride, strength and respect so characteristic of Metis/Native people in Canada. As a Metis/Ojibway person myself, I found this story, based on Loree's family history, to be moving and inspirational. I laughed, I cried, and I smiled thoughout reading this book. Loree's personal story extends beyond the words of this book; touching the lives of many Metis and Native families throughout Canada. Knowing and recognizing the similarities of my own Metis/Native family history made reading "Spirit Moves" all the more bittersweat. This book should be read in every household in Canada- Metis, Native, and white! Mii-gwetch Loree for your courage, your pride and your story! In Spirit, James Fortier

No comments about Ancient Voices, Current Affairs: The Legend of the Rainbow Warriors.

No comments about The Life of Mary Jemison: The White Woman of the Genesee.

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

1. 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!



2. 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.



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. 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.



5. 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.