Reviews of new/recent books by/about Native Americans (2/3)

Steve Brock (brock@ucsub.colorado.edu)
28 Sep 1995 01:23:20 GMT

Here are several short reviews of new and recent books by and about
Native Americans, part two of three. All reviews are written by
Steve Brock:

ART OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN FRONTIER: A PORTFOLIO by David Penney.
The New Press, 450 W. 41st Street, N.Y., NY 10036 (212) 629-8802,
FAX: (212) 268-6349. Illustrated, maps, selected reading. 24 pp.
book, 24 glossy color plates. $18.95. 1-56584-251-0

This portfolio, from the Native American Art collection at the
Detroit Institute of Arts, contains 24 color plates (pottery,
costumes, jewelry, ceremonial items) from a popular exhibition that
toured the country in 1992. Also included is a booklet with
commentary on the items. A welcome addition to classrooms,
libraries, and homes. Grade: A-.

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION IN INDIAN COUNTRY by Colin G. Calloway.
Cambridge University Press, 40 W. 20th St., New York, N.Y. 10011-
4211, (800) 872-7423, FAX: (212) 691-3239. Illustrated, index,
maps, notes. 351 pp., $59.95 cloth. 0-521-47149-4

With most tribes giving their allegiance to the British, the
American victory did little to further the Indian struggle for
independence, and they were excluded from the society the revolu-
tion created. Calloway, an expatriate Briton, focuses on the
experiences of eight Indian communities: Odanak, Stockbridge, Fort
Niagra, Oquaga, Maquachake, Chota, Tchoukafala, and Cuscowilla,
whose diverse reactions led to a solitary role: a society to be
eliminated. Grade: B+.

LOST BIRD OF WOUNDED KNEE: SPIRIT OF THE LAKOTA by Renee Sansom
Flood. Charles Scribner's Sons, 866 Third Ave., N.Y., NY 10022,
(800) 223-2336, (800) 445-6991 FAX. Illustrated, index, bibliogra-
phy, notes. 384 pp., $25.00 cloth. 0-684-19512-7

Flood, a former South Dakota social worker, tells the story of
Zintkala Nuni (Lost Bird), who was found next to her dead mother on
the Wounded Knee battlefield and adopted by U.S. brigadier general
Leonard Wright Colby and his wife, suffragist leader Clara B.
Colby. Flood's moving account describes a woman caught between two
cultures (rejected by her tribe, she performed in Wild West Shows
and was a prostitute), and focuses on the repatriation of
Zintkala's remains back to the Wounded Knee Memorial, where she was
finally buried with her ancestors. The writing is awkward in
places (Flood is at times overwhelmed by her material), but few
will be untouched by the narrative. Grade: B+.

THE WINNING OF THE WEST by Theodore Roosevelt. University of
Nebraska Press/Bison Books, 901 N. 17th St., Lincoln, NE 68588-
0520, (800) 755-1105, (402) 472-6214 FAX. The University of
Nebraska Press online catalog is available on the Internet by
telneting to CRCVMS.UNL.EDU, username INFO, choosing UNIVERSITY
PRESS, and ONLINE CATALOG. Illustrated, index, notes, appendices,
maps. Four volumes, 1570 pp., $15.00 paper (each). 0-8032-8958-8

Originally published in 1889, this four-volume set (the individual
titles are "From the Alleghanies to the Mississippi 1769-1776,"
"From the Alleghanies to the Mississippi 1777-1783," "The Founding
of the Trans-Alleghanie Commonwealths 1784-1790," and "Louisiana
and the Northwest 1791-1807") is Roosevelt's version of the
conquest of the American West. Simultaneously ambitious and short-
sighted, Roosevelt celebrates hardy woodsmen, rugged frontiersmen,
and backcountry warfare, though his portrayal of Indians is
surprisingly sympathetic. For this edition, Bison has photographi-
cally reproduced the original pages, complete with broken type, ink
spots, and occasional blurring. Grade: B.

WRITINGS IN INDIAN HISTORY, 1985-1990, compiled by Jay Miller,
Colin G. Calloway, and Richard A. Sattler. University of Oklahoma
Press, 1005 Asp Ave., Norman, OK 73019, (800) 627-7377, (405)
325-5000 FAX. Index. 230 pp., $27.95 cloth. 0-8061-2759-7

The editors have compiled bibliographic lists of books and articles
grouped by historical period, culture group, theme (such as legal
relations), and literary form. Historians wishing to keep abreast
of writings in Indian history will find the book of value, but the
lack of annotation makes much of the included information available
through other sources, such as the subject guide to "Books in
Print" or "Historical Abstracts." Grade: B-.

A WEALTH OF THOUGHT: FRANZ BOAS ON NATIVE AMERICAN ART, edited by
Aldona Jonaitis. University of Washington Press, P.O. Box 50096,
Seattle, WA 98145-5096, (800) 441-4115, (206) 543-3932 FAX.
Illustrated, index, bibliography, notes. 379 pp., $50.00 cloth (0-
295-97325-0), $24.95 paper (0-295-97384-6).

Focussing primarily on tribes of the Pacific Northwest, Jonaitis
provides an interpretation of Boas's numerous essays on Native
American art. Acknowledging that Boas would have been shoulder to
shoulder with many of the many new art historians who believe that
art cannot be separated from the cultural conditions from which it
was created, Jonaitis has assembled fourteen articles, written
between 1889 and 1916, that provide "an early model of how values
and tolerance coupled with openness and critical judgement can
coexist without grinding down or dismissing the Native people
studied." Of value to art historians and anthropologists alike.
Grade: A-.

WALKING IN THE SACRED MANNER: HEALERS, DREAMERS, AND PIPE CARRIERS
-- THE MEDICINE WOMEN OF THE PLAINS INDIANS by Mark St. Pierre and
Tilda Long Soldier. Simon and Schuster/Touchstone, 1230 Avenue of
the Americas, N.Y., NY 10020, (800) 223-2336, FAX: (212) 698-7007.
Illustrated, index, notes. 239 pp., $12.00 cloth. 0-689-80200-7

Contrary to western religions, women of the Plains Indians (Lakota,
Cheyenne, Crow, and others) play a central role in sacred tradi-
tions and ceremonies. From healing with songs and dances to
interpretation of dreams to shamanic transformation, St. Pierre and
Long Soldier provide portraits of faith and dedication. The book
also includes a chapter on historical holy women. Absorbing
throughout. Grade: B+.

THE LAST COMANCHE CHIEF: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF QUANAH PARKER by
Bill Neely. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 605 Third Ave., N.Y., NY
10158-0012, (800) CALL WILEY, (212) 850-6088 FAX. The Wiley WWW
home page is located at http://www.wiley.com/. Illustrated, index,
bibliography, notes, maps. 288 pp., $24.95 cloth. 0-471-11722-6

The son of Peta Nocona, chief of the Nocona band of Comanches and
Cynthia Parker, a captured white woman, Quanah Parker (1850-1911),
according to Neeley, was the only Comanche chief to "pass within
the span of a single lifetime from a Stone Age Warrior to a
statesman of the Industrial Revolution." This biography relates
Quanah's battles with Army Colonel Ranald Slidell MacKenzie, his
eventual surrender at Ft. Sill in 1875, and his achievements as a
tribal diplomat and elder statesman. "The Last Comanche Chief"
adds little material to his previous book on Parker, "Quanah Parker
and his People" (1986), and Neeley also becomes bogged down in
lengthy quotes that stall the narrative, which he attempts to turn
into an epic. Grade: B-.

THE DULL KNIFES OF PINE RIDGE: A LAKOTA ODYSSEY by Joe Starita.
G.P. Putnam's Sons, 200 Madison Ave., N.Y., NY 10016, (800) 847-
5515, (212) 532-3693 FAX. Illustrated, index, bibliography, notes,
maps. 400 pp., $24.95 cloth. 0-399-14010-7

Journalist Starita recounts much of the recent history of the
Lakota, seen through the eyes of one family. From Chief Dull Knife
who led his people from the Darlington Agency in Oklahoma on a 600
mile trek back to their homeland in Montana in 1878, to Guy Dull
Knife Sr. the oldest living Lakota and veteran of World War I who
endured the suppression of his religion and language, to Guy Dull
Knife Jr. a sculptor and Vietnam veteran who returned from fighting
overseas to combat poverty and corruption on a reservation that was
more dangerous than the jungle, the family traditions have remained
strong. Now THIS is an epic. Grade: A.

BRAID OF FEATHERS: AMERICAN INDIAN LAW AND CONTEMPORARY TRIBAL LIFE
by Frank Pommersheim. University of California Press, 2120
Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94720, (800) 822-6657, FAX: (510) 643-
7127. Index, notes. 267 pp., $30.00 cloth. 0-520-08857-3

Pommersheim, a poetry-writing law professor at the University of
South Dakota, concentrates on tribal courts and the issues of
tribal sovereignty and authority, from a tribal perspective.
Beginning with a history of the development of Indian law from the
1700s to the present, other chapters focus on issues of cultural
continuity, jurisdiction, tribal-state relationships, and economic
development. "Braid of Feathers" is a plea for "the understanding
and implementation of the indigenous vision," instead of perpetuat-
ing a continuous (if unconscious) validation of the dominance of
Congress and the Supreme Court. A cogent analysis and a convincing
argument that links laws with the people they affect. Appropriate
for the general reader as well as classes in Indian Law. Grade: A.

STORIES THAT MAKE THE WORLD: ORAL LITERATURE OF THE INDIAN PEOPLES
OF THE INLAND NORTHWEST edited by Rodney Frey. University of
Oklahoma Press, 1005 Asp Ave., Norman, OK 73019, (800) 627-7377,
(405) 325-5000 FAX. Illustrated, index, bibliography, notes,
glossary, map. 284 pp., $24.95 cloth. 0-8061-2710-4

Traditional stories, myths, and tales from the Plains and Plateau
peoples (Coeur d'Alene, Crow, Klikitat, Kootenai, Nez Perce,
Sanpoil, Wasco and others) of Washington, northern Idaho, and
Montana have been collected by anthropologist Frey (with help from
tribal elders Lawrence Aripa and Tom Yellowtail), along with a
discussion of themes, recitation techniques, and a plan for
teaching them to secondary and college classes. Grade: B+.