5 comments about Seven Arrows.

1. I love this book. I was interested from the first page. It really discribes i full detail what our ansetrial Native Americans believed and how they saw the world and God.



2. This was one of my favorite books in college. I then only was able to find a soft cover edition, twenty years ago. Having a hardcover edition now, in such good condition--better condition than was advertized--brings back many good memories.



3. Anyone interested in the story tellings of Native Americans will find this to be a must have read. Not only does the book share many stories that reflect and teach one about life but the book weaves these stories into the books plot and story line. It is a wonderfully written and insightful book.



4. Seven Arrows and Lightingbolt were books a mentor had suggested I read after we discussed the author and they had an opportunity to meet and work with I was inspired and helped me to be more informed of the Ancient ways of teaching around the circle telling storys and Parables that one can come to their own conclusion instead of someone telling them how to handle some particular challenge ... The Ancient Teachings
   and Beautiful Illistrations I am grateful to Hyemeyohsts Storm for his
   teachings of The Ancient Ways



5. "you are about to begin an adventure of the People, the Plains Indian People. You probably have known of the People only by their whiteman names, as the Cheyenne, the Crow and the Sioux. Here you will learn to know of them ans tey were truly known amongh the People...."
   
   Incredible photos. sepia portraits, images of camps, crafts, animals central to the Native American way of Life. Color images of medicine wheels with explanations. The story of Night Bear told in the traditional Native storytelling method.

5 comments about Mankiller: A Chief and Her People.

1. This is an inspirational story for all women to read - I do think the description of the book is the bit misleading. The first half of the book gives great deatail of the historical situation of the Cherokee people. Certainly our ethinic background has an impact on defining us, but I feel the author had a good deal more to tell us about her life in the present without digging back several centuries. It is a powerful book but not in my mind a true autobiography.



2. This rewarding tome from Wilma Mankiller, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1985 to 1995, alternates between her autobiography and a tribal history. The book's structure is often awkward, but we get more than just the instructive story of a courageous woman who rose to be a great leader among her people. Most rewarding is a crucial recent history of Native Americans and their modern struggles, which are rarely covered in more anthropological histories. Especially stirring are Mankiller's coverage of yet another disastrous federal relocation program for Indians in the 1950s, and unique perspectives on internal Cherokee politics. There are a few problems with this book, such as when Mankiller tries to deliver a social history of her coming-of-age in the late 1960s but keeps falling into thin baby boomer nostalgia, while she mostly avoids several controversies that developed during her term in office (which are covered in-depth in other sources). The tail end of the book also devolves into attempts at inspirational self-help platitudes. But Wilma Mankiller emerges here as a strong human being who overcame great personal struggles to become an effective leader, and her perspectives on the challenges faced by her people are essential reading for any concerned American. [~doomsdayer520~]



3. 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.



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. 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

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

1. 
   Robert Utley is one of the finest Western writers there is and I am a huge fan, having read many of his excellent works. This man can write and, as the chief historian of the National Park Service, he is an author who knows his topics well. But whatever possessed him to write a biography about a Native American from the Native American point of view, I will never understand. To write a biography about a Native American from the Native American point of view, by definition you have to be a Native American. He is not and that is where this book falls down.
   
   Sitting Bull is a fascinating individual. Caught in the very short transition period between his people's traditional way of life and the tidal wave of technological change the white man represented, he performs quite brilliantly in defending his environment, his people and the Sioux culture. Utley does a very good job of communicating this to his audience.
   
   But he goes too far in trying to become Native American. The results are that the background descriptions become almost mystical while the Native American cultural analysis is clunky, cumbersome. As a result, Utley alienates his reader, the very person he is trying to communicate with, with a book that is, well, quite boring in many sections. And that is a shame because the writing style chosen ultimately detracts from an interesting and important topic, Sitting Bull.
   
   There is no doubt that this is a scrupulously well researched biography about a very key leadership figure in the history of the American West. In the end however, I didn't really feel I knew much more about Sitting Bull the man after I had finished reading it. In the end Sitting Bull remains aloof and mysterious, a mythical figure that simply failed as opposed to the focused warrior facing an uncertain future that he had to have been.



2. 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.



3. 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.



4. 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.



5. 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.

5 comments about Lost Bird Of Wounded Knee: Spirit Of The Lakota.

1. I love when a book is so good I can't stop thinking about it when I'm away from it. This book was like that for me. I couldn't wait to get back to reading to find out what happened to these people. It was fascinating to read of their encounters with history, but so sad to learn of their human mistakes. Anyway, I learned much and enjoy the book very much.



2. I am an avid reader. Few books have had the power to stir my emotions, as much as this one. The tragedy of Lost Bird and all she stood for are so compelling that now, two years later, I can still recall the power that this book had for me.
   
   The story of Lost Bird is not just the biography of an unlucky woman. It also recalls the tragedy of Native American history and the consequences that flowed from it, directly affecting Lost Bird.
   
   
   If I could find other biographies or memoirs as vivid & memorising as this one, I would like any readers out there to let me know.



3. I am Zintkala Nuni, aka Lost Bird. I was given this name by my family in ceremony 1999. I was born and raised on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in North Central South Dakota. I have records to prove my name and my relationship to The Lost Bird of Wounded Knee. Renee never interviewed my family for her book. And from what my family has found out, all of the information about Lost Bird's mother in the book is untrue. I'm sorry for writing this BUT the truth must be known and I WILL be writing a book about my grandmother, Lost Bird, in the future to counteract the fiction that appears in this story. I hope someone reports this to Renee. I would love to speak with her and I'm sure my family would want to do the same.



4. Words not enough to decribe this book: the true review manifests itself as a bruise to your heart and soul.
   Heartbreaking and eye-opening - A MUST READ!



5. In December 1890 the United States of America massacred an unarmed band of Lakota men, women and children at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Most of them were starving and many of them were very ill. They were cut down like prey in the bitter snows of the Badlands and it was a sad day for Human Beings, one of many days I can never get out of my heart. There was a tiny miracle that day. A little baby girl survived unharmed, protected were she fell, by the body of her murdered mother. She was taken in by other Lakota people but Brigadier General and future Assistant District Attorney of the United States, Leonard W. Colby kidnapped and then adopted the baby as a "living curio." This murderous, inhumane and corrupt man wanted a little souvenir so he stole a human being, a helpless infant, and ripped her away from her people and her culture. He exploited her to attract prominent tribes as clients of his law practice. His wife, Clara B. Colby, who later divorced him was a prominent suffragist and newspaper editor. She tried to give this little Lost Bird a stable home and she meant well but she could never replace the Lakota ways or help Lost Bird to fit in to an alien and inhumane world. Lost Bird, whose real name was Zintkala Nuni only lived to be 29 years old and her short life was filled with pain and degradation and tragedy. She suffered sexual abuse, violence, prostitution and rejection. She was a being caught between two worlds and accepted in neither. The author of this book has done a wonderful job of bringing this poignant story to light. She illustrates the atmosphere of the times and offers rich insight into the insidious racism of the America of that time. This is a story of not only the cruelty that was done to the Native peoples of this land but of the misogynous, unscrupulous and socially unjust attitudes and actions of the leaders and people of this country. It is a testiment to endurance, a chronicle of tragedy. In 1991 Zintkala Nuni was returned from her burial place in California to Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation in the Badlands of South Dakota. She was buried with respect and ceremony among her people. Last summer I drove past the crowded impoverished homes to pay my respects to the people who died that day at Wounded Knee. I saw the harsh reality of the ancient gray hills of the Badlands with their ghostly beauty. I saw the offerings and prayer bundles in the burial grounds. I talked with two men selling souvenirs, trying to make a few dollars in a place where work is so hard to find. The arrogance and greed that murdered so many people, that stole a little girl from her people, that sought to cripple and defeat a powerful People is still alive and walking in the land but it has not succeeded. This book may help people to feel the injustice in their heart of hearts. It may illuminate our past and open our eyes to the injustice we still condone, many of us, with our silence. It is a powerful and moving story, well told.

2 comments about The Book of Elders: The Life Stories of Great American Indians.

1. Do not miss this book if you are interested in wisdom that one seldom, gets in any world that is not Indigenous. Indigenous wisdom gives us lessons for life lived from the heart and lived in tune with our Mother Earth, particularly from elders; be they natives of Turtle Island (North America), Australia, New Zealand, South America or the African continent.
   I loved this book and I love the wisdom imparted by the authors of each story. It is good to learn and it is best to learn from those who have lived long lives and learned their wisdom, not only from their own lives but also from the teachings of their ancestors.



2. This is a WONDERFUL collection of the real life stories of thirty elders from nineteen North American tribes. They are inspirations for us all. It has my HIGHEST recommendation--read this book, it will touch your heart and soul!

No comments about Mary Wells (Alive in Four Fascinating Books).

5 comments about Pretty-shield: Medicine Woman of the Crows (Bison Book).

1. I was taken by the deep abiding wisdom that fills every page of this book. Pretty Shield is a Elder, Medicine Woman of the Crow who magnetically tells her story of growing up on the plains before her people were herded onto a Reservation.
   
   The stories of her childhood are captivating and profound. One comes away from this book discovering the wisdom of native peoples on the plains before they were colonized by Eurocentric peoples.
   
   There is insight on the meaning of "medicine" power and how to yield it on behalf of the people. It is never for the sake of individual pride, personal prestige, and ego enhancement. European peoples can stand to learn much from this knowledge which is sadly disappearing in our contemporary moment.
   
   Moreover, there are many fine lessons for anyone who can still honor and respect native wisdom and those who can still come with an empty cup. After reading this narrative you will be uplifted and perhaps, find healing on many subtly levels. Pretty Shield notes that strong people can heal themselves. Her wisdom - while profound - is augmented by her original sense of humor still in touch with the core of her innocence. One of the chief lessons of the book, methinks.
   
   Story has a way with us but especially by those who can take us through the doorway of the heart. This is Pretty Shield's gift and her calling. If you are open to it, you might find your life being transformed by the wisdom which is powerful and significantly compelling. This is a highly enjoyable and wise book by an elder of notable recognition.



2. I couldn't put the book down. Pretty Shield takes the reader by the hand and takes him/her into the times when buffalo were a-plenty, there was always a danger of a Lakota or Cheyenne raid, a grizzly behind the corner - yet there was always laughing, joy, aliveness and community. Growing up as a child was not being sheltered from the vicissitudes of life - on the contrary, it was taking life seriously by playing in it. It was living on the edge; and only by living on the edge one can really be alive.
   
   One learns so much more from a book like this than from anthropological literature.
   
   The title says "medicine woman" probably at the insistence of the publisher. While there may not be much about 'Crow Medicine' in the factual, "Western' sense of the word, the medicine - the power of life - creeps out of almost every page. The confidence, the taking-care of her family is a manifestation of her Medicine; the story-telling, the knowledge about the animal and little "People" (spirits), how one gets to meet them and gets their help and the stories of healing that these days could only be classified as miraculous, can be told only by someone who knows what they are talking about. In other words, Pretty Shield teaches obliquely, like the Indians do, through stories. And this book delivers them with sensitivity, respect and simplicity which show that Linderman learnt something about Crows and their medicine.



3. This biographical information about Pretty Shield, a Wise One of the Crow was originally compiled and published in the 1930's by Linderman. This book is the third reprint of the original story and contains a new preface by Alma Snell (Pretty Shield's granddaughter) and Becky Matthews. Linderman was called Sign-talker by the Crow due to his insistence that his interview subjects spoke in signs even when a translator was present. His earlier biography about Pretty Shield's clansmen, Plenty Coups, gained him unprecedented respect and admiration within this clan.
   
   Due to this distinguished reputation, Pretty Shield was willing to tell Linderman stories about her seventy-four years and about the lives of women before and after the coming of the White men and the decline of the bison herds. Pretty Shield is uniquely candid describing daily activities of women that are rarely recorded. Moreover, she describes specific incidents illustrating traditional Crow behavior and conduct. Many of these sometimes humorous, sometimes heart breaking stories demonstrate both negative and positive examples of such customs, often with Pretty Shield herself being in the wrong.
   
   In addition to narrating these stories about Pretty Shield's youth, family, marriage, and the raising of her children, Linderman also records his impressions of Pretty Shield and her life at the time of the interview. This information not only illustrates how traditional Crow ideals relate and are translated into the more modern lifestyles of Pretty Shield and her grandchildren but also allows a view into the personality of a very unique woman.
   
   Pretty-shield is a touching biography that will be enjoyed as a recreational read. Nonetheless, this book also contains important rare incites into the lives of traditional and modern Crow women. Thus, the book is suitable for those interested in learning a little about traditional native life as well as those researchers looking for detailed information about the changing lifeways, traditions, and belief systems of the Crow during this transitional period. This book contains unprecedented candid information about this time from a viewpoint rarely recorded presented in an entertaining, easy to read, meaningful way. That the author also wrote a book on the male perspective from the same native group, simply adds to the potential importance of this resource.



4. a wonderful collection of memories of Pretty Shields life- as soon as you start reading you will love her. A strong, smart woman from the last generation of native people who lived by the way of the earth. you should read this!



5. Based on the title and the editorial reviews, I was expecting (and hoping) to read about Pretty-shield's life as a healer, and more about the customs of her tribe. Instead, a lot of the stories were about things she did as a child and teen, mostly how she got into trouble and silly things she did with friends.
   
   On the positive side, it's an easy read, and would be a good introduction to Native American life.

5 comments about The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk's Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux : Black Elk, Holy Man of the Oglala.

1. I like the detail in this book and it is easy to read. Readers should keep in mind that this is just one account of one type of Sacred Pipe. This is not a tell-all on the Sacred Pipe, as such a thing does not exist (at least not on paper).



2. "The Sacred Pipe," Black Elk's account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux
   
   Perhaps the most inhuman, cruelest and nonspiritual chapter in human history has been the assault of organized religion on earth religions aka paganism, animism. Sadly, Christianity in its attempt to evangelize the world has become the poster child for how not to spread the gospel; for instead of contextualizing itself in the cultures and religions it hoped to influence, it declared war (holy jihad) and tried to wipe earth religions out.
   
   Luckily remnants of the earth traditions have survived and have influenced the modern day earth/feminist movements. Many of which are eclectic manifestations of what we call the New Age. The book "The Sacred Pipe," is neither about Christianity's assault on paganism nor the new age movement rather it was written more like an Apologetic to show those who have misunderstood the Red Religion that the "Indians know the One true God, and that they pray to him continually," XX.
   
   While the book explains the Seven Sacred Rites of the Oglala Sioux, its focal point seems to be the gift of the Sacred Pipe (peace Pipe) which was given by the Buffalo Calf Woman. Her coming meant salvation for the Sioux in both the physical and spiritual, and her promise to return in every generation provided an ongoing revelation and evolving ritual for the tribe.
   
   In the bowl of sacred Pipe the entire created order of beings are gathered together and send their prayers to Wakan Tanka (the Great Mystery). This vision of connectedness and unity (based upon the pipe) gave Black Elk a more optimistic hope, than he had for the Christian religion. The following is from the Foreword of the book:
   
   "Most people call it a "peace pipe," yet now there is no peace on earth or even between neighbors, and I have been told that it has been a long time since there has been peace in the world. There is much talk of peace among Christians, yet this is just talk. Perhaps it may be, and this is my prayer that, through our sacred pipe, and through this book in which I shall explain what our pipe really is, peace may come to those peoples who can understand, and understanding which must be of the heart and not of the head alone. Then they will realize that we Indians know the One true God, and that we pray to Him continually.
   
   I have wished to make this book through no other desire than to help my people in understanding the greatness and truth of our own tradition, and also to help in bringing peace upon the earth, not only among men, but within men and between the whole of creation.
   
   We should understand well that all things are the works of the Great Spirit. We should know that He is within all things: the trees, the grasses, the rivers, the mountains, and all the four legged animals, and the winged peoples; and even more important, we should understand that He is also above all these things and peoples. When we do understand all this deeply in our hearts, we will be and act and live as He intends."
   
   I highly recommend this book to anyone who thinks Indians are pagan devil worshipers. This book brought joy to my heart and a renewed appreciation for the legacy of the original occupants of Mother Earth!



3. Black Elk is and was sacred Elder. Through his life we are given this knowledge. He has helped many to understand the way of the Lakota; following the natural law. While not all Lakota follow the traditional ways as closely as they did before the arrival of the white man, they are still connected to these rites and inhierently understand these teachings. It's only to outside world that these things become suprising moments of clarity. Joseph Epes Brown took time before it was too late, to record these teachings, which is a blessing and a gift of knowledge to all who would read, understand and heed these words. If you wish to learn what dwells is in the hearts of Native American people, you would do well to open this book and your minds.



4. I haven't actually finished this book yet but I'm looking forward to doing so. This spirituality is deeply sophisticated and elevated. I think the whole world is greatly indebted to the American Indian Nation. Furthermore, thank you for wonderful service.



5. A beautiful book. You can learn about Siuox religious practie and beliefs. The reader will come away with a sense of how similar religios faiths can be. The Sioux it turns out are not so different from Christians, Hindus or any other group that uses faith to guide people through what is both difficult and beautiful in life.

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

1. I wanted to love this book, and I loved much about it. But Hogan is obsessed with the evilness of whites, which is ironic considering she is part white (half, if I figured right from the book--her mother is white?--but it's hard to be sure as she downplays this). It is as if she is at war with herself; she considers herself Native American, not Native and white. I feel I have so much in common with her, but she alienates those who are not Native American. There is nothing wrong with celebrating one's history and tradition (she chooses to celebrate part of hers and denigrate the rest), and whites certainly have done much evil, but that does not make us all evil. If Hogan would open her mind a bit, she'd see we are all in this together, no matter our race. That said, Hogan is a lovely writer and a courageous, beautiful human being. If I had felt a bit more included rather than excluded, I would have embraced this book but in the end I found it did not include me. This is a book for Native Americans, especially women in need of affirmation, and as such, it is a beautiful gift--for those readers.



2. I read this novel for class (lit. masters student) and loved it so much that i literally give it out as gifts for any occasion. it is sensitive. and if nothing else, her ability to communicate to the reader is completely profound and leaves the audience feeling like s/he knows hogan on a deeply personal level while learning much about our cultures.
   
   "Our healing, we both knew, was connected to this other healing, as woman to land, as bird to water. We are together in this, all of us, and it's our job to love each other, human, animal, and land, the way ocean loves shore, and shore loves ocean and needs the ocean, even if they are of different elements" (29).



3. Linda Hogan finds peace in a world of spiritual and physical pain through her relationship with the world around her. Her Native American world view, the fact that we are all connected, informs her search.



4. The Woman Who Watches over the World is a beautifully written memoir by Linda Hogan, a Chickasaw woman. Ms. Hogan discusses her experiences in childhood, pre-mature adulthood, child rearing and a crippling accident. Her language is highly poetic, which makes her prose sometimes obtuse and difficult to follow. But her use of metaphor reaches deep into the human soul and reaches to places where mere words cannot lead us.



5. 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.

3 comments about The Morning the Sun Went Down.

1. Every once in a while a book is written that changes everything. This is one of those books. This autobiography written by Darryl Babe Wilson about his Achomawi/Atsugewi (Pit River) Indian childhood in northern California is filled with wonder and lyrical beauty, and at the same time with painful tragedy and brutality. This is the masterful recounting of a personal journey that enfolds us warmly in a child eye's view ofWilson'sfamily and tribal relations, as well as the intrinsic and permanent relationship with theland in its ancient and essential dimensions. This book is simultaneously literature, an autobiography and the history of a People. Thebook begins with a dream in which Wilson is tested and reminded by the Elders of his responsibility to his People. It combines observations both minute and practical with those that sweepinglyencompass infinate place and time, understood both by the heart and mind. We are deftly drawn into a world that is simultaneously rugged and sweet. The family tragedy, the death of his mother and baby brother, and the subsequent family separation are described in wrenching detail, mirroring and paralleling the descriptions of historic events resulting from the lethal coming of whites into his homeland following the discovery of gold in California. Wilson places us, as readers, in a spot that is at the same time ancient, historical and contemporary. This is a story of growingself-assurance and human understanding as Wilson matures and comes to see the world from a broader vision, as well as his place and potential role within that world. He says, "...we must seek a power or a series of powers outside of ourselves which we identify as 'helpers.' Helpers can be a tree or animals, rocks or mountains, stars or flowers, frogs or rainbows. Helpers come to us in our time of need, and they guide our dreams." This book is utlimately the story of strength and power. Near the end of the book, he says, "For it was a song, according to our narratives, that caused all of the universe to have a beginning. We must seek within ourselves the spiritual terrain from our watu/ah'lo (spiritual umbilical cord) to the Great Power, cultivating our personal power and creating wholesomeness with our thoughts and intentions...It is taught in our lessons and legends, and by our Elders, that The People are responsible for life upon earth. Honoring the lessons then becomes a mandate from Great Power/GReat Wonder/Great Spirit that we are bound to obey. All people must obey the Great Law, so the sweetness of life can continue."



2. Every once in a while a book is written that changes everything. THE MORNING THE SUN WENT DOWN is one of those books. This autobiography written by Darryl Babe Wilson about his Achomawi/Atsugewi (Pit River) childhood in northeastern California is filled with wonder and lyrical beauty, and at the same time with painful tragedy and brutality. This is the masterful recounting of a personal journey that enfolds us warmly in a child eye's view of Wilson's family and tribal relations, as well as the intrinsic and permanent relationship with the land in its ancient and essential dimensions. This book is simultaneously literature, an autobiography and the history of a People. It is highly recommended.//This is a portion of the review by Susan Lobo that will appear in the journal NATIVE AMERICAS (Cornell)



3. from "Kirkus Reviews" (starred review): A slim, modest, and altogether extraordinary memoir of rural Native American life. Wilson, a poet and scholar from the Achumawe and Atsugewi tribes of northeastern California, came into adolescence in the mid-1950s, when his people had all but disappeared through assimilation or extermination. Blame for part of that disappearance he lays squarely at the door of whites; but, he adds, "the neglect of our Elders to teach us our traditions was equally damaging." His own parents did their best to teach Wilson and his siblings something of the old ways: how to hunt deer, how to tame rattlesnakes, how to listen for mountain lions, lessons that he imparts to his readers with precision and grace- and not a little humor. But when his mother and younger brother were killed in a collision with a logging truck, Wilson was sent off to live with white foster parents among unfriendly neighbors (he remembers, touchingly, one young girl "who did not accuse me with her eyes or attitude," principally "because we were not enemies"). Whe it appeared that his foster parents wanted to strip away his Indian identity, Wilson rebelled, for which he was sent off to a boarding school where the young California Indian charges were locked in their rooms at nights and punished by day for minor infractions. Wilson recounts these horros matter-of-factly but doesn't dwell on them; instead, he celebrates a teacher who sagely corrected his compositions, encouraged him to improve himself, and urged him to become a writer. Readers have reason to be grateful to that teacher as well. Wilson is a careful and compassionate obeserver of his life and those of other young Indians, and his book is a fine addition to the growing library of Native American autobiography.