5 comments about The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams.

1. This book has to be the worst and most sickening case of cultural apropriation in the history of the US. The fact that it was writen by a white man is further proof of the emperialist and colonialist mentality that still exists in this nation twords the Native American Community. However when I forst read this book Nasdijj was still a navajo within the eyes of the public. At the time the book mooved me deaply. Nasdijj's use if diction and the storytelling nature of his narative was beutifle. It made me want to learn more about the status and problems facing the Plains Indian community and work bring about change. That meens somthing to me and despite what I know now that initial responce when I first read this book stays with me to this day. I urge those who are going to critisize this book to read it first if you have not, and when you read it, do so with eyes un clouded by the trouth.



2. It's a shame that because of works like this, not to mention the Forrest Carter (Education of Little Tree) scandal a few years back, many unknown and undiscovered--but authentic--Native American writers will probably have to struggle that much harder to become published. Well-established American Indian authors are already naturally suspect of any newcomers on the scene; the sad fact is that for some reason Native American culture and identity is misappropriated by more misguided white writers--whatever their individual agendas might be--than any other race or ethnic group. The sad truth is that, for every Forrest Carter and Timothy Barris who manage to secure a publishing contract, there are dozens of truly deserving Native voices that are going unheard.And thanks to these imposters making the buying public- as well as agents and editors- increasingly suspicious of anyone claiming to be Native American-their chances to be read and heard are only going to diminish.



3. To hold the power to move people with words regardless of the validity of those words is a very impressive art. With the exception of one specific actor, no one in history has made a powerful film about his or her own life. There is no reason to believe that written works shoud be treated differently from movies in this respect. Obviously this writer has realized that human deception is an important method of eliciting an emotional response from an audience. By reading the responses from readers prior to the false exposure of the true writer, it is clear that this man or woman is light years ahead of current authors when it comes to manipulating the human brain into believing a story, factual or not. With the increasing pace of desensitization of the mind in recent years, obviously new techniques must be made available to entertain an insatiable public. To say that this author's amazing work is only confined within the pages of the book is downwright ludicrous. Everything, including the monikor and real identity of "Timothy Barris" is part of a larger piece of fiction that may be even further exposed as time passes. After this "identity" was unearthed, opposite and even stronger emotional responses were elicited from readers, demonstrated in print on these very pages of Amazon.com. Is it not true that disgust and outrage are also emotions that sub-par authors struggle to touch in their works? "The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams" is such an example of a work of writing and deception that is capable of plucking each string of human emotion in such a way that has never been attempted before. There is a larger picture.
   
   -AK



4. I read this book last year, and was moved by it, though I often found it rather fuzzy on certain details, and the chronology seemed to jump around. Now, I learn this guy is a total FRAUD: He's not Indian and Tommy didn't exist. He's apparently lazy, too: I've read that his descriptions of Navajo culture don't fit with reality, either. This is disgraceful, both his lying about his heritage, and inventing this sick child, as well as the other people he made up. What a waste of time.
   So many literary frauds have been exposed this month (Jan 06). Now, I'm wondering about a few other memoirs that have been popular the last few years. I'm rather disinclined to buy any memoirs these days; and I bet I'm not the only one who feels this way. I bet these scandals hurt sales of this book genre.



5. I haven't read any of "Nasdijj"'s writings, and I don't expect to do so, but as a REAL Amerind (Cherokee), I am disturbed and indignant at Navajos being used as a publicity hook by a white sado-masochist. Don't take my word for it. Read an exhaustive exposé at
   http://www.laweekly.com/index.php option=com_lawcontent&task=view&id=12468&Itemid=47

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 The Rez Road Follies: Canoes, Casinos, Computers, and Birch Bark Baskets.

1. I picked this book up at random while browsing the "Native American studies" shelf at my local book megastore, and I was quickly drawn in, reading it cover-to-cover in a day. Jim Northrop is an Anishinaabe who lives on the Fond du Lac Reservation in Northern Minnesota, and in this book he writes about reservation life, about Native American political issues, and about his own travels and experiences. One of the great strengths of this book is his honesty as a memoirist. While sticking largely to a humorous matter-of-fact tone, he does not shy away from his grief at his son's suicide attempt or his difficulties returning from war in Vietnam. Another strength is the conversational quality of the writing itself. At first it bugged me, short sentences put together into these meandering run-on paragraphs, but after some reading I began to think more of Italian vocal technique, where the tone continues, rising and falling, with words just dotted on the surface. Eventually it felt like I was just hanging out with the guy, listening to his interesting stories. There are times when the writing falls down, for example during an extended series of sports metaphors during a dicussion of racism, or in the rather forced series of kangaroo references when describing a tribal "kangaroo court". But despite these problems I found the writing compelling and accessible. I'm not qualified to analyze the political arguments he sometimes makes, but his perspective on treaty rights, sports mascots, and gambling will certainly stay with me, informing and broadening my thinking when I next encounter these issues in daily life.



2. This book is brutal without being harsh, funny without being lightweight. In a society where everyone (and I do mean everyone) is made to feel guilty for everone else's suffering, this is a breath of fresh air. The problems Northrup faces every day are aired alongside with the joys. For every pain, he offers a happiness.

   And he never says you can't understand. He just offers another way to see his life.




3. What Northrup has to say is as interesting as the way he says it. I really loved his style of writing: chatty, wry, ironic, funny, serious--often at the same time.



4. Don't buy Ian Frazier's book if you want any kind of accurate picture of today's Indians. Buy this one instead - this is the book to get if you want to begin to understand the complexities of being an Indian. The author speaks to both the initiated and the ignorant. It's both a moving and a fun read.



5. I am so happy that he won the 1999 native american journalism award for his editorials, which appear in indian country today , news from inidan country and the circle. this book is wonderful and very funny! the poem he writes about John Wayne visitng Vietnam is a masterpiece and shows " the Duke" for what he really is a wimp and a wuz! get this book it's truly a gem!

5 comments about A Place Beyond: Finding Home in Arctic Alaska.

1. This is a must-read for anyone planning to spend time in Alaska. Jans captures the norms, customs and ways of the people in the Northwest Arctic region. This was one of my very first books when contemplating moving to Alaska. And I recently re-read the books and realized exactly how much I had missed the first time through. It has been almost two years since returning to the Arctic and I cannot believe the everyday life he captures! Read this for all it is worth and extract all you can from his words.



2. My extremely low ranking is not for this book as a stand alone, its in comparison to his first, 'Last Light Breaking', which was a masterpiece. I would equate these two books with Tarantinos two films, 'Pulp Fiction' & 'Jackie Brown', the first also being a masterpiece, but the second leaving you wanting. Not that 'Jackie Brown' or 'A Place Beyond' are wastes of time, its just that compared to what came before, and the fact that they are basically the same subject matter, you expect that level of art and when you dont get it youre dissapointed as I was with this book.

   If youve already read 'Last Light', and still want a good book on the "Alaska Experience", im reading his latest now and let you know how it is when I finish.

   But if you havent read 'Last Light Breaking' and are looking for a book in this genre, waste no time in buying it, its truly an amazing book. ...




3. A Place Beyond didn't disappoint. Jans writing style isbeautiful, simple, and eloquent. There are few authors who can weavethe reader into the story. Through all of Jans adventures, I was right there with him riding shotgun. The most underated and under publicized book(s) about Alaska. A must read!



4. Nick Jans is an extremely gifted writer. I first read one of his essays in the Reader's Digest, and I was so impressed, I just had to read the rest of the book. His straightforward clarity, use of metaphor and intriguing observations make the Alaskan wilderness come to life. I personally would never want to live in Alaska, but I thoroughly enjoyed experiencing a bit of Alaska by reading this book.



5. Nick Jans has done what I did not think he could (would) do - dissapoint. Much of "A Place Beyond" is actually "Last Light Breaking". I was truly let down when I turned to a new chapter, only to discover that it wasn't new! I must say that his writing is superb - vivid, usually modest, captivating. If, however, I wanted a second helping of "Last Light Breaking", I could have simply grabbed my old copy. No matter how good his writing is, if he can't find the time to write enough essays for a new book, then why publish one?!

5 comments about Mabel McKay: Weaving the Dream (Portraits of American Genius, 1).

1. I read this for my book club. It was pretty good, though let's be honest... i have a very low interest in native american culture. It was pretty cool to learn about the transition from back then to modern times, and how the native american indian culture transformed to adapt. Especially here in the northern california area. Worthwhile read with amazing information.



2. Quyanna Mabel, for your story. You found someone to share your life, and I so appreciate sitting there late at night drinking hot tea, after my husband and daughter are asleep, to spend some time with you.
   
   I will reread the book to feel closer to my elders and to feel closer to you. I am so thankful. What a blessing!



3. Mabel McKay, Weaving the Dream is a profound, poetic, and magical journey. I have read it aloud a number of times to savor its depths. If you have any desire to know Native Californians as human beings rather than museum pieces, you may want to start here. The book, which is steeped in the oral tradition inspired me to write the following poem which was published some years back through U.C. Davis.
   
   Mabel McKay (Weaving Poem) (by Norm Milstein, 7/97)
   
   Plumage of a Pomo basket
   Flame of feathers blue and black
   Strung with glistening abalone
   Rimmed with ivory disks of shell.
   
   Read her book slowly or not at all.
   She believed that stories should be heard many times
   To sink in and merge with the heart of the hearer
   To sink like pebbles in the soul of the listener
   To grow like seeds in the earth of our minds.
   
   Read her book slowly or not at all.
   Better still, read it aloud.
   Taste each word and savor the flavor
   Of willow and redbud and sedge.
   
   "I never knew nothing but the spirit," she said.
   "Only the spirit trained me.
   I only follow my Dream. That's how I learn."
   
   Plumage of a Pomo basket
   Flame of feathers blue and black
   Strung with glistening abalone
   Rimmed with ivory disks of shell.
   
   Read her book slowly or not at all.
   She believed that stories should be heard many times
   To sink in and merge with the heart of the hearer
   To sink like pebbles in the soul of the listener
   To grow like seeds in the earth of our minds.
   
   Read her book slowly or not at all.
   Better still, read it aloud.
   Taste each word and savor the flavor
   Of willow and redbud and sedge.
   
   "I never knew nothing but the spirit," she said.
   "Only the spirit trained me.
   I only follow my Dream. That's how I learn."



4. This is just a wonderful piece of writing, one which keeps resonating with me, even several years after first reading it. This book should have more readers, and seeing so few reviews for it, I want to argue for it as a must read on anybody's list. We all know books or speakers, writers and lecturers who could take any subject and make it worthwhile, just to spend time in their company. Greg Sarris is one of those magical presences we can be lucky enough to get to know through the medium of the page. Saying this is not intended to undercut the amazing person of Mabel Mckay, by the way. The way the past present and future weave in and out of this book, her stories, Greg's life, the future of land use in California... all of this is here, an enticing mix of POV's, passed around like a sacred pipe.
   
   A great read....



5. I read this book for an anthropology class that i am taking, and i found it to be very good. We get a first hand account of what role Mable McKay played for the Pomo Indians as a medicine women and as a basket weaver. Everything that she did was for a purpose, even though at times she had to deal with not everyone accepting her. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in Native American ways of life

1 comments about My Road to the Sundance: My Vision Continues.

1. 
   "Writing in a relaxed conversational prose, Twofeathers describes how, at urgings from the spirit world, he began to immerse himself in the yearly Sundance rituals held throughout the West. A modest and likeable narrator, Twofeathers avoids the self-righteous polemics sometimes found in this genre, and while the gorier sections are initially jolting, his aplomb in withstanding pain and coming back for more lends a certain normalcy to this ritual." KIRKUS REVIEWS
   
   "This potentially sensational material is beautifully conveyed, as Twofeathers describes carrying his infant daughter through the agony of one such dance. Unsparingly self-revealing, the book is somehow never confessional but instead the testament of a deeply spiritual man who has found salvation through suffering prayerfully for others." P. Monaghan, BOOKLIST
   
   "This book begins the understanding of what my people have always been about."
   Russell Means, actor, activist, author of Where White Men Fear to Tread
   
   "Manny Twofeathers illuminates an aspect of Native spirituality that has resurged over the past decade. In this moving and personal account, Twofeathers makes this spirituality understandable to people of all races and religious persuasions."
   Wabun Wind, author of The Medicine Wheel and Woman of the Dawn

No comments about Chiwid (Transmontanus series) (Transmontanus, No 2).

5 comments about Ojibwa Warrior: Dennis Banks and the Rise of the American Indian Movement.

1. Dennis Banks has much to answer for before he can call himself a "Warrior" ... He needs to disclose his role, and the role of the AIM leadership, in the kidnapping and murder of Anna Mae Aquash, with whom he had an affair while his wife was with child. Anna Mae is a heroine to those who remember her role in the fight for Indian rights -- especially land rights and the restoration of treaty agreements. She was murdered, according to court testimony, because AIM leadership believed she was an FBI informer, a charge later proved false. Who in the AIM leadership ordered this murder? Who knew? Who could have stopped it? Anyone interested in this period of history knows there are troubling, unanswered questions about whom we hold accountable for this crime. Dennis Banks needs to come forward with full disclosure.



2. Dennis Banks has obviously witnessed the personal sacrifice of following a path in a cause larger than his own self-interest. He and Erdoes have done well in their writing and story telling of the hey day of the American Indian Movement. Such a sad chapter in the history of this nation but I was awe-struck at the tone of optimism in Banks as a person. He truly embodies a level of hope and spiritual regeneration despite his many flaws---as we all have. The price one pays as he has in his life for pursuing a dream is truly remarkable. Great piece of work that deserves every consideration. Now, if only justice would finally roll down like the waves of a might water for Leonard Peltier.



3. America is a very, very, very old place. We were not here first and it is time we give back what is not rightfully ours. The American Indian is the original American and he should be able to do whatever he wants to do in America.
   
   Buy this book and let us free brother Leonard!!!!



4. I purchased this book for an anthropology class and I found it to be
   an interesting read, but not an easy read. The book is written as if the author is actually talking to you so it tends not to be very smooth, however the content is very interesting and enlightening. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in what the Native Americans are really like, how they live, and more importantly how they are treated in their own country.



5. Ojibwa Warrior is an autobiography and first hand account of the formation and rise of the American Indian Movement told by one of its founders, Dennis Banks. Banks' book, Ojibwa Warrior, is a multi-dimensional account of the history of racism and empire in the United States which should be of great interest not only to historians but also to anthropologists, philosophers, ecologists and especially social and environmental activists.
   
   Banks begins the book with one of the most important events of the 20th century - the armed takeover and occupation of Wounded Knee by the American Indian Movement in 1973. Throughout the course of interaction between the Federal government of the United States and the remaining Tribal Reservations, the takeover of Wounded Knee was arguably the most important event of the 20th century. The takeover placed the American Indian Movement and the struggle for Native sovereignty into the national and international spotlight. The takeover of Wounded Knee is a fitting beginning for Banks' book, which is filled with various stories and events that combine into a overarching narrative of uncompromising struggle against oppression and determination to better the lives of Native Americans by any and all means necessary.
   
   From Wounded Knee, which is dealt with in detail towards the end of the book, Banks fades back to his childhood years on the Leech Lake Ojibwa Reservation in Northern Minnesota where he was born in 1937. Banks was born into an economically poor yet culturally rich environment where he and his family lived close to the land and relied on natural foods to supplement their scarce and unhealthful government rations. Dennis tells of the close relationship that he had with his Grandparents, who still spoke the Ojibwa language and continued to practice the spiritual and cultural traditions of their ancestors. Throughout the book, Dennis would reflect back on those happy days often. However, the good times did not last. At the age of six, Dennis and his siblings were forcibly removed from the care of their relations to be placed into State run boarding schools. Banks' experience in this "school" was one that can be described as nothing other than a Government sponsored attempt at cultural genocide.
   
   When Dennis returned to the reservation, he found the situation there to be much worse than when he had left as a child. Although the reservation had always been poor and marginalized, the situation was now much worse - increasing numbers of white folks had encroached into the reservation and the state had forced the Ojibwa nation to take out licenses to hunt traditional foods on their own land. The ability to sustain oneself on the reservation had become nearly impossible and Banks did what many youths from poor and marginalized areas often do in a tragic attempt to better their economic situations - he joined the armed forces. Ironically, rather than making Banks into a mindless soldier for America, his time in the Air Force ended up engendering within him a consciousness of the racist and imperialistic nature of the United States:
   "I had been guarding the ramparts of the American Empire, but now I felt like those Crow and Arikara Indians who, after scouting for Custer and fighting on behalf of the whites, were pitted against their own brothers, the Cheyenne and Lakota. My Japanese family members were called gooks, slopes, and slant-eyes by whites, and those who suffered from these names were people just like me. Was I not a slant-eye, as all American Indians are? The American Air Force, which I had thought of as a friend, turned out to be an enemy" (p.55).
   
   Although his antipathy toward the Air Force had already been established, Banks extended his tour of duty two years to remain in Japan with his new Japanese wife and child. When Banks was reassigned to the States shortly after, he went AWOL in order to remain with his family. However, his freedom did not last for long and he was quickly captured, court-marshaled, jailed and shipped back to the States where he received a dishonorable discharge.
   
   By the mid 1960s, Banks was remarried with children and living in the "Indian Ghetto" section of Minneapolis where he had sunken into despair and alcoholism. In 1966, he was arrested, convicted and sent to prison for two years for stealing groceries to feed his family. During his time in prison he wrote that he had become invigorated by the growing resistance to U.S. empire both inside and outside the country and was especially inspired by groups such as the Weather Underground and the Black Panther Party. When he was released from prison in 1968, he returned to Minneapolis, determined to organize the Indian community to join in the struggle against racism and empire. On July 28, 1968, Banks organized a meeting in the "Indian Ghetto," where over 200 people showed up to discuss how to best empower their local community - during this meeting the American Indian Movement (A.I.M.) was formed.
   
   A.I.M. began with the formation of a local cop-watch program to monitor and intervene in police abuses of the Indian community. As A.I.M. began to grow and achieve successes in its various struggles, native communities around the country began to call upon the group to intervene in their local struggles. A.I.M.'s tactics were confrontational and although they did not seek violence, they were not afraid to use it if they deemed it necessary to achieve their goals. Coupled with their militant organization and tactics, Banks also describes a spiritual foundation based on a synthesis of traditional native ceremony/spiritualism that was very important to the cohesion and morale of the organization. Although A.I.M.'s tactics were modeled after groups such as the Panthers and Weathermen, those groups suffered from a reactionary anti-spiritualism and disconnected consciousness. It is very likely that A.I.M's spiritual foundation was the key element that allowed A.I.M. to achieve many great successes in their struggles as well as to remain as an organized movement while other resistance movements dismantled and faded into oblivion when faced with the violent repression of the U.S. government under the cointelpro program.
   
   A.I.M. achieved many great victories in their struggles, but they also suffered many devastating defeats. Banks describes some of the more notable actions that A.I.M. undertook during the 1970s and early 1980s, including the six day long occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters in Washington D.C., the riot in Custer, South Dakota, which ended in the arson of the County Court House, the three month long armed takeover and occupation of Wounded Knee in South Dakota, and the shoot-out between A.I.M. members and F.B.I. agents at the Jumping Bull ranch on the Pine Ridge reservation. Banks also describes he and Leonard Peltier's time together on the run from a massive national manhunt after the Jumping Bull ranch incident and also writes about the time he spent in California during the 1980s while he lived under an asylum granted him by then Governor Jerry Brown.
   
   The importance of Banks' book cannot be understated. As a primary source document, it will remain as an important reference for present and future historians studying the American Indian Movement and the various groups with which it interacted. The book will also be of great importance for present and future resistance groups who find themselves engaged in struggle against the forces of empire and the repressive apparatus of the United State Government - for these people and groups Ojibwa Warrior will provide much needed insight into the strengths and weaknesses of resistance movements in the United States and the strengths and weaknesses of the various repressive agencies of the U.S. government.

1 comments about Sister to the Sioux: The Memoirs of Elaine Goodale Eastman, 1885-91 (Pioneer Heritage).

1. Mrs. Eastman should be considered a pioneer in more ways than one. She was one of the first educators to teach in the Dakota territory. Mrs. Eastman advocated day schools which allowed the native children to remain with their families (a concept which was strongly discouraged by the church boarding schools of the time), she took the time to learn the D/Lakota language and conversed in it, and she lived within the community (as opposed setting herself against it). Mrs. Eastman worked many years while she was a single person (which was quite unusual). She also reported with accuracy what was really occuring on the reservations (often upsetting those in charge-including government and church officials).

   Among many things within this book, one can learn about: what works and does not work when teaching individuals whose first language is not English, the Native Americans of the Dakotas, a Feminist before her time, and the account of The Wounded Knee Massacre from someone who tended the few left alive.

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. 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.



2. 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.



3. 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.



4. I recommend reading this book if you are interested in the rituals and culture of the Lakota. It provides clear and interesting discussions of major rituals that form important components of their way of life. The material is drawn largely from interviews with Black Elk, and the writing really explains significance of important details in the various practices. The book also provides a good basis for understanding how the cultural practices fit into Lakota history. This book is also a fine one to read in relation to "Black Elk Speaks," "The 6th Grandfather," and "When the Tree Flowered."



5. Joseph Epes Brown was fortunate in meeting men who possessed great human and spiritual qualities, especially Black Elk who had a unique quality of power, kindliness and sense of mission. Born in 1862, Black Elk grew up when his people had the freedom of the plains, hunted bison; he fought at Little Bighorn and at Wounded Knee Creek and knew Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Red Cloud, and American Horse. He traveled with Buffalo Bill to Italy, France and England. During his youth Black Elk was instructed in the sacred love of his people by Whirlwind Chaser, Black Road and Elk Head from whom he learned the history and deep meanings of his people's spiritual heritage. Through prayer, fasting and deep understanding of his heritage, Black Elk became a wise man, receiving visions and acquiring special powers to be used for the good of his nation. Because of his sense of mission Black Elk wanted this book to be written so that the reader could gain a better understanding of the truths of the Indian traditions.

   In his foreword Black Elk tells us: "There is much talk of peace among the Christians, yet this is just talk. Perhaps it may be, and this is my prayer, through our sacred pipe, and through this book in which I shall explain what our pipe really is, peace may come to those people who can understand, an 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."

   The wisdom of the Indians is based on such concepts as "The Earth is your Grandmother and Mother, and She is sacred. Every step that is taken upon her should be as a prayer" and "Every dawn as it comes is a holy event, every day is holy." The Indians developed their own religion based on the gift of the sacred pipe given by a very beautiful woman who approached two Lakota Indians out hunting. One of them had bad intentions and he and the mysterious woman were wrapped in a cloud. When the cloud lifted the sacred woman was standing there and at her feet was the man who was nothing but bones and terrible snakes were eating him. Black Elk interpreted this as an eternal truth: "Any man who is attached to the senses and to the things of this world, is one who lives in ignorance and is being consumed by snakes which represent his own passions." The mysterious woman presented the tribe with a pipe and stone, explaining the significance of the gift. On her departure she said to the Standing Hollow Horn: "Behold this pipe! Always remember how sacred it is, and treat it as such, for it will take you to the end. Remember, in me there are four ages. I am leaving now, but I shall look back upon your people in every age, and at the end I shall return." These four ages find a parallel in the Hindu tradition during which true spirituality becomes increasingly obscured until the cycle closes with catastrophe, after which the primordial spirituality is restored and the cycle begins once again.

   Through the rite of the keeping of the soul, the Indians purified the souls of the dead and increased love for one another. This rite is followed by the rite of purification, known to us as the sacred lodge. The ritual of "Crying for a Vision" was used long before the coming of the sacred pipe. Crazy Horse received most of his power through "lamenting" or crying for a vision for some great event or ordeal such as going on the war path. "But perhaps the most important reason for 'lamenting' is that it helps us to realize our oneness with all things, to know that all things are our relatives; and then in behalf of all things we pray to Wakan-Tanka that He may give to us knowledge of Him who is the source of all things, yet greater than all things." Chapters are devoted to the Sun dance - one of the greatest rites; to "The making of Relatives" reflecting the relationship between man and Wakan-Tanka; preparing a girl for womanhood; and the rite of "The Throwing of the ball." Through these ceremonies we learn how the Sioux have come to terms with God, nature and their fellow man.

   If you question the superiority and validity of the goals of western society; if you are conducting a self-examination; if you are re-evaluating the premises and orientations of our society; if you are concerned about our environmental crisis; if you are concerned about the problems created by highly developed technology; if you are questioning our basic values concerning life, nature and the destiny of man; if you are open to look at the models represented by the American Indians; if you want talk about peace to become action about peace you will find something of value in this book.