Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West

Book Description

Praise for Blood and Thunder

“Kit Carson’s role in the conquest of the Navajo during and after the Civil War remains one of the most dramatic and significant episodes in the history of the American West. Hampton Sides portrays Carson in the larger context of the conquest of the entire West, including his frequent and often lethal encounters with hostile Native Americans. Unusually, Sides gives full voice to Indian leaders themselves about their trials and tribulations in their dealings with the whites. Here is a national hero on the level of Daniel Boone, presented with all of his flaws and virtues, in the context of American people’s belief that it was their Manifest Destiny to occupy the entire West.”

—Howard Lamar, Sterling Professor Emeritus of History, Yale University and editor of The New Encyclopedia of the American West

“The story of the American West has seldom been told with such intimacy and immediacy. Legendary figures like Kit Carson leap to life and history moves at a pulse-pounding pace—sweeping the reader along with it. Hampton Sides is a terrific storyteller.”

—Candice Millard, author of The River of Doubt

“Hampton Sides doesn't just write a book, he transports the reader to another time and place. With his keen sense of drama and his crackling writing style, this master storyteller has bequeathed us a majestic history of the Old West.”

—James Bradley, author of Flags of Our Fathers and Flyboys

“Blood and Thunder is a big-hearted book whose subject is as expansive as they come. Hampton Sides tackles it with naked pleasure and narrative cunning: In his telling, the vast saga of America’s westward push has a logical center. The dusty town of Santa Fe becomes the nexus around which swirl the fortunes and strategies of a mixed set of serious overachievers, from Kit Carson, the original mountain man, to James K. Polk, the enigmatic president whose achievements, in the dreaded name of Manifest Destiny, were almost biblical in scope. Sides is alive to the exuberance and alert to the tragedy of the taking of the West.”

—Russell Shorto, author of Island at the Center of the World

“For a huge percentage of us immigrant Americans (those whose ancestors arrived after 1492), Hampton Sides fills a gaping hole in our knowledge of American history—a vivid account of how ‘The New Men’ swept away the thriving civilizations of the Native Americans in their conquest of the West.”

—Tony Hillerman

"BLOOD AND THUNDER is a balanced, thoughtful summary of the American conquistadors in the 19th century Southwest. Hampton Sides has re-created violent events and such inflammatory figures as Kit Carson without bias. Carefully researched, thoroughly enjoyable."

-Evan S. Connell, author of SON OF THE MORNING STAR, CUSTER AND THE LITTLE BIGHORN

A Magnificent History of How the West Was Really Won—a Sweeping Tale of Shame and Glory

In the fall of 1846 the venerable Navajo warrior Narbona, greatest of his people’s chieftains, looked down upon the small town of Santa Fe, the stronghold of the Mexican settlers he had been fighting his whole long life. He had come to see if the rumors were true—if an army of blue-suited soldiers had swept in from the East and utterly defeated his ancestral enemies. As Narbona gazed down on the battlements and cannons of a mighty fort the invaders had built, he realized his foes had been vanquished—but what did the arrival of these “New Men” portend for the Navajo?

Narbona could not have known that “The Army of the West,” in the midst of the longest march in American military history, was merely the vanguard of an inexorable tide fueled by a self-righteous ideology now known as “Manifest Destiny.” For twenty years the Navajo, elusive lords of a huge swath of mountainous desert and pasturelands, would ferociously resist the flood of soldiers and settlers who wished to change their ancient way of life or destroy them.

Hampton Sides’s extraordinary book brings the history of the American conquest of the West to ringing life. It is a tale with many heroes and villains, but as is found in the best history, the same person might be both. At the center of it all stands the remarkable figure of Kit Carson—the legendary trapper, scout, and soldier who embodies all the contradictions and ambiguities of the American experience in the West. Brave and clever, beloved by his contemporaries, Carson was an illiterate mountain man who twice married Indian women and understood and respected the tribes better than any other American alive. Yet he was also a cold-blooded killer who willingly followed orders tantamount to massacre. Carson’s almost unimaginable exploits made him a household name when they were written up in pulp novels known as “blood-and-thunders,” but now that name is a bitter curse for contemporary Navajo, who cannot forget his role in the travails of their ancestors.

Customer Reviews:

Fremont's Reputation.......2007-10-14

This is an excellent book except for the Fremont-bashing that seems to be fashionable. It is especially distressing that the material about Fremont came from a non-historical work with no scholarly background entitled "A Newer World". The author would have been better advised to supply his own supporting references. That is enough of a reason to knock off a star.

one of the best.......2007-10-13

If you have any interest in American History please read this book. We read the entire book outloud, quite an undertaking, so I'm glad to see that is available as an audiobook. The writing is riveting, the bibliography reassuring, the story enlightening. This book is a springboard into the conquest of the Western United States and will give you new eyes if and when traveling through these areas. Read the book.

Thoroughly engrossing biography of Kit Carson.......2007-10-12

This is an excellent biography of a famous American pioneer--Kit Carson. What sets it apart is its humane treatment of a complex figure. Carson appears to have been the "real deal," not a manufactured hero.

The book proceeds by interweaving several story lines, which can be somewhat confusing at times but, in the end, this serves the author well. Among the story lines--Kit Carson's exploits, the Navajo leader Narbona's story, General Stephen Kearney's episodes, and so on.

Kit Carson's role--from trapper to hunter to scout to military officer--is the glue that holds this book together. In the process, the reader learns a great deal about the events of the 1830s through 1860s that transformed the United States. The Mexican War dramatically expanded the size of the country; the American conflicts with the Indian nations opened new territories for settlement and economic development; the Civil War ended slavery (although, ironically, perhaps not in the southwest, as Native Americans sometimes served a similar role after the Civil War); the West was opened for development.

What humanizes this book is the treatment of Carson. He was sometimes mercurial (with an occasional burst of temper); he was a person of action, and he sometimes was cruel and brutal; he was also a person of honor; he had a perception of the larger picture in the West, and could see that white aggression was the real problem--not marauding Indians.

On a personal note, the book traces Carson's family lives (he had at least two real families, one with a native American wife), his struggle to be a good husband and father while he was off on one adventure or another most of his life.

This is a strong biography which is set in a larger context. It is well worth looking at.

Reads almost like a novel!.......2007-10-12

I first encountered this book when I heard the author speak at our local bookstore. I am a history lover and wanted to know if this man could pull of another interesting book on American History. I had a copy of the book ready and took copious notes on the blank pages in the back. The author was fascinating to listen to.

Since then, I have read the book thoroughly and found it read almost like a novel. Each chapter led you to want to read on.

I have purchased copies as gifts for friends and even gave a copy to my American Indian History professor and he was enthralled.

Good work. Loved it. You will, too.

Blood and Thunder.......2007-10-09

This is a highly readable and comprehensive account of the adult life and times of Kit Carson and the people/places he touched. It's not a biography, but a series of vignettes documenting his involvement in a variety of professions -- from mountain man to military man -- as the needs of the West evolved. There's a great deal of information about Carson's contemporaries as well. I read the book with a map of New Mexico at hand to more closely identify the places mentioned. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Western history, including the several battles of the Civil War fought in New Mexico.

Ancient Puebloan Southwest (Case Studies in Early Societies)

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The "Old Ones" -- from Origins to Spaniards

Ancient Puebloan Southwest (Case Studies in Early Societies)
John Kantner
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

ASIN: 0521788803

Book Description

John Kantner traces the evolution of Pueblo society in the American Southwest from the emergence of the Chaco and Mimbres in the AD 1000s through the early decades of contact with the Spanish in the sixteenth century. Based on a diverse range of archaeological data, historical accounts, oral history and ethnographic records, this introduction for students of the Pueblo Southwest is vital reading for any archaeologist concerned with the origins of early civilizations.

Customer Reviews:

The "Old Ones" -- from Origins to Spaniards .......2007-10-10

Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon, and Wuptaki are three of the best known of the Indian ruins that dot the landscape in the high desert country of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah. To this day it is difficult to comprehend how these Indians thrived in a region of short hot summers, little rain, and poor soil -- and not only fed themselves but left behind spectacular monumental buildings. Adding to the mystery is their sudden abandonment of their major sites in the 1100s and 1200s.

The author surveys the knowledge and theories about the ancient peoples who became the modern day Pueblo Indians. He follows the development of the Anasazi and Mogollon traditions from their beginnings thousands of years ago until the 1700s, after the arrival of the Spaniards. The book is illustrated with more than 100 photos, maps, and charts and 25 sidebars that take up interesting topics such as cannibalism, construction methods, domestic animals, ballcourts, burials, and leadership. The emphasis is on thoroughness as the author briefly describes the findings and gives a hearing to the theories of hundreds of archaeologists and other scholars. The bibliography runs to more than 30 pages.

There is much of environmental determinism here for in the climate of the Southwest small changes in the weather made all the difference in the lives of the inhabitants. Scholars have meticulously reconstructed temperature and precipitation records for the last 2,000 years and the author attempts to correlate the rise and fall of Indian cultures with precipitation and temperature averages.

"Ancient Puebloan Southwest" is probably a bit too dense for the casual reader, but offers those interested in archaeology and the Southwest a thorough and up-to-date account of the Anasazi the Mogollon and the proto-historic Zuni, Hopi, and Rio Grande Pueblos.

Smallchief

Totems to Turquoise: Native North American Jewelry Arts of the Northwest and Southwest

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A truly well-rounded treasury

Totems to Turquoise: Native North American Jewelry Arts of the Northwest and Southwest
Kari Chalker
Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0810955938

Book Description

The works of contemporary Native artists from the Northwest Coast and desert Southwest regions of North America are enormously popular today, especially in the realm of jewelry. This handsome book-and the traveling exhibition it accompanies-explores how the cultures from each region continue to communicate beliefs and traditions through visual adornment, and examines the cross-cultural influences between the peoples of these very different areas.

The core of the book consists of personal statements by 39 artists, who discuss their lives, their beliefs, and their approach to art- and jewelry-making. Lavish illustrations, both historical images and new photographs by noted photographer Togashi, bring the subject to life, while supporting texts by general editor Kari Chalker, curators Lois Sherr Dubin and Peter M. Whiteley, Haida artist Jim Hart, and anthropologist Martine Reid provide background and insight. Totems to Turquoise will be an important resource for students, scholars, and designers, as well as anyone who loves beautiful and well-made objects. AUTHOR BIO: Kari Chalker is an anthropological writer, researcher, and editor. She was formerly assistant director of cultural explorations at the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in Cortez, Colorado. Lois Sherr Dubin is a noted authority on beads and jewelry and the author of Abrams' History of Beads and North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment. Peter M. Whiteley is curator of North American ethnology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Dubin and Whiteley are the curators of "Totems to Turquoise."

Customer Reviews:

A truly well-rounded treasury.......2005-02-08

Totems To Turquoise: Native North American Jewelry Arts Of The Northwest And Southwest is a lavish artbook filled cover-to-cover with full-color photographs not only of beautiful Native American jewelry, but also portraits of the individual artists crafters who create it. Brief descriptions of each piece and broader essays enlighten the reader as to how and why these visually stunning articles were created, and the symbolism underlying their design. Many pieces feature short commentaries by the creators themselves. A truly well-rounded treasury and a welcome addition to contemporary Native American art shelves.

Coyote: A Trickster Tale from the American Southwest

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Coyote wants to fly!
Coyote: A Trickster Tale from the American Southwest
A great book about a funny coyote!

Coyote: A Trickster Tale from the American Southwest
Gerald McDermott
Manufacturer: Voyager Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0152019588

Book Description

Wherever Coyote goes you can be sure he’ll find trouble. Now he wants to sing, dance, and fly like the crows, so he begs them to teach him how. The crows agree but soon tire of Coyote’s bragging and boasting. They decide to teach the great trickster a lesson. This time, Coyote has found real trouble!

Customer Reviews:

Coyote wants to fly!.......2006-10-21

My son ([...] years old) enjoys a lot this funny story about the silliness of the coyote and the tricky birds. We read it often and have a little song for the dancing of the craws.
The design makes it easy for children eyes to understand the story without words.
Another lovely book from Gerald McDermott, but not as good as Zomo The Rabbit or Papagayo. These are really great!!

Coyote: A Trickster Tale from the American Southwest.......2006-01-15

This was a fair tale children seemed to follow the story better but did not want to hear this book again and again,I was disappointed.

A great book about a funny coyote!.......2000-03-30

I like it because when the Coyote meets some birds he wants to fly with, all the birds give him one of their right feathers, but he didn't balance. So they each gave him left feathers, but he still didn't balance. And the reason he didn't balance was because he needed one left feather and one right feather. - AMD, Age 7.

Captives and Cousins: Slavery, Kinship, and Community in the Southwest Borderlands

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Informative and thought-provoking

Captives and Cousins: Slavery, Kinship, and Community in the Southwest Borderlands
James F. Brooks
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0807853828
Release Date: 2001-12-04

Book Description

This sweeping, richly evocative study examines the origins and legacies of a flourishing captive exchange economy within and among native American and Euramerican communities throughout the Southwest Borderlands from the Spanish colonial era to the end of the nineteenth century.

Indigenous and colonial traditions of capture, servitude, and kinship met and meshed in the borderlands, forming a "slave system" in which victims symbolized social wealth, performed services for their masters, and produced material goods under the threat of violence. Slave and livestock raiding and trading among Apaches, Comanches, Kiowas, Navajos, Utes, and Spaniards provided labor resources, redistributed wealth, and fostered kin connections that integrated disparate and antagonistic groups even as these practices renewed cycles of violence and warfare.

Always attentive to the corrosive effects of the "slave trade" on Indian and colonial societies, the book also explores slavery's centrality in intercultural trade, alliances, and "communities of interest" among groups often antagonistic to Spanish, Mexican, and American modernizing strategies. The extension of the moral and military campaigns of the American Civil War to the Southwest in a regional "war against slavery" brought differing forms of social stability but cost local communities much of their economic vitality and cultural flexibility.

Customer Reviews:

Informative and thought-provoking.......2003-06-24

It would be foolish to give a book that won three prestigious professional awards (the Bancroft, Turner, and Parkman prizes) all in one year anything less than five stars, but the stars I have given this book can only hint at its remarkable contents. Captives and Cousins is based on prodigious research in original sources, and the research is wedded to a compelling and innovative analysis.
Brooks is not the first historian to show that the practice of taking captives and subjecting them to involuntary servitude was widespread in the American Southwest, but I don't think that anyone else has demonstrated so convincingly how deep and wide the cycle of capture and slavery was. Virtually all of the peoples who lived in and around New Mexico in the three centuries following the Spanish entrada (Native Americans and Europeans alike) took captives and engaged to one degree or another in the slave trade. Indians preyed on Spanish and Mexicans, and on themselves, and the Spanish and Mexicans returned the favor. To a degree, even Americans played a role in the trade after they became the controlling force in the region. They offered rewards for the return of captives and thus provided incentives for further captures. Brooks shows that the system of capture and slavery contributed in significant ways to the political, economic, and cultural development of the Southwest, providing a ready source of labor (and wives), knitting disparate peoples into webs of kinship (some biological, some adoptive, some deriving from Catholic godparenthood), helping to equalize wealth, and provoking endless cycles of revenge and retaliation. The system (a kind of "war of all against all") had its own logic, though the logic was crude and in many respects cruel.
Brooks does not saddle Europeans with all of the blame for the system. He makes it clear that capture and enslavement were practiced before the Spanish first arrived in the Southwest. But they participated in it and added refinements derived from their own Iberian traditions. In one sense, the book helps to challenge the myth of Indians as indigenous peoples "operating within subsistence-and-exchange economies that produced little intergroup conflict." Conflict there was, and in spades.
Brooks is an academic, and the book is addressed primarily to his fellow academics. General readers will find the text too dense for easy reading. I found some parts of the book slow going, but I persisted and, in the end, was glad I did. Captives and Cousins not only informed me; it made me think.

Fine Indian Jewelry of the Southwest: The Millicent Rogers Museum Collection

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Excellent Reference Book on Southwest Indian Jewelry
must-have book for Southwest Indian Jewelry coll;ectors
GOOD SERVICE
A recommended addition to personal, academic, and community library Native American Studies reference collections

Fine Indian Jewelry of the Southwest: The Millicent Rogers Museum Collection
Shelby Jo-anne Tisdale
Manufacturer: Museum of New Mexico Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0890134820

Book Description

The book presents the jewelry colection through its founding collector Millicent Rogers, bringing to life the Taos she discovered in the late 1940s and showcasing the authentic, classic-era jewerly that she collected when Fred Harvey and others were popularizing Indian-made tourist pieces.

This lavishly illustrated book serves as a solid overview of southwest Indian jewelry from prehistory to present.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Reference Book on Southwest Indian Jewelry.......2007-05-31

If you like Indian Jewelry but can't get to the museum in Taos this is a great first book on the subject. If you do go to the Millicent Rodgers Museum, this is the book to help you savor that grand experience for many years to come. And it's a great reference work if you are contemplating investing in Zuni or Navajo jewelry.

Wilford's Trading Post
Gallup, New Mexico

must-have book for Southwest Indian Jewelry coll;ectors.......2007-03-14

This is a glorious book of Southwest Indian Jewelry with interesting info on Millicent Rogers, who herself was a work of art.

A must-have for collectors of Southwest Indian Jewelry.

GOOD SERVICE.......2007-02-07

I HAVE ORDERED SEVERAL BOOKS FROM AMAZON AND THEY ARE EXPEDIENT AND HAVE A GOOD BOOKS AT A GREAT PRICE. AVAILABILITY GREAT. I WILL CONTINUE TO DO BUSINESS WITH AMAZON AND THEIR SERVICE. THANK YOU, BECKY DYER

A recommended addition to personal, academic, and community library Native American Studies reference collections.......2006-08-07

Painstakingly compiled and with an expert, knowledgeable commentary by Shelby J. Tisdale, Fine Indian Jewelry Of The Southwest: The Millicent Rogers Museum Collection offers an impressively informative history and survey of the southwestern Native American jewelry that is represented in the collection of the Millicent Rogers Museum as the result of art patron and passionate collector Millicent Rogers who assembled a spectacular collection of Navajo and Zuni silver and turquoise, Hopi silverwork, and Pueblo stone and shell jewelry during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Of special interest is the chapter devoted to "The Origins of Indian Jewelry in the Southwest". Profusely illustrated and a very strongly recommended addition to personal, academic, and community library Native American Studies reference collections, Fine Indian Jewelry Of The Southwest is enhanced for scholars and non-specialist general readers alike with the inclusion of a glossary, references, and an index.

Average customer rating:

A Favorite...............
very good information. and good for research.
The one book on American Indian jewelery you must own.

Southwestern Indian Jewelry
Dexter Cirillo
Manufacturer: Abbeville Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1558592822

Customer Reviews:

A Favorite......................2007-01-14

I wanted this book for some time. I must say, I love it and don't know why I did not buy it sooner. An all time favorite of mine for sure.

very good information. and good for research........2001-10-20

Hi I bouhgt Southwestern Indian Jewelry and it arrived with no plastic wrap and the jacket was damaged. Please let me know how to go about exchanging it for another in perfect condition. I am a collector and condition is important. Thank You, Joe Garcia.

The one book on American Indian jewelery you must own........1999-08-16

As a collector of Indian art, jewelery, pottery and rugs, I had the wonderful good fortune to know and consider the Hopi Master jeweler Charles Loloma my friend.

Finding a book on American Indian jewelery was almost impossible to come by until this great book by Dexter came out in 1992. The artists, their work in magnificent color will move anyone to want to own some of this jewelry.

From it's beginings late in the 19th century jewelery was the Indian method of carrying their wealth around in the form of necklaces, braclets etc, Indian jewery was mainly of two schools. Most prominent was the Navajo and the other Zuni.

Book Description

The Spanish Slavers were an ever-present threat to the Navaho way of life. One lovely spring day, fourteen-year-old Bright Morning and her friend Running Bird took their sheep to pasture. The sky was clear blue against the red buttes of the Canyon de Chelly, and the fields and orchards of the Navahos promised a rich harvest. Bright Morning was happy as she gazed across the beautiful valley that was the home of her tribe. She turned when Black Dog barked, and it was then that she saw the Spanish slavers riding straight toward her.

Customer Reviews:

Review of Sing Down.......2007-04-15

Sing down the moon is a book for ages about 11-13.
The main character is a girl named Bright morning, and she's a Navajo Indian. She gets kid-napped by the Spaniards.
When she gets back, she has this ceremony of becoming a woman.
After her tribe has a march, in the march they walked a lot and a lot of people got sick and died. Some people had hope and some people thought it was going to be the end.
During the march Bright Morning and Tall Boy got married.
It's a historical fiction story, and if you like historical fiction... I suggest you read it.
There were parts in the book which I think were not so good and I didn't really like it, but there were parts that were fine and pretty interesting.

Native Americans Fell to European Invaders.......2007-03-04

Before Columbus, the only encounter Americans had with a European was in 888 A.D. when the Maya were visited by Kash-Kash of Qurtabah (Cordoba). The Iberian Muslim was well treated by his American hosts and returned to Iberia with a ship full of gold - a famous legend well familiar to Columbus 500 years later. Unfortunately, Kash-Kash had unwittingly left behind smallpox and the Mayans had to flee their infected city, which remained deserted for 200 years.

When Columbus arrived 500 years after Kash-Kash, he too brought smallpox along with steel bayonets and firearms. Small pox aside, even the most advanced American communities were no match for the technology of the boat people, who came from Spain, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, and England. The boat people fought amongst themselves for the privilege of waging war on the indigenous communites of America. Into the peaceful world of America came the murderous Europeans - the worst being the genocidal Protestant Anglos who, unlike the Catholics, did not consider Americans to be people and therefore seldom took them for spouses.

This short story about the fictional character Bright Morning and her eventual husband Tall Boy covers two years in the actual history of the Navaho Americans from 1863 to 1865. This was also the time of War Between the Yankee States, when the Yanks of the North fought against the Yanks of the South (the Yanks of the South called themselves Confederates). While the Yankee boat people fought between themselves, the Northern Yanks sent some of their army to remove Americans from their land - something they have always done but began in earnest during the 1820s with their leader Andy Jackson who forced the Cherokee Americans to walk to Oklahoma. Now, in 1864, Kit Carson was forcing Americans to leave their property and walk to Fort Sumter. The Americans, who have been doing Homeland Security since 1492 with little success, were unable to resist the Yanks save Geronimo and his cadre of 100 Homeland Security officers for a period of ten years (during that time they killed 7,000 invaders, which is 70 each).

In this tale, the two major characters manage to escape and return to their property, hiding in a canyon with their sheep. A tragic and emotionally unsettling story based on true events, what happened to the Americans at the hands of the Yanks is no different than what happened to the Indians in the 1940s at the hands of the Brits during the partition of India, or to the Palestinians at the hands of the boat people from Europe - it continues to echo today in Iraq, where 3,000 civilians flee each day.

My first book review and it's a good one!.......2006-09-15

The character that I like the most was Bright Morning. She is the main character. Her job is to take the flock of sheep to the aspen grove so they can eat. I think she was really brave because she did something nobody else in her tribe ever did before.

I think this is an excellent book to read and I think my friends will enjoy reading it because there are lots of surprises and it is never boring! I don't have a favorite part because I enjoyed reading the whole entire book. My name is Tori and I am 9 years old.

The Navaho Trail of Tears.......2006-05-14

One morning, while Navaho fourteen year old Bright Morning and her friend Running Bird are out in the fields of their home, Canyon de Chelly, tending sheep, they see strange men approaching. Before they can stop it, Bright Morning is kidnapped by the men, who turn out to be Spanish Slave-holders, and take her to a South-Western town, dominantly Mexican. She is sold as a slave to a Spanish speaking family, where she meets another slave, who can speak her language. Bright Morning tries desperately to find a way to get back to her people. The other slave imprisoned with her tells her the way, and Bright Morning is able to make a narrow escape back to her people. But when she returns, she finds her village under occupation of the "Long Knives", or American soldiers. After she is forsed into an arranged marriage with another Indian, Tall Boy, the Long Knives push the Navaho out of their land- and onto one of the most memorable events in American history- the Trail of Tears. Many all around her suffer and eventually die as they continue to walk on.
A very well written story, and very informative.

A review for Sing down the Moon.......2006-01-18

Sing down the moon was not such a bad book.
I mean Sing down the Moon is like a rollercoaster
some times it's good and some times it's not.

but it does take a good Auther to write a rollercoaster
book. I admire Scott O'dell the person who wrote this. Ok back to the book.
The good parts are when theres alot of action. the bad parts are
when it's dull.

I would want to tell you the bad parts and the good parts
but i don't want to spoil a really good book. So you read it and tel me if I'm correct. So until i see you by by.

Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations: Native American Recipies

Average customer rating:

Perfect.
Indians Nations Foods is Outstanding
Fantastic!
Beautiful Photographs and Fabulous Recipes!
Wonderful Work!

Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations: Native American Recipies
Lois Ellen Frank
Manufacturer: TEN SPEED PRESS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1580083986

Book Description

In this gloriously photographed book, renowned photographer and Native American-food expert Lois Ellen Frank, herself part Kiowa, presents more than 80 recipes that are rich in natural flavors and perfectly in tune with today's healthy eating habits. Frank spent four years visiting reservations in the Southwest, documenting time-honored techniques and recipes. With the help of culinary advisor and Navajo Nation tribesman Walter Whitewater, a chef in Santa Fe, Frank has adapted the traditional recipes to modern palates and kitchens. Inside you'll find such dishes as Stuffed Tempura Chiles with Fiery Bean Sauce, Zuni Sunflower Cakes, and Prickly Pear Ice. With its wealth of information, this book makes it easy to prepare and celebrate authentic Native American cooking.

Customer Reviews:

Perfect........2006-05-13

Beautiful in every way. Outstanding and much appreciated photos. Wonderful commentary. Authentic recipes.

The author should be very proud of this fine accomplishment and this book should be in every public library. In fact, I may send a copy to a politician to remind him that we all immigrated here from someone else- except the Native Americans. They should be the only ones who have the right to decide our immigration policy.

Indians Nations Foods is Outstanding.......2005-06-13

This book is practical and beautiful and takes a totally modern approach to historic cooking. One of the finest cookbooks ever published and one of the most beautifully printed books ever done. It is no wonder it got a James Beard award. It is a treasure to own and is a delgihtful gift. I live in the Southwest, I am a cook, and I love this book.

Fantastic!.......2003-10-12

From the beautiful cover to the very last page, the vibrant and enticing photographs lure you into cooking each and every delicious recipe. Lois Ellen Frank has made a current masterpiece of an ancient tradition native to our continent. This is truly a fantastic cookbook.

Beautiful Photographs and Fabulous Recipes!.......2003-10-03

I ordered 150 of these magnificent cookbooks for a large group of corporate meeting attendees and everyone loved them! I have never received more compliments on a meeting attendee gift. Ms. Frank does an incredible job of enlightening her readers on the cultures and culinary expertise of Native Americans. The photographs are so remarkable that you feel her dish sitting right in front of you. Not only did our group receive this most extraordinary cookbook, but Lois Ellen Frank and Walter Whitewater came to our event in Santa Fe and personalized every single cookbook for all 150 people! Ms. Frank was gracious enough to give personal attention to every individual and share stories of the successes of her cookbook. I could never have asked for a more successful event, thanks to the magnificent work of a culinary genius! Thank you Lois!

Wonderful Work!.......2003-05-27

Lois Ellen Frank conveys great passion for Native American culture in this book. An obviously well deserved win of the James Beard award. A wonderfuly delicious, colorful and informative writing on American Indian Foods!

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