Book Description
Rich with storytelling, history, and folklore, The Lakota Way expresses the heart of Native American philosophy and imparts the path to a fulfilling and meaningful life. Joseph Marshall is a member of the Sicunga Lakota Sioux and has dedicated his entire life to the wisdom he learned from his elders. Here he focuses on the twelve core qualities that are crucial to the Lakota way of living-bravery, fortitude, generosity, wisdom, respect, honor, perseverance, love, humility, sacrifice, truth, and compassion. Whether teaching a lesson on respect imparted by the mythical Deer Woman or the humility embodied by the legendary Lakota leader Crazy Horse, The Lakota Way offers a fresh outlook on spirituality and ethical living.
Customer Reviews:
pleasant surprise.......2007-09-26
I bought this book at a store in Oklahoma City and it was wrapped in packaging. I had already read three of Marshall's books but when I unwrapped it after buying it, my first reaction was it was a mistake to buy it. It was not what I was expecting. Much to my pleasant surprise, I thoroughly enjoyed Marshall's story telling.
I highly recommend anything he writes. I am currently reading his book on Crazy Horse and it is excellent. His book, "Walking with Grandfather" is outstanding.
Marshall is certainly one of the Elders of his tradition and is an accomplished writer and historian. His works are a must read.
Worth Sharing.......2007-08-25
This book can change you if you are open to it. It made me rethink a few assumptions I had about myself. I think all of us know the dictionary definition of virtues such as generosity and wisdom, but Marshall shares stories and personal insights that teach how to weave those qualities into the fabric of your life. This book is warm-hearted and inspiring. Its organization is well suited for discussion groups. The Lakota Way should be the way of our leaders, neighbors, family members and our hearts.
Re-Read this book.......2006-06-28
The wealth of virtues discussed in this book through the legends of the Lakota tribe are presented in a way that is both entertaining and thought-provoking. A wonderful book that is enjoyable to read, and educational as well. This book now sits on my top shelf, with the few other books that I re-read regularly. This is a place of honor, and speaks to the greatness of Mr. Joseph M. Marshall's explanation of the traditional legends, and their connection to modern life. You don't have to be a Native American to enjoy this book. Read it, and re-read it. See how your personality and character develops into something you never would have imagined!
My review.......2006-03-16
Essential reading for people who practice this spirituality.The author is a great story teller.
Great Book!.......2005-12-20
I live near and work on a reservation in SD. I wanted to read this book to understand the viewpionts my Native American friends better. The way Marshall is able to explain the virtues from a historical, traditional perspective and relate them to modern day is wonderful and easily understood. This is a great book!
Book Description
This is the fourth in a planned five-volume series that seeks to tell the saga of the military struggle for the American West, using the words of the soldiers, noncombatants, and Native Americans who shaped it. To paint as broad and colorful a picture as possible, riveting firsthand materials have been carefully selected from contemporaneous newspapers, magazines, and unpublished manuscripts. This volume offers as complete a selection of original accounts of the Northern Plains campaigns as can be assembled under one cover. Includes articles by such notable figures as George Custer, Philip Sheridan, Nelson A. Miles, and artist Frederic Remington. Covers the Powder River Expedition of 1865, the Yellowstone Expedition of 1873, Custer's Last Stand, Wounded Knee, and much more.
Customer Reviews:
The Long War for the Northern Plains.......2005-08-15
An excellent review in written and oral reports of dealing with the various Indian tribes. The motives of each of the combatants reveals an insight into what went wrong by the U.S. Government.
AN INTERESTING SELECTION OF PRIMARY SOURCE MATERIAL.......2004-10-09
I have all the volumes in this series but I imagine this is the one most students of the Indian Wars have been waiting for as it covers the Great Sioux War that includes, of course, the Little Big Horn battle. Since Amazon hasn't posted its Look Inside This Book feature for this, at least not as of this writing, I will try to summarize some of the contents. Prior to the 1876 campaign portion of the book, there are some very interesting first-hand accounts of Conner's Powder River campaign of 1865, events that receive scant attention in many books on the Indian Wars. The section on Red Cloud's War is next and is longer in content.
The Yellowstone Expedition includes accounts by Custer, Ellis, Braden and Barrows. The Braden account serves as a good example of the type material the reader finds here--I have read that before but only after getting a copy from the Military History Institute in Carlisle, PA.--in other words, much of what appears here is from things like the Cavalry Journal, Winners of the West, old newspapers, archival holdings, etc. until now, unavailable in book form. The Black Hills Expedition section follows with, again, accounts by Custer, Ludlow which are in print elsewhere but a short one from William Wood out of the North Dakota Archives, which isn't
Custer Battle includes Charles King from Harper's, Goldin from the Army Magazine, another one from Goldin but on Terry and Crook(no shortage of him in other sources), short account from Godfrey, Charles Eastman summarizing Indian accounts, Silverstein, Nugent. Other actions in this major war are also covered. In all, over 200 pages on the Great Sioux War. The book ends with sections on the death of Crazy Horse (Lt. Lemly's is the best account), the 1878-79 Northern Cheyenne Odyssey (traditionally known as the Cheyenne Outbreak). As one might expect, the relatively small 1887 Crow Indian Uprising receives no coverage but a very good section on Wounded Knee/Pine Ridge campaign (especially noteworthy is Godfrey's 1931 account from "Winners of the West") rounds out this book. Numerous illustrations from the likes of Remington, etc. are included. Buy it, you won't be disappointed.
Book Description
On the morning of June 25, 1876, soldiers of the elite U.S. Seventh Cavalry led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer attacked a large Indian encampment on the banks of the Little Bighorn River. By day's end, Custer and more than two hundred of his men lay dead. It was a shocking defeat--or magnificent victory, depending on your point of view--and more than a century later it is still the object of controversy, debate, and fascination.
What really happened on that fateful day? Now, thanks to the work of Herman J. Viola, Curator Emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution, we are much closer to answering that question. Dr. Viola, a leader in the preservation of Native American culture and history, has collected here dozens of dramatic, never-before-published accounts by Indians who participated in the battle--accounts that have been handed down to the present day, often secretly and accompanied by oaths of silence, from one generation to the next. These remarkable eyewitness recollections provide a direct link to that day's events; together they constitute an unprecedented oral history of the battle from the Native American point of view and the most comprehensive eyewitness description of Little Bighorn we have ever had.
Here are the dramatic stories of the Cheyenne and Lakota warriors who rode into battle against Custer, the yellow-haired Son of the Morning Star, an adversary whose valor they admired--but who became a mortal enemy after breaking his peace-pipe oath, a scene described vividly in these pages. Here in their own words are the stories of the Crow scouts, allies of Custer, who advised against attacking Sitting Bull's village on the Little Bighorn. Here are tales of valor told by the Arikara scouts who fought side by side with Custer's men against the Lakota and Cheyenne; although the Great Father in Washington rewarded their heroism with silence, it is celebrated to this day in tribal stories and songs that come to us from beyond the grave with hair-raising immediacy and power.
Lavishly illustrated with more than two hundred maps, photographs, reproductions, and drawings, this remarkable book also includes:
An account of the battle, including startling descriptions of Custer's conduct, collected from the Crow scouts by the famed photographer Edward S. Curtis in 1908. Curtis never published this report--President Theodore Roosevelt advised him not to--and it remained a secret until his ninety-year-old son recently gave the material to the Smithsonian.
New archaeological evidence from the battlefield that casts fresh light on the Seventh Cavalry's movements, along with discoveries from the site of Sitting Bull's village--including the complete skeleton of a cavalry horse with its rider's well-
preserved saddlebags and personal items.
A series of illustrations made soon after the battle by Red Horse, a remarkable tableau that is reproduced here in its entirety for the first time.
Three letters written by Lieutenant William Van Wyck Reily just days before he died at Little Bighorn that provide key and potentially controversial insights into the conduct of the cavalry under Custer's command.
In short, this landmark book takes us much closer to knowing what really happened on that June day in 1876 when Custer died and a legend was born.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting, but. . ........2007-01-18
I wished I had known (should have read the reviews!) that this is a coffee table attempt to deal with an extremely complicated subject. The pretty pictures and artwork were fine, but the book claims to have important historical information from the Crow scouts. When I read (reread and reread) the accounts, I was no closer to understanding what happened. Indeed, one descendant of the Crow scouts admitted that the versions of the events told to him by the scouts were not the same.
The book's strength is in its modern work at the site. The articles about what items were found at both sites with metal detectors (a whole horse!) was fascinating and worth the purchase price. For instance, that bullets with the same rifling were found all over the Custer battle site is fascinating. I hope more metal detector search can be done.
The best book I've ever read!!.......2004-05-01
This book is so ground-breaking and thorough and clever that I'll read it again as soon as I get time. The narratives and recollections of native Americans combined with the most up-to-date scholarship make this book a small masterpiece. Our view of the battle was so slanted and biased, generally without intention, because of an overemphasis on the records of European participants, etc. This book gives another view, and thus B-A-L-A-N-C-E.!!
A major work........2001-05-28
In general I'm not really big on modern history (my notion of "modern" being everything after 1200 BC!), but Viola's book "Little Bighorn Remembered," featured as it was as the "untold Indian story of Custer's last stand," intrigued me. I have to admit to having had to take a second run at it before I really got into the subject. It isn't that the work is poorly written; it isn't. I think that the up front and in your face brutality of the 19th Century US government in dealing with the Native American population was just hard to deal with for me. It`s not that I am myself Native American; I just have a strong sense of fairness and fairness had no part in it. When I finally did settle into the material, however, it read rapidly. In fact it probably classifies highly with some of those I-couldn't-put-it-down novels over which people burn the midnight oil. (In my case I should have been getting a quick nap between patients while I was on-call for the OR on a night shift).
The first two chapters of the book concern the antecedents leading up to the Indian confrontation with Custer and the 7th Cavalry. These included Custer's own pre-dawn attack on a sleeping Cheyenne village under the leadership of Chief Black Kettle on the Washita River in 1868 and an earlier similar attack on Plains Tribes camping at Sand Creek in 1864. In both instances dozens of men, women, and children were hunted down and shot and their bodies butchered. In the 1868 attack even the Cheyenne pony herd, some 900 animals, was also killed, severely crippling the people's ability to pursue their traditional lifestyle. The narrative of these two chapters is filled with unfulfilled promises and broken treaties with Native Americans in the furtherance of US territorial expansion during the 19th Century. Certainly anyone familiar with the attitudes of Europeans toward technologically less advanced populations world wide in areas they wished to exploit will recognize the pattern.
The remainder of the book is divided into chapters each dealing with various perspectives on the battle of the Little Bighorn. Here is where the book rises above others on the subject, for Viola makes use of very diverse sources in his effort to thoroughly and fairly cover the subject .
Included are the oral histories passed on by the Indian participants, stories from the Cheyenne and the Dakota on one side and from the Crow and Arikara scouts with Custer on the other. Probably the most interesting part of this material is the fact that not all Plains Indians felt the same about the coming of the army into the area. In fact the imperialism of the US government was actually superimposed upon on-going events among traditional enemies within the community of local people. The long standing enmity of certain groups actually facilitated the ultimate defeat of the Plains Indians. Even allies weren't necessarily of one mind and still are not. A popular saying among the modern Cheyenne is that "The Sioux got the glory, the Crows got the land, but the Cheyennes did the fighting(p. 27)."
Also among the narratives are notes left by Edward S. Curtis who undertook the mission of creating a photographic preservation of Native American Indian lifestyles before they disappeared. During the pursuit of this work Curtis took the opportunity of covering the battle site in the company of three of Custer's Crow scouts. From information about events provided by these individuals he came to the conclusion that the battle had not proceeded as recorded thirty years previously. His intent to publish his conclusions in his project was discouraged by President Theodore Roosevelt, primarily because the latter was concerned that pro-Custer factions would ruin Curtis. The information was preserved and given over to the National Museum of American History by his son Harold just prior to Harold's death at the age of 95 in 1988.
Among the "documents" preserving the Battle at Little Bighorn are the Indian drawings of the event of which Viola includes illustrations of many. Though simple line drawings they give every bit as clear an image of the violence and carnage of the battle field as do the photo images of the Civil War. Included are drawings by the Dakota, Red Horse, and some etched drawings by an unknown artists on flattened metal from trade kettles. Also presented, many for the first time, are some of the victory memorabilia collected from the battlefield and preserved by family members of the Indian participants through the generations.
A fire across the battlefield in 1983 made an archaeological examination of the site possible and almost imperative. Application of modern techniques to the charting, recovery and analysis of the material remains on the site by professionals and trained volunteers in the decade between 1985 and 1995 have allowed a reinterpretation of what occurred and an external verification of the stories of various participants. (For a more in-depth account of which see my review of "They Died With Custer : Soldiers' Bones from the Battle of the Little Bighorn.")
Among the most amazing reports of the battle and its events is that of the contribution of suicide to the death toll. Apparently the notion of torture at the hands of Indian combatants, fostered in part by the tradition of post mortem mutilation of enemy bodies (to prevent their full enjoyment of the afterlife) produced a "save the last bullet for yourself" mentality that led to a far higher mortality than might have occurred. One Indian witness reported having seen a man "murder" a compatriot and than shoot himself. Apparently he was not the only individual to have seen this puzzling behavior either.
Probably the most arresting facets of Viola's book, and certainly the ones I found most enjoyable, were the many rotogravure/tintype portraits of the various American Indian personalities involved in the drama of the Plains. The faces are filled with dignity, composure, and intelligence. It leaves the viewer with a sense of compassion and loss. One wonders what the country might have been like had the two worlds learned to coexist more peacefully and to learn from one another.
Crow accounts are valuable.......2000-03-04
I found this book to be fascinating pictorially and in its presentation of Indian viewpoints of Little Bighorn.
Some other reviewers have criticized Herman Viola's inclusion of the accounts of Custer's Crow scouts, as if Viola is somehow doing a disservice to scholarship. However, I don't think he is necessarily presenting these accounts as gospel. Viola acknowledges the inconsistencies between witnesses' stories, but he gives the Crow a chance to speak for themselves, which seems like a good thing to me.
Perhaps by publishing these little-known testimonies, Viola will encourage other Indian sources to share their knowledge of Little Bighorn while that knowledge still exists.
A Pretty book but flawed.......2000-02-19
Read without knowledge of the other Indian based accounts available; this is an interesting book. There are other books available also which are based on Indian accounts and seem more coherent. This book is pretty and interesting but adds very little to a serious student of the event. Some of the vignettes are interesting when compared with other indian accounts and blended with them. The story of Custer sitting around at Weir point while Reno's battalion was being routed is not well placed in time or detail. In short, the book is a quick and easy read. It is an interesting contrast to the "old" accounts of the Little Big Horn saga. In light of other recent works on the subject; it is a lightweight.
Book Description
On the sparkling morning of June 25, 1876, 611 men of the United States 7th Cavalry rode toward the banks of the Little Bighorn in the Montana Territory, where 3,000 Indians stood waiting for battle. The lives of two great warriors would soon be forever linked throughout history: Crazy Horse, leader of the Oglala Sioux, and General George Armstrong Custer. Both were men of aggression and supreme courage. Both became leaders in their societies at very early ages; both were stripped of power, in disgrace, and worked to earn back the respect of their people. And to both of them, the unspoiled grandeur of the Great Plains of North America was an irresistible challenge. Their parallel lives would pave the way, in a manner unknown to either, for an inevitable clash between two nations fighting for possession of the open prairie.
Customer Reviews:
A new perspective.......2007-08-23
I have been a big fan of Ambrose and have read most of his books. I grew up in Montana and was aware of "Custer's Battlefield". The name was changed from Custer's Last Stand to the Battle of the Bighorn. Very appropriate.
Ambrose opened my eyes to the policy of the government as it related to the "Indian Wars". He does a great job in positioning both Custer and Crazy Horse throughout their lives and how they were destined to meet in SE Montana.
This book helps me understand how the Native Americans were treated and mistreated during the opening of the west.
If you are a history fan, I encourage you to read Stephen Ambose's works. His details allow you to put yourself in the shoes of an observer to history. Check out Undaunted Courage if you want to see the world through the eyes of Lewis and Clark.
Great introduction to 2 somewhat parallel lives.......2007-06-10
I went into this book primariliy interested in crazy horse, yet by about half way through i was captivated with custer. Many of Mr. Ambrose's detractors say he stretches the facts. This could easily be true, i am in no way an expert on either crazy horse nor custer. Yet when i walk away from this book i dont remember many facts but more so feel as though i have a sense of who these two individuals were and how they operated in their respective worlds. If i was writing a dissertation on the topic i probably wouldnt cite this as a source, at the same time i think this is a great introduction book to crazy horse, custer, and the indian wars. Overall its a captiviating and fun read, enjoy!
Crazy Horse and Custer.......2007-01-09
Excellent book-goes into depth about both of their lives and the parallels between them.
Death in Battle - Death in Peace.......2006-08-30
They are books like those written by Stephen Ambrose which keep the flame of my interest in reading of times and events of long ago burning. Some have accused Ambrose of taking too many liberties with the facts. To those I would say, Bah Humbug! This book is well written and worthy of the readers time, unless, of course, you are a "fact-checker", in which case the original sources, to the extent they even exist, might be more to your liking. For Orginary Joe's, like me, Mr. Ambrose has provided a good deal of reading entertainment and information. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants to be transported in time and place to the high plains during the Indian Wars.
Interesting.......2006-08-04
Great study of two complex personalities. I never realized what a mysterious figure Crazy Horse was, and his integral role at the Little Big Horn. Ambrose, as usual, does phenomenal research and his gift of prose make this book a pleasure.
Book Description
The most famous Native American book ever written, Black Elk Speaks is the acclaimed story of Lakota visionary and healer Nicholas Black Elk (1863–1950) and his people during the momentous, twilight years of the nineteenth century. Black Elk grew up in a time when white settlers were invading the Lakotas’ homeland, decimating buffalo herds and threatening to extinguish their way of life. Black Elk and other Lakotas fought back, a dogged resistance that resulted in a remarkable victory at the Little Bighorn and an unspeakable tragedy at Wounded Knee.
Beautifully told through the celebrated poet and writer John G. Neihardt, Black Elk Speaks offers much more than a life story. Black Elk’s profound and arresting religious visions of the unity of humanity and the world around him have transformed his account into a venerated spiritual classic. Whether appreciated as a collaborative autobiography, a history of a Native American nation, or an enduring spiritual testament for all humankind, Black Elk Speaks is unforgettable.
This special edition features all three prefaces to Black Elk Speaks that John G. Neihardt wrote at different points in his life, a map of Black Elk’s world, a reset text with Lakota words reproduced using the latest orthographic standards, and color paintings by Lakota artist Standing Bear that have not been widely available for decades.
Customer Reviews:
Native Respect.......2007-07-29
Both Thomas E.Mails and John Niehardt have brought to life the true nature of the Native American in their masterly renditions of their interviews with these Medicine (Holy) men, both Fools Crow and Black Elk. The result is an understanding of the simple honesty, good nature and trust that initially left them so open to exploitation. More importantly, they demonstrated a sincere belief in God that the 'White Man' was singularly lacking in the early pioneers. Their beliefs ran parallel with the Primitive Church as established by Jesus during his ministry in the Middle Ages.Fools Crow
A Great Vision.......2006-05-08
_Over the years I have read this book in the wilderness and in the wasteland. Every time that I have reread it I have come away renewed.
_There are just so many levels on which this account can be appreciated. It is one of the best first-hand accounts of plains life- from camp life, to the march, the hunt, courting, healing, etc. It is also one of the best first-hand accounts of historical events- the Fetterman Fight, the Wagon box Fight, Red Cloud's Treaty, the Custer Fight, Wounded Knee... It is also a first-rate autobiography of the deepest thoughts of a man who fears that he may not have lived up to his God-given destiny. But, above all, it is a legitimate Revelation from the world beyond.
_At times Black Elk seems to despair that he didn't live up to his great vision. Personally, I do not see this. He did what he was supposed to do. First, he brought his vision to his people in the form of the magnificent Horse Dance. Then, in his twilight years, he wisely brought the same vision to the outside world in the form of this book. This was too powerful and universal a vision to be confined to one people alone. Every part of it resonates with the Perennial Philosophy, the eternal religion that underlies all true Tradition- from the World Tree at the center of the people's hoop, to the certain knowledge that the things of this world are but a shadow of the true Reality of the next.
_As far as the sacred herb of four blossoms is concerned that he saw at the end of the forth ascent- that was the rebirth of the sacred tree from sacred seed. This book is that seed.
Wisdom and Inspiration Abound!.......2006-03-16
This is an exceptionally moving book for anyone yearning to know more about Native American spirituality. Black Elk was truly a man filled with the holy spirit. It reminds me of the book, Walking the Trail, One Man's Journey Along the Cherokee Trail of Tears. Both are highly recommended.
A Religious Classic?.......2006-01-11
It says on the jacket of this book that Black Elk Speaks belongs in the company of 'religious classics'. Maybe so, but even if you regard his visions as indicative of a religious experience, the parts of the book dedicated to the description of these visions make for rather tedious reading. The real meat of the book is his decriptions of the last of the major indian battles at Rosebud, Little Big Horn (Custer's Last Stand), and Wounded Knee. Black Elk and his friends were there, and lived through those harrowing days. A must-read book for anyone who wants to know how it really was.
Black Elk Speaks.......2005-09-20
I am really enjoying reading this book. It is the second time for me but it is as good as the first time. I know it is the kind of book that I will read over and over again!
Customer Reviews:
I love folk tales.......2007-06-01
I really enjoy folk tales, and The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush is a beautiful story. Little Gopher paints and spreads his brushes into the fields and the Indian Paintbrushes blossom. The illustrations are beautiful and interesting for children.
Beautiful Tale of Creation.......2007-04-16
I loved this book and think it is a wonderful way to teach children about how flowers came to be. This book is an excellent way to show students that being an individual is important and that each person is different and is needed!!
An Indian legend about how different people have different talents.......2006-08-28
As is the case in all cultures, there are people more and less suited for various tasks. In the world of the American Indians of the plains all life revolved around hunting the buffalo. However, not all boys are meant to be fierce warriors, some are simply not suited to the task. This book is about Little Gopher, a boy who had a Dream-Vision of his grandfather where he was told that he was to paint the pictures of the warriors rather than be one. His canvas was to be stretched white buckskin, his brushes made from the hairs of different animals and his colors were made from rocks and berries. He painted scenes of his people in action, but for some time he longed to make an accurate rendition of a sunset as he never seemed able to create the right colors.
One night he had another vision where he was told that because he had remained true to his calling, on the next day he would be able to sit on a hill and capture the sunset in a painting. He succeeded and he left his brushes on the hill when he carried the painting down to show it to his tribe. The next day his brushes had taken root and had turned into plants with brilliant reds, oranges and yellows. Because of his deeds, the people of his tribe changed his name to He-Who-Brought-the-Sunset-to-the-Earth. This is the legend of how the Indian Paintbrush flowers came into existence.
Like so many other legends of the American Indians, this is a story worth reading. Superbly illustrated using a minimum of color, I recommend this story to all elementary school children.
Painting the Sunset.......2004-02-12
This legend is based on how the Great Plain Indians were given the colors of the sunset by one of the talented Indians. This book shows how Little Gopher, the Indian that painted the colors of the sunset for his People, remained true to his destiny. Even though he felt like he didn't have a special gift, Little Gopher continued to stay dedicated, until he was guided in the right direction by an old grandfather and young maiden in his Dream-Vision. The overall theme of this legend is that perseverance pays off in the end.
This book could be used by teachers to introduce the lesson of how those who are dedicated to a dream or goal can succeed in the end. The plot of the story can be used to demonstrate and teach students how to do story maps. Also, other activities this book can be used for in the classroom are for Literature Circles and Idea Circles.
Indian Paintbrush.......2003-08-10
This story is about Little Gopher who was sad because `he couldn't keep up with the other boys who were always riding, running, shooting their bows, and wrestling to prove their strength.' Luckily for him he had his own special talent, a talent for painting and creating.
When Little Gopher went out into the hills to think about becoming a man, he had a dream vision. This vision told him to find a white buckskin and to `keep it and one day you will paint a picture that is as pure as the colors in the evening sky.'
Little Gopher got the white buckskin soon after, but didn't have the right paints to paint the sunset. He kept trying to achieve the right colors. Every morning he mixed paints in hopes that these ones wouldn't be dull and flat like the others, but to no avail.
One night a voice told him to go up on top of a hill next evening at sunset, `Because you have been faithful to the People and to your true gift, you shall find the colors you are seeking.' Little Gopher went to the hill the next evening and, lo and behold, there are brushes full of paint the color of the sunset waiting there for him to paint his masterpiece.
Little Gopher painted his masterpiece and when he got done he walked back to his tent, leaving the brushes strewn across the hillside. In the morning the brushes had multiplied and turned into flowers, and little Gopher became known as He-Who-Brought-the-Sunset-to-the-Earth.
This book carries several good messages about being true to yourself and not giving up in the face of adversity. It is also a wonderful retelling of a Native American Legend. He book flows wonderfully and the pictures are bright and colorful.
Loggie-log-log-log
Customer Reviews:
fair, balanced and packed with incredible information.......2007-03-27
fair, balanced and packed with incredible information
worth 6 stars !
the best.......2006-06-30
This is the best book on this subject! You should also get his book on the last stand.
A Total Picture of The Sioux War: Before and After Custer.......2000-12-31
This is a great book to learn everything about the 1876 Sioux War from the political and economic situations that fueled the conflict (gold and the Black Hills, dissolving the 1868 Peace Treaty), the behavior of the independent Sioux, Grant's ultimatum, the Sheridan three prong attack on the Sioux, the political (Custer and Grant) and weather problems hindering he start of the campaign and General's Crook and Terry's frustrating attempts to catch the Sioux and Cheyenne who fragmented into smaller groups after the Little Big Horn. Also covers Crook's March campaign that resulted in a controversial but failed battle on the Powder River and the critical battle of the Rosebud in June 30 miles southeast of the Little Big Horn which occurred just 8 days prior to Custer's annihilation. Crook, the great Indian fighter with twice Custer's number, becomes displaced out of the Sheridan attack plan due to the furious attack by the Sioux and Cheyenne. Gray also documents how the winter roamers left the agencies to join the summer roamers (Sitting Bull, Gall, Crazy Horse, Two Moon) which peaked with one of the largest villages ever on the North American continent at the time of Custer's attack. The book completes the story by detailing the aftermath of Custer's battle with Crooks and Terry's joint and separate campaigns and the addition of General Nelson Miles. Not a total story on Custer, for that you should read Gray's "Custer's Last Campaign" but start with "Centennial Campaign" to get the complete picture.
The Best about the Sioux War.......2000-07-02
In 1981 I made a phone call to a retired medical doctor named John Gray. I told him I had just finished reading his book, CENTENNIAL CAMPAIGN, and would love to talk with him. I figured we would talk on the phone, so I was surprised when he invited me to visit him in his home in Ft. Collins, Colorado. I accepted his invitation without hesitation.
We spent the entire afternoon talking about his book. There was one question that I was anxious to get answered. Why did he write less than a page about the Custer fight itself? Gray didn't really know what happened during that battle, so there really wasn't much to say. I laughed but it made sense.
This book is not about the Custer fight, but about the entire campaign of the Sioux War of 1876 and it is filled with new revelations about the causes and events of this war. Most interesting is Gray's narrative about the White House meeting between Grant and his aides concerning how they should deal with the Sioux problem and why they started a war.
The book is filled with detailed maps of the Indian movements during the campaign, where and when they camped and for how long. The same is done for soldier column movements.
There is an excellent analysis of the size of the warrior force at the Little Bighorn that historians accept to this day. The numbers will surprise you.
If you have not read much on the Sioux war, then I highly recommend this book. You'll learn that the Custer fight was just one of many events of a long brutal, bloody war.
Great detail on troop movements; opinionated and judgmental.......2000-06-01
Gray provides an outstanding insight into all troop movements before and after the showdown at the Little Big Horn. He is particularly harsh in his assessments of Col. John Gibbon, Gen. George Crook, and Capt. Frederick Benteen. On the other hand he is fairly charitable to Maj. Marcus Reno while others have been more critical of Reno. He fairly glows in his treatment of Custer.
As with many historians in their treatment of the Battle of Little Big Horn, he jumps to dogmatic conclusions fairly easily when he seeks to cast blame (as on Benteen for "dawdling") and when he attributes to Custer the wise deployment of his troop resources. See for example at page 177: "---he (Custer) was relieved to see that Reno had halted to form a skirmish line and was only lightly engaged. He should now be able to hold out until Custer's larger force could get into action". Gray does not tell us how he managed to communicate with Custer in the after life in order to ascertain these feelings of Custer. He further ignores the testimony of John Martin (the trumpeter who took the message to Benteen) to the court of inquiry that Custer exulted over catching the Indians "napping".
In reaching some of these dogmatic conclusions, Gray simply buys into the overstatement of many historians who find some thin support for their fictionalized conclusions.
However, this book is an excellent narrative of the troop and scouting maneuvers leading up to and following the battle. He also writes at the beginning of the book an excellent summary of the cultural conflicts that led to this tragedy for all involved----the soldiers and the Indians.
Book Description
This case study traces the Cheyenne Indians from their first contact with the French explorer LaSalle in 1680. The book then follows their exodus from Minnesota under pressure from the Sioux, Cel, and Ojibwa; their attempt to gain a foothold in eastern South Dakota and the middle Missouri River; and their final movement into the high western plains in the first half of the 19th century.
Amazon.com
Given that the Great Plains long functioned as a stomping ground for the Oglala Sioux, it was inevitable that Ian Frazier would cross paths with them when he wrote his 1989 chronicle of that sublime flatland. But the encounter between the self-confessed "chintzy middle-class white guy" and his Native American counterparts went so swimmingly that Crazy Horse assumed a starring role in the book. Now Frazier continues his cross-cultural romance in On the Rez. This account of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota is as touching, funny, and maniacally digressive as anything he's written. What's more, he manages to avoid most of the politically correct potholes along the way, producing a vivid, ambivalent (i.e., honest) portrait of a community where the very "landscape is dense with stories."
Much of On the Rez revolves around Le War Lance, whom Frazier first met in Great Plains. This yarn-spinning, beer-swilling figure serves the author as a kind of Native American Virgil, introducing him to the hard facts of reservation life. In fact, their friendship, with its accents of deep affection and dependency, anchors the entire narrative and elicits some typically top-drawer prose:
Le's eyes can be merry and flat as a smile button, or deep and glittering with malice or slyness or something he knows and I never will. He is fifty-seven years old. I have seen his hair, which is black streaked with gray, when it was over two feet long and held with beaded ponytail holders a foot or so apart, and I have seen it much shorter, after he had shaved his head in mourning for a friend who had died.
On the Rez delivers a history of the Oglala nation that spotlights our paleface population in some of its most shameful, backstabbing moments, as well as a quick tour through Indian America. The latter, to be honest, seems a little too conscientiously cooked up from primary sources and news clippings. But elsewhere Frazier is in superb form, reporting everything he sees and hears with enviable clarity and promptly pulling the rug out from under himself whenever he seems too omniscient. Few accounts of reservation life have been this comical; even fewer have moved beyond the poverty and pandemic drunk driving to discern actual, theological wickedness on the premises: "At such moments a sense of compound evil--the evil of the human heart, in league with the original darkness of this wild continent--curls around me like shoots of a fast-growing vine." In the hands of many a writer, the previous sentence might resemble a rhetorical firecracker. In Frazier's, it comes off as a statement of fact--which is only one of the reasons why every American, Native or not, should take a look at this sad, splendid, and surprisingly hopeful book. --James Marcus
Book Description
On the Rez is a sharp, unflinching account of the modern-day American Indian experience, especially that of the Oglala Sioux, who now live on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the plains and badlands of the American West. Crazy Horse, perhaps the greatest Indian war leader of the 1800s, and Black Elk, the holy man whose teachings achieved worldwide renown, were Oglala; in these typically perceptive pages, Frazier seeks out their descendants on Pine Ridge-a/k/a "the rez"-which is one of the poorest places in America today. Along with his longtime friend Le War Lance (whom he first wrote about in his 1989 bestseller, Great Plains) and other Oglala companions, Frazier fully explores the rez as they visit friends and relatives, go to pow-wows and rodeos and package stores, and tinker with a variety of falling-apart cars. He takes us inside the world of the Sioux as few writers ever have, writing with much wit, compassion, and imagination. In the career of SuAnne Big Crow, for example, the most admired Oglala basketball player of all time, who died in a car accident in 1992, Frazier finds a contemporary reemergence of the death-defying, public-spirited Sioux hero who fights with grace and glory to save her followers. On the Rez vividly portrays the survival, through toughness and humor, of a great people whose culture has helped to shape the American identity.
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In Ian Frazier's bestselling Great Plains, he described meeting a man in New York City named Le War Lance, "an Oglala Sioux Indian from Oglala, South Dakota." In On the Rez, Frazier returns to the plains and focuses on a place at their center -- the Pine Ridge Reservation in the prairie and badlands of South Dakota, home of the Oglala Sioux. Frazier drives around "the rez" with Le War Lance and other Oglalas as they tell stories, visit relatives, go to powwows and rodeos and package stores, and try to find parts to fix one or another of their on-the-verge-of-working cars. On the Rez considers Indian ideas of freedom and community and equality that are basic to how we view ourselves, and discusses also the oppressions of history in a place where the per capita income is the nation's lowest. Most of all, he examines the Oglala idea of heroism -- its suffering and its pulse-quickening, public-spirited glory. On the Rez portrays the survival, through toughness and humor, of a great people whose culture has shaped our American identity.
Customer Reviews:
Torn--Can't put it down, yet author slightly smug ..........2007-07-09
I could NOT put this book down--the people in the book were so intriguing and interesting. I think Frazier is an entertaining writer, but I agree with an earlier reviewer who called him "Smug"--It was like "I'm an important, superior white guy giving my precious time (and sometimes money) to come visit you lowly Indians" type feel .... it was uncomfortable at times. Although, in fairness, there are other times where it feels the Indians are "in on the joke" and take advantage of the author--which is quite funny. One fascinating gentleman (Lance) calls the author an "Indian wanna be" ... that says it all. Regardless, I learned A LOT and was thoroughly entertained and read the book in 2 days. Worth every penny!
The Old Indians, The Now Indians.......2007-03-08
On the Rez by Ian Frazier is easily the most fascinating and readable history of the American Indian, as they existed in the past and how their past has shaped their present. At first their present seems dismal, as Ian Frazier spent several years on and off the Pine Ridge Reservation of South Dakota and shows us the poverty, drunknness and generally confirming every unfortunate stereotype we've come to know. Through the peculiar friendship with an Oglala Sioux named Le War Lance, Ian transports us into the then and now and we realize the absolute power behind what seems destitute poverty. Frazier shows us the wealth of their culture and reminds us how they came to be where they are. Should it be any surprise they have become what the white culture has made them? And yet there is no doubt that they remain who they've always been. Frazier easily weaves in the cultural and political history with the nomadic wanderings of his friend Le who floats in and out of jail, befriends movie stars as easily as buddies down at the bar and survives countless car crashes, only to live to view them as a kind of frighteningly mystical experience. The book is tough and funny -- exactly like the people it portrays.
Could have been much better.......2005-07-27
I first heard about life on the "rez" from some Indian friends in the Army. They told me crazy stories about car accidents, shootings, and drunken brawls that apparently characterized much of the life on the rez. The author, Ian Fraizer, writes a little about these things, so at least that part of it rings true as it confirms what my friends told me.
My complaint about the book is that it is simply boring. It's as if Frazier found the most dull Indians he possibly could and wrote about their everyday lives. My life is dull too, but no one seems to want to write a book about it. The only slightly interesting person is Frazier's so called "friend," Le War Dance, who is a BS artist and asks for a handout everytime the two meet. If one of my "friends" demanded money to be my "friend," I might think twice about having him for a friend, but not Frazier. He seems to enjoy taking up the white man's burden and dispensing cash to his "friends" as if he is single-handedly trying to atone for the way Indians were screwed by us palefaces. Does it ever occur to him that these people are his "friends" because he is a steady source of income? I get the feeling that when Frazier and his Indian "friends" leave each others' company, both of them laugh at the other behind their back thinking how they used them for their own personal gain - Frazier with his book material, and the Indians with some free "beer money."
Frazier's writing often gets bogged down in so many unnecessary details, that I felt like he was trying to extend the manuscript simply to make it book length. I used this technique myself when I was a child in grade school and had to write 100 word essays. I would inevitably use the word "very" to flesh out the paper to the required length - "I enjoy playing baseball very much. It is a very rewarding game to play, etc."
One thing I can't stand about books about Indians is the inevitable word "mystical" that is applied to their lives. They supposedly have this attachment to nature and the spirit world that the rest of us just can't seem to attain, which is a crock. Indians are no more mystical than I am. Whenever somebody dies on the rez, there always seems to have been premonitions or medicine man warnings that their time was up, but strangely, these mystical warnings never save the doomed person. Maybe because it's all lies just like all religions are?
Finally, the only other major story in this book is his adulation and bizarre obsession with a teenage Indian girl who was a popular kid and died young in a car accident. He foolishly believes everything her family and friends say about her and relates her story as fact when it is mostly just made up to make her seem larger than life. Every neighborhood has a popular kid who inspires others, so I don't see why this particular girl had such an impact on Frazier.
Ultimately, this book is not about Indians on the rez, it is about Frazier on the rez, which is not an exciting topic to read about.
Highly recommended account of people, not stereotypes.......2005-07-08
I can't say enough good things about this book. It was wonderful to read as well as haunting me for days afterward.
The "rez" of the title is the Pine Ridge Reservation of the Oglala Sioux. The book deals with the Oglala Sioux both on the rez and in scattered other places, as far away as New York and New Jersey. He includes some history and "historical" characters up through Russell Means and Dennis Banks.
There are two stars in the book: his friend Le War Lance, and the basketball star SuAnne Big Crow. Le is a lovable ne'er-do-well who serves as Frazier's (and our) guide to the Sioux and to Pine Ridge. Big Crow, whom Frazier never met, serves as a background hero and her story an unfolding tragedy.
More than anything, the book is about people and not about having any ideological axe to grind. Many of his acquaintances are alcoholics and/or unemployed. Frazier acknowledges what most people would call both "social forces" and "individual responsibility" in explaining these cliched problems. He also sees the "nobility" and "sense of freedom" that represent more positive cliches, but again he doesn't overemphasize them. In short, he neither whitewashes nor praises effusively, but he is at root simply interested in the experiences of the Oglala people both on and off the reservation. Frazier loves his friends on the reservation but finds some of them frustrating.
Some people might not like the results. For example, many of Frazier's acquaintances hit him up for money; as a result, he always loads up on twenties before visiting Pine Ridge. You might think this is a degrading detail, you might think that Frazier is a smug white man who wants everyone to know of his generosity, or perhaps you'd want him to turn down these requests so as not to compromise a writer's relationship with his subjects. Take your pick. But Frazier's matter-of-fact writing style lets you make up your own mind about him as well as his subjects.
For all its interest, this remains a book written by a white observer; if you'd like an excellent account of Pine Ridge by an insider, read Mary Crow Dog's "Lakota Woman."
Frazier is an very good observer of both detail and personality. Given the rich diversity of any community of people such as Pine Ridge, you feel as if you are riding along in his car, looking over his shoulder. Very highly recommended as a slice of America.
Should Be Titled "Smug White Man Visits the Reservation".......2005-06-08
This book invokes nearly as much disgust in me as the white harvesting crews in the 1980's who boasted of deftly disposing of their American Indian competition with bottles of cheap booze.
I didn't go into reading it with that expectation--Frazier skillfully drug it out of me over the course of a two day reading period, and I can only shake my head in wonderment at the reviewers--undoubtedly white--who give this glorified diary such high praise.
I kept awaiting Frazier to get past the egocentric slant that made nearly the entire book feel like a never-ending "Introduction" to some larger work. This is because Frazier tries to present himself as a benevolent and long suffering friend to a handful of Oglala Sioux; but his constant chronicling of every nickle he spent during the friendship--not to mention focusing on every drunken stagger, or boast; makes him come off as less a true friend than just another white man lookin' to make money off the reservation. (I also find his occasional "my bad" passages to be nothing more than self-serving attempts to deflect potential criticism.)
Where the real meat of the book lies, is in the chapters about SuAnne Big Crow. Frazier should have written a biography of her, instead of indulging himself in most of the other pages.
If you must purchase "On The Rez," might I suggest you check it out from your local library first?
Average customer rating:
- Know the people as they know themselves.
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Plains Indians, A.D. 500-1500: The Archaeological Past of Historic Groups
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Customer Reviews:
Know the people as they know themselves........2005-08-14
Karl Schlesier's book is a vital work of scholarship that draws together many views of people in the Plains for many centuries. Plains Indians is a must have for anyone's private collection on human habitation of the Great Plains in the last 2000 years. Students should have access to this scholarly documentation in every library on every campus.
Rarely do archeologists recognize an ethnic identity associated with dig sites that pre-date European occupancy of the Plains. The language links charted in the book are strong indications of the ethnicities present in the Great Plains for millennia.
I use this book every semester to lay the foundation for understanding the diversity of people present in the Plains for hundreds of generations. Plains Indians as edited by Dr. Karl Schlesier is outstanding and indispensable to ethnohistorical studies that recognize the ancestral lands of people living presently in the Great Plains.
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