Indian Country Today Living Reviews

In his quest to know the significance of abalone in the lives of coastal California Indians, anthropologist Les W. Field affirms what many who are intimate with tribal life have learned; that a pan-Indian world view is difficult to identify at the clan level.

A classic book in Ojibway history, William W. Warren’s “History of the Ojibway People,” presents the contemporary reader with a stirring account of the Ojibways from their mythic origins through mid-19th century.

The history of the horse in the Americas goes back millions of years before humans of any color inhabited the earth. Then they disappeared from this continent, about 12,000 years ago, till reintroduction by the Spaniards in 1519. Since that time horses have had a major impact on the history of North America. Deanne Stillman, in her book “Mustang: The Saga of the Wild Horse in the American West,” tells that history from prehistoric times to the current day.

When I was growing up in the southern California elementary school system, I remember painting, with the rest of the kids, a huge mural depicting California history.

American Indians who participate in ancient peyote rituals are likely to be familiar with Verdell Primeaux. The Grammy-winning Lakota singer has released several CDs specifically recorded for use in peyote ceremonies and by the Native American Church. His latest, “Stories Told: Harmonized Peyote Songs,” was released in February 2008 with fellow singer Terry Hanks (Diné).

SANTA FE, N.M. – Perhaps the saints have called upon artist Charles Carrillo to keep their spirits alive in the Southwest. Each time Carrillo creates one of his paintings of the saints on wood panels called retablos, he breathes life into an art form that dates back more than 400 years to when Catholic missionaries first arrived in New Mexico.

Reading “Soil not Oil” is hard work. In seeking justice in today’s desperate world of peak oil, global warming and food riots, Vandana Shiva rages at globalization and mega corporations and champions the poor. But this book does not flow gently along and draw you in with beautiful prose or clear, compelling logic. Instead the message is delivered largely as a rant, a diatribe relying on repetition and emotional generalities. Many will push this book aside long before it’s finished. Pity, for her message is one that touches the heart.

Ancestral heritages” and “simple traditions” are crowded from the thoughts of many of today’s Native children, says author Adolph Hungrywolf in “Tribal Childhood: Growing Up in Traditional Native America.”

Conservation Refugees” should be required reading for any course of study that even touches on the environment and conservation. It should be known to every tribal college student, whatever the course of study, and to every Native person or ally.

LOS ANGELES – A new version of the classic “Robinson Crusoe” debuted on NBC last fall. It’s interesting for what it tells us about the state of Natives in the entertainment business. A network blurb gives us the basic premise:

"A Lily Among Thorns – The Mohawk Repatriation of Káteri Tekahkwí:tha,” according to Mohawk author Darren Bonaparte, “Is not your grandmother’s Káteri. I take a much more critical look at the Jesuit writings than any biographer has ever done before and try to flesh out the real Mohawk woman behind the romanticized icon.

An entertaining overview of Native sexuality and philosophy, “Me Sexy” overturns mainstream myths and misconceptions and, except for a few dark moments, avoids solemnity in favor of sly humor, high spirits, and understated truth-telling.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith’s decade of research that spawned from a picture has brought readers “Full-Court Quest,” an entertaining and intensely historical account of the 1904 girls basketball championship team from Fort Shaw Indian School.