Synopses & Reviews
Both a tribute to the unique experiences of individual Native Americans and a celebration of the values that draw American Indians together,
All Indians Do Not Live in Teepees (or Casinos) explores contemporary Native life.
Based on personal experience and grounded in journalism, this story begins with the repatriation of ancestral remains to the Pueblo peoples of New Mexico. The 1999 return to Pecos of the skeletal remains of two thousand bodies excavated during an archaeological expedition nearly a century earlier was the largest repatriation in American history. In a united, purposeful, and energizing quest, the Pecos and Jemez Indians brought their ancestors home. This event, along with subsequent repatriations, has accelerated similar momentum across much of Native America.
In All Indians Do Not Live in Teepees (or Casinos), Catherine C. Robbins traces this restorative effect in areas such as economic development, urbanization, the arts, science, and health care. Through dozens of interviews, Robbins draws out the voices of Indian people, some well-known and many at the grassroots level, working quietly to advance their communities. These voices speak against the background of the narratives historical context. The result is a rich account of Native American life in contemporary America, revealing not a monolithic “Indian” experience of teepees or casinos, but rather a mosaic of diverse peoples existing on a continuum that marks both their distinctions and their shared realities.
Review
“
All Indians Do Not Live in Teepees (or Casinos) is a serious and multi-dimensional exploration of the complexity of modern Native American life.”—Wade Davies, associate professor of Native American studies at the University of Montana
--Wade Davies
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"Journalist Robbins creates a collage of the prospects and problems faced by Native Americans in this sharp, readable blend of history, cultural commentary, and advocacy. . . . As an illustration of modern Native American life, it effortlessly depicts politics, culture, and pride; as a first book it is a marvel."—Publishers Weekly Publishers Weekly
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"Journalist Robbins, through interviews and up-to-date historical context, reminds readers of the complexity of Native American life in contemporary America."—Margaret Heilbrun, Library Journal Margaret Heilbrun
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"A solid, insightful overview of the way American Indians live now."—Kirkus Library Journal
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"Robbins's ability to take the all-encompassing term Indian, once used to stereotype a myriad of peoples, and show it not as a limiting factor but as describing a larger brotherhood, is inspiring. The capacity of artists and journalists from various tribes to form alliances and bring the Indian voice to the non-Indian public is a monumental step forward in understanding todays Indian country."—Melvin Jordan, Indian Country Today Kirkus
Review
"Sharply focused and rich in detail."—Robert Woltman, Albuquerque Journal Melvin Jordan - Indian Country Today
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"No single book can do more than scratch the surface of the complex contemporary lives of Native peoples. But Robbins has helpfully provided nearly 60 pages of detailed notes, along with useful lists of books, places and websites—a plethora of resources readily available to anyone willing to look beyond the popular culture's stereotypes of American Indians." Chérie Newman, High Country News Robert Woltman - Albuquerque Journal
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and#8220;Howard has written a very good book, which demonstrates that the Canadian Sioux have retained some traditions that their relatives in the United States have abandoned. The Canadian Sioux is recommended reading to students of Sioux traditions.and#8221;and#8212;Minnesota History
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"Character development and a good story team up with technology in Hausman's innovative debut novel set in the world of virtual reality."—Publishers Weekly
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"Hausman's ironic tale of revising this shameful and horrific historic moment so that Anglos experience in virtual time what the Cherokee suffered 175 years ago is humorous and uniquely moving."—Deborah Donovan, Booklist
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"[Riding the Trail of Tears] offers much that can't be found elsewhere in today's fiction."—David Keymer, Library Journal
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"Riding the Trail of Tears is an engaging and entertaining read. . . . It has a narrative and a main character that keeps a reader wanting to keep going all the way through."—Matthew Long, Big Muddy
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“A dazzling futurist novel about a traumatic episode in U.S. history. Reader, when you accept Blake Hausmans invitation to ride the Trail of Tears in a theme park, be warned that you will become a participant in the Cherokee Removal, and not simply a witness.”—Bharati Mukherjee, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and author of The Tree Bride
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“There are few authors who take this kind of narrative risk in Native literatures. Histories of the Trail of Tears have been published, but Blake Hausmans telling of it is unique.”—John Purdy, coeditor of Nothing but the Truth: An Anthology of Native American Literature
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"A worthy addition to the American Indian Lives series and an uplifting story of one Native woman's ability to rise above poverty and prejudice."and#8212;Deborah Donovan, Booklist
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"Muscogee Daughter would be a strong choice for a book group, or for readers interested in contemporary Native American memoirs. Supernaw's life story is compellingand#8212;not only because of her one-of-a-kind experience, but also because of her ability to appeal to a universal readership."and#8212;Claire Rudy Foster, Foreword
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"Aand#160;surprise and a delight to read."and#8212;Betty Lytle, NewsOK.com
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and#8220;A unique story, but also an iconic American story, it is inspiring and heartbreaking, and ultimately redemptive. Susan Supernaw is living testimony to the triumph of the human spirit as well as the strength of Native American culture.and#8221;and#8212;Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author of Red Dirt: Growing Up Okie
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"While recounting her journey to compete for the Miss America crown, Susan remains focused on what is most important and never forgets the many people who helped her along the way. This is a charming story of perseverance and spiritual growth."and#8212;Sandy Amazeen, Monstersandcritics.com
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and#8220;This is a riveting story about resilience and strength. Susan Supernaw opens the door into the beauty of the Native American spirit as a young girl who triumphs in spite of tough circumstances. Itand#8217;s also the best of the Miss America storyand#8212;not about who wins a crown but about who is helped to become all she is called to be.and#8221;and#8212;Jane Jayroe, author of More Grace than Glamour: My Life as Miss America and Beyond
Synopsis
The Canadian Sioux are descendants of Santees, Yanktonais, and Tetons from the United States who sought refuge in Canada during the 1860s and 1870s. Living today on eight reserves in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, they are the least studied of all the Sioux groups. This book, originally published in 1984, helps fill that gap in the literature and remains relevant even in the twenty-first century.
Based on Howardand#8217;s fieldwork in the 1970s and supplemented by written sources, The Canadian Sioux,and#160;Second Editionand#160;descriptively reconstructs their traditional culture, many aspects of which are still practiced or remembered by Canadian Sioux although long forgotten by their relatives in the United States. Rich in detail, it presents an abundance of information on topics such as tribal divisions, documented history and traditional history, warfare, economy, social life, philosophy and religion, and ceremonialism. Nearly half the book is devoted to Canadian Sioux religion and describes such ceremonies as the Vision Quest, the Medicine Feast, the Medicine Dance, the Sun Dance, warrior society dances, and the Ghost Dance.
This second edition includes previously unpublished images, many of them photographed by Howard, and some of his original drawings.
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Synopsis
Modern Blackfeet sheds light on the politics, economics, society, and especially the acculturation of the Blackfeet Indians of Montana. The Blackfeet Reservation has an established government and an active and diverse population that has long supported itself through ranching, industry, and oil and natural gas exploration. Malcolm McFee shows why, as a result, policies and programs based on simplistic assumptions of assimilation are doomed to failure.
The results of McFeeand#8217;s long-term research among the Blackfeet in the 1950s and 1960s make it clear that acculturation is not simply a linear process of assimilation or a one-way cultural adaptation to the impact of Euro-American culture. He reviews the changing policies of the U.S. government, which were directed initially at the destruction of all native customs and values, then at the promotion of Blackfeet self-government, and eventually at the threatened termination of their status. Finally and most important, McFee notes that racial identity on the reservation today is explained more by values and behavior than by biology and thus divides the community into a white-oriented majority and a smaller, Indian-oriented group dedicated to preserving the tribeand#8217;s traditional lifeways.
Synopsis
Sherman Alexie meets William Gibson. Louise Erdrich meets Franz Kafka. Leslie Marmon Silko meets Philip K. Dick. However you might want to put it, this is Native American fiction in a whole new world. A surrealistic revisiting of the Cherokee Removal,
Riding the Trail of Tears takes us to north Georgia in the near future, into a virtual-reality tourist compound where customers ride the Trail of Tears, and into the world of Tallulah Wilson, a Cherokee woman who works there. When several tourists lose consciousness inside the ride, employees and customers at the compound come to believe, naturally, that a terrorist attack is imminent.
Little does Tallulah know that Cherokee Little People have taken up residence in the virtual world and fully intend to change the rides programming to suit their own point of view. Told by a narrator who knows all but can hardly be trusted, in a story reflecting generations of experience while recalling the events in a single day of Tallulahs life, this funny and poignant tale revises American history even as it offers a new way of thinking, both virtual and very real, about the past for both Native Americans and their Anglo counterparts.
Synopsis
How American is Miss America? For Susan Supernaw, a Muscogee (Creek) and Munsee Native American, the question wasnand#8217;t just academic. Throughout a childhood clouded by poverty, alcoholism, and abuse, Supernaw sought escape in school and dance and the Native American Church. She became a presidential scholar, won a scholarship to college, and was crowned Miss Oklahoma in 1971. Supernaw might not have won the Miss America pageant that year, but she did call attention to the Native peoples living largely invisible lives throughout their own American land. And she did at long last earn her Native American name.and#160;Chronicling a quest to escape poverty and find meaning, Supernawand#8217;s story is revealing, humorous, and deeply moving. Muscogee Daughter is the story of finding a Native American identity among the distractions and difficulties of American life and of discerning an identity among competing notions of what it is to be a woman, a Native American, and a citizen of the world.
Synopsis
In this dynamic collection of essays, Arnold Krupat, one of the leading critics of American Indian writing, storytelling, and film, offers insightful and provocative analyses of representations by and about Native peoples, past and present. He considers the relations between tricksters in traditional and contemporary stories, the ways in which Native peoples were depicted in mainstream American literature in the mid-nineteenth century, and how modern Cherokee authors look back upon and represent the forced removal of their ancestors from the Southeast in the 1830s. He also examines the writings of the famed Pequot public intellectual William Apess (1798-1839) and the complex communicative strategies informing the contemporary prize-winning Inuit film Atanarjuat, the Fast Runner. All That Remains not only showcases one of the most influential scholars in the field but also establishes a bold agenda for Native literary criticism in the twenty-first century.
About the Author
James H. Howard (1925and#8211;82) was a professor of anthropology at Oklahoma State University. His many publications include
The Warrior Who Killed Custer: The Personal Narrative of Chief Joseph White Bull and
Shawnee: The Ceremonialism of a Native American Tribe and Its Cultural Background.and#160;
Raymond J. DeMallie is Chancellorand#8217;s Professor of Anthropology and American Studies, codirector of the American Indian Studies Research Institute, and curator of North American Ethnology at the Mathers Museum of World Cultures at Indiana University.
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Douglas R. Parks is a professor of anthropology and codirector of the American Indian Studies Research Institute at Indiana University, and editor of the journal Anthropological Linguistics.