Product Description
This little book took its rise in the following experience that came to me many years ago when living with the Indians in their homes and pursuing my ethnological studies:
... Read more

Product Description
In this reprint of a classic Indian Captivity Narrative from the 19th century, Nelson Lee recounts his adventures and his narrow escape from the Comanches in tales nearly too tall to be true. From South America to Texas, he finds adventure everywhere. Lee emerges from one hairy situation only to ride into another daring adventure with the coolness of a Hollywood hero. For three years he is held captive among the Comanches. Tortured by his captors, this Texas Ranger survives to tell others about what he observes and learns about the Comanche tribe, and publishes one of the best descriptions of the life of the Texas Rangers.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Purchase of coffee substitute
I have previously purchased from amazon a coffee substitute titled Perro. Your screen indicated that if we purchased a case and signed up for future shipments the price would have been a bit over $30/case/ free shipping. We were billed an excess of $44 which included shipping. Please do not ship any additional product in the future, since your offer was not what you charged. Should you ship any it will not be returned unless a paid return label is sent to us and the credit card charge will be challeneged.

John Rossi; Georgetown, Texas

three years among the comanches

It was fun reading about a relative.Nelson Lee was my great,great grandfathers brother.
It was exciting and sometimes scary to put myself in Nelson Lee's place. I got a good feel how life must have been during that period. I doubt I could have done as well, if the story is accurate.
WORTH READING.

Nolen Lee

Could I do this? 3 years of capitivity
I am an avid reader of true Indian/pioneer books. This was new to me in format because only the first story I had read written by an adult captive and a male.

Most of the books seem to be about young children or perhaps a young woman. The treatment and thoughts of an adult male were interesting. I kept wondering if I could have gone thru the ordeal. A quick read and makes you appreciate today! If you like history you will enjoy this true story.

Pretty good read...but take with a grain of salt
The author relates actual events in Texas Ranger history as though he was present.However, the Texas State Historical site has no record of him ever being on Ranger rolls.

First Hand.
I have read the book and most of the negative comments as well.
As an author and a person that have lived among the Indians,I am familiar with a lot of what Lee has declared. Indian culture, no matter the tribes, has a great deal of weired beleifs, witchcraft included. They like smoking the weed and getting high.I suggest you buy the story, I assure it walks with truth. ... Read more

Product Description
Popular lore has long depicted the Karankawa Indians as primitive scavengers (perhaps even cannibals) who eked out a meager subsistence from fishing, hunting and gathering on the Texas coastal plains. That caricature, according to Robert Ricklis, hides the reality of a people who were well-adapted to their environment, skillful in using its resources, and successful in maintaining their culture until the arrival of Anglo-American settlers. The Karankawa Indians of Texas is the first modern, well-researched history of the Karankawa from prehistoric times until their extinction in the nineteenth century. Blending archaeological and ethnohistorical data into a lively narrative history, Ricklis reveals the basic lifeway of the Karankawa, a seasonal pattern that took them from large coastal fishing camps in winter to small, dispersed hunting and gathering parties in summer. In a most important finding, he shows how, after initial hostilities, the Karankawa incorporated the Spanish missions into their subsistence pattern during the colonial period and coexisted peacefully with Euroamericans until the arrival of Anglo settlers in the 1820s and 1830s. These findings will be of wide interest to everyone studying the interactions of Native American and European peoples. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Karankawas "B.P." (Before Present)
Robert Ricklis' "The Karankawa Indians of Texas" (1996) presents an informative and technical study for the Native Americans living along the Texas Coastal Bend prior to the 16th century Europeans' arrival.This 222-page paperback "ecological study" is well documented with two lengthy appendixes and 21 pages of bibliography.Multiple graphs, charts, maps, and figures attest to the books considerable research.

Ricklis reviews several archaeological sites along the Texas Gulf Coast, from Matagorda Bay to Corpus Christi Bay, for evidence of the Karankawa culture.As a Research Fellow at University of Texas and the President of a private archaeological firm he personally attended many of the locations through the 1980s.Studying the remains of everything from animal bones to pottery chards at each site, he assembles an informative look at this ancient (and now extinct) Native American group.

From his research Ricklis concludes that the Karankawas were much taller than most other Native Americans of their era (p.9), that they were indeed cannibalistic (but probably only for ritual purposes, p. 147), and their initial encounter with Europeans- 16th century Spaniards- was friendly (only later did these fierce warriors attempt to rescue themselves from Spanish encroachment, see chapter 9).

One learns of the Karankawa adaptation efforts to Spanish ways (chapter 7), the terrible devastation from European sicknesses in the native population (chapter 8), and later Spanish desire to eradicate the Karankawas (p. 152).Ricklis also introduces readers to several archaeological components and suggestions:"B.P." as "before present" (p.44) for much of his site dating, Story's "lag effect theory" (p. 58) at various Rockport Phase locations, and that prehistoric people (who presumably matured into the Karankawas) inhabited the Coastal Bend region "as far back as 4,500 year ago" (p. 70).

Although "The Karankawa Indians of Texas" is somewhat technical in presentation the non technical reader will also be interested in its learning.It is recommended to all archaeologists, students of Native American history, Texas historians, Texas Coastal Bend buffs, and history students.
... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
Religion mattered to the prehistoricSouthwestern people, just as it matters to their descendents today. Examining the role of religion can help to explain architecture, pottery, agriculture, even commerce. But archaeologists have only recently developed the theoretical and methodological tools with which to study this topic. Religion in the Prehispanic Southwest marks the first book-length study of prehistoric religion in the region. Drawing on a rich array of empirical approaches, the contributors show the importance of understanding beliefs and ritual for a range of time periods and southwestern societies. For professional and avocational archaeologists, for religion scholars and students, Religion in the Prehispanic Southwest represents an important contribution. ... Read more

Product Description
“The combination of a scholarly and lyrical stylemakes Native Peoples of the Southwest highly informative and apleasure to read. Reminiscent in its historical truthfulness of DeeBrown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, this is a scholarly textthat American Indians would want for their own children’s highereducation. And a must read for non-Indians who want to understand thetrue history of Southwestern American Indians. Native Peoples of theSouthwest authoritatively answers why Indian people persistently andproudly are committed to preserving and maintaining their language,culture, and traditions within a society that nearly annihilated them,and provides hope that those who read it will join American Indians incherishing and supporting the preservation of these living culturaltreasures that bless this great land known for a short historical timeas America.”--Glenn Johnson, M. Ed. (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma)

This comprehensive look at Native American groups in the southwesternUnited States is one of the first to provide both ethnographicresearch and Native American viewpoints. Included are chapters on thePueblos, the Hopi, and the Zuni; the Pimans, the Yaqui, and the RiverYumans; the Upland Yumans, the Apache, the Navajo, and the SouthernPaiute. It explores each group’s environmental adaptation,linguistic affiliation, social organization, history, world view,material culture, and ceremonial institutions. Native Americans speakabout contemporary issues such as the repatriation of sacred objects,reservation gambling, preservation of native plants, and thephilosophy behind tribal colleges.

Griffin-Pierce has visited each tribal group profiled and hascollaborated with native leaders to make the book as up-to-date andaccurate as possible. She emphasizes throughout the multiethnic natureof the American Southwest and the living traditions of nativeculture. Her book will be useful to students of anthropology,archaeology, history, and Native American studies as well as generalreaders. ... Read more

Product Description
The corner of Arizona encompassing Aravaipa Canyon is known to the Western Apaches as Aravaipa, their sacred homeland.This book examines the connection between people and place to show how Aravaipa is intimately tied to Apache identity. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Impressive scholarship and deeply moving
Mr. Record accurately describes one of the most important, but little-known events in all of American history.I do not exaggerate.He also movingly examines its impact, even to our times, on the families who survived the event.I personally have known some of the people he interviewed.The narratives they provided Mr. Record were accurately reported and sympathetically presented.I simply cannot praise this significant book highly enough.

Highly Recommended
I have read several accounts of the Camp Grant Massacre, this author by far is the most objective and well rounded.He provides great insight into the history of the Aravaipa Apaches and the San Carlos Reservation. It is an important book for anyone interested in Arizona History.

Excellent!A Must Read.
Just finished reading this fabulous book.I am no scholar or academic, but this book was a great read.

The author does a great job of balancing this book with a good narrative and an objective perspective.It's been a long time since I read something as compelling as Big Sycamore Stands Alone.Will be looking for more from this author in the near future.

Good, as far as it goes
This book is excellent to the degree it covers primarily one subject (Apache culture)related to the Camp Grant Massacre. Interestingly, three books on the massacre were published at about the same time. One is Shadows at Dawn and the other is titled simply The Camp Grant Massacre. The best way to get a grip on all the issues and people who contributed to the massacre is to read all three books. Each has something to offer that the others don't. As a person who was born and raised adjacent to the San Carlos Apache Reservation, I can relate to much of Sycamore's content. Unfortunately, that includes the rather glum demeanor of its prognosis regarding whether Apache youth will ever be able to recover/preserve vital aspects of their heritage.

Big Sycamore Stands Alone
I found Dr. Records' account gripping and well written.I am not well versed in Native American history so I was very happy to find that this account was easy to follow and not written like a "history" book.I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about Southwestern Apache life and this event in particular. ... Read more

Product Description
The road from dispossessed people to successful nation was a long one, but for the Choctaws it has been worth the journey. This book examines how one tribe moved beyond setbacks to establish a powerful modern tribal government.

The Choctaws in Oklahoma begins with the Choctaws' removal from Mississippi to Indian Territory in the 1830s and then traces the history of the tribe's subsequent efforts to retain and expand its rights and to reassert tribal sovereignty in the late twentieth century. As Kidwell explains, Choctaws adapted to the very structures imposed on them by their colonizers: courts and laws. Tribal politicians quickly learned to use the rhetoric of dependency on the government, but they also demanded justice in the form of fulfillment of their treaty rights, and the Choctaw Nation confronted the government as a legal adversary to achieve its own ends. The Choctaws have adroitly negotiated with the United States and created the Choctaw Nation that exists today.

The Choctaws' story illuminates a key point in contemporary scholarship on the history of American Indians: that they were not passive victims of colonization and did not assimilate quietly into American society. The Choctaws in Oklahoma illustrates one tribe's remarkable success in asserting its sovereignty and establishing a national identity in the face of seemingly insurmountable legal obstacles. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Excellently sourced history, if a little thin at the end
This is a solid, well-sourced book for anyone interested in Indian and specifically Choctaw history, including law and Federal policies.Dr. Kidwell, always a superb writer, has a firm grasp of her sources (including an 1855 book by Peter Pitchlynn that I really HAVE to get over to the Library of Congress to see), and includes a chapter of her own family history to add a good personal touch.At no point in this work did I ever have a question about where an assertion was based in the extant record.

I do disagree slightly with Dr. Kidwell's take on two events (one being the excitement following the 1902 election), based on documents she does not appear to have touched (at NARA DC).This is always the fun part of being a researcher/scholar-- finding new sources to further lift the veil of time.

The two final chapters have the feel of an author rushed to deadline.I have no idea if this was the case, but I was really hoping for more in-depth examination of the circumstances related to the re-emergence of public Choctaw tribal political activity.

Seeing Dr. Robert K. Thomas (may his memory be for a blessing) mentioned and cited is wonderful."Uncle Bob," as he was known by his students, is still missed for his unvarnished opinions and concern for the development of both Indian scholars and scholars of Indian Studies.

An excellent work.

Attempts to draw the lines connecting the past of this Native American tribe from their wrongful displacement
A people displaced, a people whose history has been hard to track. "The Choctaws in Oklahoma: From Tribe to Nation, 1855-1970" attempts to draw the lines connecting the past of this Native American tribe from their wrongful displacement back in the mid nineteenth century to over one hundred years later. A story of how a tribe tries to stay true to its heritage when everything around them tries to change them, "The Choctaws in Oklahoma" is both saddening and intriguing about the cruelty and resolve of human nature.
... Read more

Product Description
This volume-only the third full O'odham telling of ancientness in print-brings together dozens of stories collected in 1927 by anthropologist Ruth Benedict during her only visit to the Pimas. Never before published, it contains more stories than any other source of Pima tales, plus more of the songs and orations that accompanied a telling. It also includes a previously unpublished text by Benedict, "Figures of Speech among the Pima." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Indeed Contested Territory
As a resident of Oklahoma, I found this book to be particularly fascinating. While we are often taught about the history of America as a nation, we are many times left with somewhat of a void as far as history of individual states are concerned.This book demonstrates excellent research skills as told by the many many primary sources. Wickett quite obviously has done his RESEARCH.While many historans today choose to rely on other historians research, Wickett has decided to sift through the abundant primary sources in order to break new ground.His information was thorough, well documented and completely enjoyable to read.My only complaint of the book is that it was not longer; I wanted to read more.Wickett's book would be an asset to the education of history students in Oklahoma as well as anyone interested in our unique history.

Indeed Contested Territory
As a resident of Oklahoma, I found this book to be particularly fascinating. While we are often taught about the history of America as a nation, we are many times left with somewhat of a void as far as history of individual states are concerned.This book demonstrates excellent research skills as told by the many many primary sources. Wickett quite obviously has done his RESEARCH.While many historans today choose to rely on other historians research, Wickett has decided to sift through the abundant primary sources in order to break new ground.His information was thorough, well documented and completely enjoyable to read.My only complaint of the book is that it was not longer; I wanted to read more.Wickett's book would be an asset to the education of history students in Oklahoma as well as anyone interested in our unique history.

Contested Territory: Whites, Native Americans and African Am
I feel this book has great importance and significance in the turbulent field of race relations.While reading this book I was continually struck by the extensive amount of research this historian has completed. I found Wickett's comparison and analysis of African Americans and Native Americans in white society to be fascinating.He clearly points out that while Native Americans were being invited into white society, African Americans were being segregated and pushed to the periphery of American society. The irony of course is that Native Americans did not wish to join white society, while African Americans were more than willing to do so.I feel this book has made an important contribution in the field of race relations.

Well-Trod Territory
Contested Territory purports to be an examination of the interactions between whites, blacks and Native Americans in the Indian and Oklahoma Territories prior to statehood. Instead, it offers an old-fashioned, well-worn tale of white oppression and Native American and black reaction. That story might need to be told, but Wickett's attempt is a frustrating failure on many levels. First is Wickett's race-relations model. Wickett seems content to write a history that ignores much of the last three decades of scholarship on race, gender, identity, cultural formation, community building, acts of resistance, etc. (Since I am most familiar with the historiography of African American scholarship, I will use examples from that literature). Wickett shows no familiarity with the body of work produced by Joe Trotter Jr., Darlene Clark Hine, Robin D.G. Kelley, Quintard Taylor (and others of their generation) who have produced masterful, critical analyses of the lived worlds of African American men and women. Black Oklahomans, in Wickett's world, are one amorphous class, reduced for the most part to reacting to whites and, on occasion, Native Americans.Too often Wickett relies on scholarship that is thirty to forty years old. In fact, when I finished the first two chapters, I was certain that Contested Territory was the work of a venerable professor who finally had gotten around to turning 30-year-old lecture notes into a monograph. Instead, we have a scholar who unstintingly relies on the work and subtle biases of historians writing in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. He even quotes some of these works at length. Wickett also relies uncritically on the reminisces of early white settlers. He does not challenge any of these recollections of life in early Oklahoma nor consider that the memories of these settlers, most of which cast Native Americans and African Americans in a negative light and were collected by the WPA more than four decades later, might be based more in the settlers' biases than in fact. Contested Territory does offer some new information and Wickett is to be commended for his work in the archives. But the shortcomings of this work more than outweigh its value. I had considered using this as a text in a course that I teach, but I can't in good conscious require that my students purchase such a flawed work. Nor would I want to spend the time trying to erase the negative images that Contested Territory would leave with them. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great Info---Highly Recommended...
I loved this book.I found it concise and interesting and excellent for background info of the Apaches from ancient times to the early 1900s.

apche ways
I do not recommend this book. It is dull and confusing throughout. It has no start, end, or meaning, it just rambles on. I would recommend Indeh, a good book that would keep u interested and the stories are told in the Indian way. captivating from the first page to the last. ... Read more

Product Description
Saponise Cuch, Chief of the White River Utes, said to Robert Emmitt in 1948, "I am an old man now, and I am the only one left who remembers this. I have known that someone would come to tell this story; now you will write it out, as I have told it to you." Drawing upon historical documents, transcripts, and letters as well as interviews with Northern Ute elders, Emmitt describes the tragedy of United States Indian Agent Nathan Meeker's plan to 'civilise' the Utes, and the resulting military intervention in which fifty Ute warriors held off the US cavalry and killed Meeker, Major Thomas Thornburgh, and others. Ute warriors sought only to defend their families and their way of life, but the price for that defence was forced removal from Colorado and the loss of over twelve million acres. Written with the care and precision of a finely crafted novel, "The Last War Trail" was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize when it was first published in 1954. ... Read more

Product Description

In the far north there was a village where many warlike Indians lived. In one family there were ten brothers, all brave and fearless. In the spring of the year the youngest brother blackened his face and fasted for several days. Then he sent for his nine brothers and said to them:

"I have fasted and dreamed, and my dreams are good. Will you come on a war journey with me?"

"Yes," they all said readily.

"Then tell no one, not even your wives, of our plan." They agreed to meet on a certain night so that no one should see them go. One brother was named Mudjekeewis, and he was very odd. He was the first to promise that he would not tell. The next two days were spent in preparations for the journey. Mudjekeewis told his wife many times to get his moccasins for him.

"And hurry." he said; "do hurry."

"Why do you want them?" she asked. "You have a good pair on."



Download Thirty Indian Legends Now! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Quiet but Charming
"The Old Hogan" is a charming little story told from the point of view of the hogan, as she watches a more modern home being built for her family. She listens to the children as they joyfully chant about moving into a REAL HOUSE. What is a "real" house? She reflects on the life that has gone on inside of her. Will there still be a place for her when the family moves out? Although this book was first published in 1993, it has a much older feel to it. The illustrations are soft, simplistic images. The text is slow and sentimental, but not overly long. I love this book for its simplicity and the cultural significance of its use in teaching reading in Navajo schools. Visually, it may not be a book that a child would pick out on their own, but the cultural information is valuable and it is a nice book for a quiet moment of shared reading. ... Read more