“a blood-colored outgrowth of a thorny shrub.” Names do make a difference. Minorities and oppressed people are especially sensitive to the terminology used to describe them or their culture. The same words may mean different things to NativebrAmericans or to white people, or they may be insulting in one language and either meaningless or used inappropriately in another. For example, no Native American woman wants to be referred to as a squaw, an Algonquian-based insult. A Native American physician does not expect to be called “chief.” Some tribes are designated by strange foreign terms likeiGros Ventre/i(“Big Bellies”),iNez Perce/i(“Pierced Noses”), oriApache/i(a Zuni Indian word meaning “enemy”). Native cultural and religious terms are sometimes appropriated by Western businesses for their commercial value. Would you feel comfortable riding in a Jeep Jew or drinking Communion Beer?brbrI have also seen people go to the other extreme: they try so hard to make every word polite and politically correct that they become tongue-tied, like a centipede that is asked, “How do you move all those legs?” I once met a young white man who had learned Indian sign language from a book and planned to use it when he visited an Indian reservation. He believed that this would demonstrate his respect for tradition. I was sorry to disappoint him: “When Indian people don’t speak one another’s languages, they communicate in English. People are likely to think that you are ‘signing’ because you’re deaf.” I don’t wish to scare you from talking with or about people who are unfamiliar. If you speak with a@p£×=qÿ¾Û€  (less)

religious ceremonies. Freshly designed, the 2003 edition includes a new introduction, index, and an extensive Native American Resource Guide to tribal headquarters, museums, and annual events that are listed by tribal affiliation. For more than a century, Native American medicine men have predicted the advent of a new era in which the spiritual practices of their peoples would be revered by the white man and the Native American alike. Thomas E. Mails could be considered a principal figure in helping that prediction come true.  (less)

platoon and tested the strength of his own Native American heritage./DIVDIV /DIVDIVTecube was a respected point man and leader of his platoon. His memoir provides an intimate glimpse of the daily lives of infantrymen—the monotony of camp, the oppressive heat, the deceptively dull routine of patrols, the brief but furious eruptions of combat, the forging of platoon squads on the crucible of trust, a pervasive sadness and indifference, and a growing acceptance of the imminence of death. Particularly powerful are Tecube’s observations and experiences from the perspective of a Native American soldier. Many aspects of TeCube's cultural heritage—his traditional religious beliefs, the farewell blessing from an Apache medicine man, the memory of special powwow dances held back home for soldiers—were a source of strength to him./DIVTeCube, a Jicarilla Apache and one of the approximately 82,000 Native Americans who served in the Vietnam War, tells a story of his year in combat that is both ordinary and extraordinary.-ChoiceTeCube's salvation was the discipline and strength of his native culture, which he drew upon in his darkest times. Straightforward and unaffected, this memoir presents a point of view rarely found in the literature of the Vietnam War.-Booklist[TeCube] was buoyed by his people''s traditional prayers and a sense of connectedness to earlier generations of Indian warriors. He found practical usefulness in the World War II stories an older Jicarilla Apache man had told him. This is an ordinary soldier''s story, but immensely powerful in its ordinariness.-KliattDIVLeroy TeCube works in the Environmental Protection Office of the Jicarilla Apache Tribe./DIV  (less)

to him by one who is an outsider, Windspirit, a white American shaman. Journey with Crow, the young Navajo standing on the threshold of manhood, as he embarks on a mystical journey to fulfill his destiny as a Medicine Man. His spiritual guide, Windspirit, a gentle and understanding teacher, leads a defiant Crow towards the fulfillment of his lifes dream. The lessons taught by Windspirit involve the reader from the beginning. Windspirits methods and techniques teach Crow how to use his mental powers to experience other dimensions. Using personal intuition, inner strength and inner power, Windspirit guides Crow along the path of the shaman. Crow realizes that knowledge isnt limited to what you can see. This book appeals to a wide range of readers, from those who enjoy the Native American culture to those more serious students seeking to explore shaman medicine for themselves.Windspirit promises to engage all of your senses with a fascinating chronicle of the ancient process of becoming a shaman.  (less)

a special investigator with the native police force on the Navajo reservation. Ella's brother Clifford, a Hataali or medicine man, says that her investigative skills are gifts from the spirits who guard and guide the Navajo, but Ella insists it's her FBI training that has honed her instincts.brbrWhen the daughter of Senator Yellowhair is killed in a suspicious car accident, the Senator accuses Ella and the tribe's medical examiner, Dr. Carolyn Roanhorse, of tampering with evidence and falsifying the autopsy results. An outbreak of meningitis leads to more trouble when many of those who are vaccinated begin dying from an unknown disease. Riots between Indian and White workers at the Navajo-owned mine stretch the resources of the tribal police even thinner.brbrConvinced that solving one mystery means solving them all, Ella plunges into her investigations despite threats from all sides and her suspicions that Navajo witches are somehow involved. Ella Clah has sworn to protect her people from all menaces--spiritual and physical--and she's not going to back off now.br/divDIVSuspenseful and appealing; An intriguing mystery set against--and deeply rooted in--a beautifully described Rez and the people who live there. -Diana Gabaldon oniDeath Walker/ibrbrA complex and satisfying mystery richly woven with Navajo culture and mysticism. -Tess Gerritsen oniDeath Walker/ibrbrThe authors know and love the Navajo world to the great benefit of their readers. - Carolyn Hartbr/divDIVbAimée and David Thurlo/bhave been married for more than thirty years and have been writing novels together for nearly that long, in a variety of genres including romance, young adult, and mystery. They have three?Р (less)

the new burden of massive wealth he begins looking for a way to spend the money to best affect the world. Before he gets his hands on the money, he rides his Harley Davidson out West, falls in love with a married woman, meets up with an Native American Medicine Man, a Catholic Priest, and a Jewish Rabbi.  (less)

woman claimed it was Kai's destiny to find a sacred artifact and save their people. To Kai, destiny felt like a curse. Because this mission pitted her against a deadly enemy--and sent her to the Australian Outback with the one man she had hoped to forget. Only one thing was certain: Kai was determined to win. Or die trying... SISTERS OF THE ARK: Driven by a dream of legendary power, these Native American women have sworn to protect all that their people hold dear.  (less)

impact on teenagers.  (less)

for the first time drafted into the U.S. military, ethnologist Maud Oakes recorded the legend and made reproductions of the beautiful ceremonial paintings, given to her by the medicine man Jeff King. Originally printed separately in a portfolio, the text and eighteen paintings are now available as a bound book.  (less)

Many did, but precious few were successful in large urban areas. In order to provide needed support and offer hope to these individuals, they formed political groups (Red Power, ARM, AIM, et al.). These organizations encouraged them to reject any sense of shame of their culture and assisted individuals as they waged battles in court, in federal parks, and in towns across America for their rights. More importantly, these actions coincided with a return of the people to their traditions. Native American activists inspired young people to learn as many of the old ways as they could. A Laguna woman who was part of this cultural renaissance became its most celebrated author. Already highly regarded for her poetry collection, Laguna Woman (1974), Leslie Marmon Silko became the first female Native American novelist with Ceremony (1977). The story illustrates the importance of recovering the old stories and merging them with modern reality to create a stronger culture. In the novel, a young man named Tayo, from the Laguna Reservation, returns from fighting in the Pacific. He is suffering from a battle fatigue that white medicine cannot cure. Through his struggle back to health, we learn that the way to heal the self, the land, and the people, is to rediscover the neglected traditional ceremonies and our relationship to the earth. Noted technically for her....  (less)

over the last twenty-five years has given him unique access to the Indian community. In 1997, he became the adopted brother of Joseph Medicine Crow, whose grandfather White Man Runs Him was one of Custer's six Crow scouts. Dr. Viola is the author of fifteen books, including After Columbus, North American Indians, and It Is a Good Day to Die. He lives in Falls Church, Virginia, and Bozman, Maryland.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.br        brWhat 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 @¸Që…ÿ¾Û€  (less)