Native America: Contemporary History

AMERICAN INDIAN WOMEN: Telling Their Lives
by Gretchen M. Bataille and Kathleen Mullen Sands. Beautiful cover art painting by Barbara Goodluck, Navaho. Condition: UNREAD 1987 Univ. of Nebraska Press Trade Paperback, 4th printing. Tiny edgewear. Content: Indian women's autobiographies have been slighted because of the assumption that women had a secondary and insignificant role in Indian society. Gretchen M. Bataille and Kathleen Mullen Sands cogently demonstrate in this book the creative vitality of autobiographies that, despite differences in style and purpose, clarify the centrality of women in American Indian cultures. Included is a comprehensive, annotated bibliography or works by and about American Indian women. [1 copy available]
$ 4.39 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

AMERICAN INDIANS, TIME, AND THE LAW (Native Societies in Modern Constitutional Democracy)
by Charles F. Wilkinson. Cover art The Creation of Order by Ben Harjo, Jr. Condition: UNREAD 1987 Yale University Press Trade Paperback, 9th printing. Content: In 1959, the Supreme Court ushered in a new era of Indian law, which recognizes Indian tribes as permanent governments within the federal constitutional system and, on the whole, honors old promises to the Indians. Drawing together historical sources such as the records of treaty negotiations with the Indians, classic political theory on the nature of sovereignty, and anthropological studies of societal change, this powerful and edifying book evaluates the Court's work in Indian law over the past twenty-five years and considers the effects of time on law. [1 copy available]
$ 9.25 + $ 3.09 media shipping.

INDIAN COUNTRY
by Peter Matthiessen (In the Spirit of Crazy Horse). Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 1992 Penguin Trade Paperback, first printing. Light edgewear with moderate tanning to page edges. Just not crisp. Content: "The threats to Native American societies detailed in this book are less bloody and horrific, but just as real as those perpetrated by the U.S. military. Yes, manifest destiny lives on in the halls of the U.S. government in the early 21st century, but with agencies like the BIA and the Department of Interior doing the nasty work. Along with all the hard-hitting research that Matthiessen brings to his writing, he's also at home with the natural history of Indian lands. He is subtle in the way he takes you with him on a walk through a working village or a ride to Black Mesa to get a truckload of household coal. Matthiessen spends time among the people living on the reservations, observing the slow encroachment of capitalism into their traditional ways of farming and trade, and ultimately seeing tribes divided into progressive and traditional factions. Tribes & reservations covered: Miccosukee; Hopi; Cherokee; Mohawk; Yurok and Karuk; Lakota; Chumash; Paiute & Shoshone; and the Navajo of "Big Mountain." [1 copy available]
$ 2.49 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

INDIANS AND THE AMERICAN WEST IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
by Donald L. Parman. B&W photos & charts. Condition: NEW 1995 Indiana University Press second printing. Perfect book. Content: As the 20th century began, Native Americans were reeling from a century of war, forced resettlement, and loss of indigenous control. Parman's chronological account follows the Indians' struggle to hold on to their land, resources, and identity as well as the relationships between economic interests and the government in dealing with the Indian. [1 copy available]
$ 13.49 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

JOURNEY TO HOPI LAND (Look West series)
by Anna Silas. Wonderful selection and mixture of B&W era photos and color photos of today. Map of Hopi lands for the end pages. Condition: NEW 2006 Rio Nueva small hardcover (pictorial boards) & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Small discoloration inside bottom edge of DJ - can't be seen and pale, but there. Content: Welcome to Hopi Land: turquoise skies, sun-washed pueblos, traditional lifeways, and modern people. Visit the land, art, and culture of the Hopi people, with Anna Silas, director of the Hopi Cultural Center Museum, as your guide. Hopi Land, located in northern Arizona, encompasses three spectacular mesas surrounded by 1.6 million acres of tutsqua, or homeland. Here the Hopi people have lived continuously since A.D. 500, following a way of life based on humility, cooperation, respect, and earth stewardship. Throughout this beautifully illustrated book, historical and cultural information comes to life in vintage and contemporary photographs. Illustrations also showcase world-famous Hopi arts and crafts, including pottery, textiles, jewelry, basketry, architecture, painting, and woodcarvings of divine ancestral spirits called katsinam. Anna Silas is Tewa-Hopi and a member of the Tobacco Clan. A resident of First Mesa, Arizona, she has managed the Hopi Cultural Center Museum since 1990. 64 pages. [1 copy available]
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THE LASTING OF THE MOCHICANS: History of an American Myth
by Martin Barker and Roger Sabin. B&W photos. Condition: NEW 1999 University Press of Mississippi Trade PB, first printing. Content: "This was an ambitious endeavor by the authors to view everything related to Last of the Mohicans...all the films, comic books, television shows and specials...and to analyze why it has lasted, why the myth is important to American culture, why the book keeps being produced. The wealth of detail was fascinating." [1 copy left.]
$ 5.50 + $ 3.09 media shipping.

LAKOTA WOMAN
by Mary Crow Dog with Richard Erdoes. B&W photos illustrate. Condition: NEW 1991 HarperPerennial Trade PB first thus, 36th printing. Tiny edgewear. Movie edition. Content: This is one of the best books available to people interested in contemporary Native Americans. Mary Brave Bird's life story sheds light on traditions of her Lakota (Sioux) people from the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations in South Dakota. She shows, in a very clear way, their tortured history with the missionaries, state bureaucracy, the courts, the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). We see to what extent the government has succeeded in destroying the old life and how small groups of the Sioux managed to preserve traditional ways and ceremonies. Reissued at the time of the TNT movie which, if you have not seen it, run to your local video store! [1 copy available]
$ 5.49 + $ 2.94 media shipping.

THE LONE RANGER AND TONTO FIST FIGHT IN HEAVEN
by Sherman Alexie. Wendell Minor cover art. Condition: NEW 2001 HarperPerennial Trade Paperback, 34th printing. Very pale tanning to page edges. Content: The basis for the great movie Smoke Signals, this work chronicles modern life on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Victor, through whose eyes we view the community, is strongly aware of Native American traditions but wonders whether his ancestors view today's Indians--mired in alcohol, violence, and an almost palpable sense of despair--with sympathy or disgust. In spite of the bleakness of reservation life, the text brims with humor and passion as it juxtaposes ancient customs with such contemporary artifacts as electric guitars and diet Pepsi. The author of two previous poetry collections, Alexie writes with grit and lyricism that perfectly capture the absurdity of a proud, dignified people living in the squalor, struggling to survive in a society they disdain. The 1998 movie was directed by Chris Eyre and starred the greaet Adam Beach, Gary Farmer, Evan Adams, Irene Bedard, Tantoo Cardinal, Michael Greyeyes, Elaine Miles, and Michelle St. John. Not to be missed! [1 copy available]
$ 6.49 + $ 3.09 media shipping. International shipping available.

LONG POWWOW NIGHTS
by David Bouchard and Pam Aleekuk. Beautiful color paintings by Leonard Paul. Bilingual Music CD by Buffy Sainte-Marie. Condition: UNREAD, but perused on shelf, 2009 Red Deer hardcover (pictorial boards) & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Light shelf wear to DJ top edge. Content: The Powwow is a time-honored Native American custom. It is a celebration of life and spirituality, a remembrance of traditions, uniting a people through dance and ritual. This book takes you on a wonderful journey, honoring these mystical dancers who keep their traditions alive through dance and song. In its poetic verses, David Bouchard skillfully narrates the story of a mother's dedication to her roots and her efforts to impress upon her child the importance of culture and identity. Internationally revered Native American artist, Leonard Paul, brings the story alive with his beautiful renditions of powwow dancers, warriors, and stunning landscape. The book is accompanied by a bilingual English & Mi'kmaq CD, which includes music by internationally acclaimed singer and songwriter, Buffy Sainte- Marie. (All ages - 7+) [1 copy available]
$ 13.49 + $ 3.19 media shipping. International shipping available - please email us for details and pricing.

NOW THAT THE BUFFALO'S GONE: A Study of Today's American Indians
by Alvin M. Josephy, Jr. B&W photo section. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 1984 University of Oklahoma Press Trade Paperback, first printing. The front cover has problems: pale shelf wear hinge crease with edgewear and diagonal creases top and bottom corners. Interior clean & tight. Content: In this book one of America's leading writers of Indian History examines the aspirations and feelings of today's Indians. Alvin Josephy analyzes seven principal Issues in the continuing face-off between Indians and Whites: Indian's will to endure as Indians; racial stereotypes that influence Whites' treatment of Indians; Indians' efforts to retain the deep spiritual basis of their lives; fight to retain tribal land bases; reassertion of Indian water rights; claims to fishing and hunting rights; the modern-day quest for self-determination, sovereignty, and control of tribal affairs and resources. [1 copy available]
$ 8.49 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

PEOPLE OF LEGEND: Native Americans of the Southwest
color photos & text by John Annerino. Beautiful photos. Condition: UNREAD 1997 Sierra Club large hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Light edge wear tp DJ ede. Content: This book by acclaimed photojournalist and author John Annerino is a stunning and evocative portrait of Native America and the mystical landscapes they call home. "This largely photographic essay...offers a rare glimpse of coming of age ceremonies and feasts, and vivid re-enactments of ancient dances." Contents: People of the Mountains (Apache/Nde); People of the Sierra (Mountain Pima/O'ob); People of the Desert (Papago/Tohono O'oodham); People of the Rivers (Pima/Akimel O'odham) (Mohavae/Makhav) (Hualapai/Hwalapay); People of the Mesa (Navajo/Dine); A Gathering of Nations. Spectacular! Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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PRISON WRITINGS: My Life Is My Sun Dance
by Leonard Peltier, US Prisoner # 89637-132. Edited by Harvey Arden. One B&W photo of Peltier. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 2000 St. Martin's Trade paperback, 5th printing. Remainder mark bottom edges. First 3 pages are "clipped" - no text involved and no idea why. Content: Part manifesto, part memoir, a standout collection by the celebrated, long-imprisoned American Indian Movement co-founder and activist. Peltier, a Sioux Indian, has been in federal prison since 1977, convicted of killing two FBI agents during the 1973 siege at Wounded Knee, S.D. Peltier asserts that he did not commit these murders, writing simply, Innocence has a single voice that can only say over and over, I didnt do it. Guilt has a thousand voices, all of them lies. (In his preface, former attorney general Ramsey Clark makes a compelling argument for why we should believe Peltier, a case also made by Peter Matthiessen in his much-litigated book In the Spirit of Crazy Horse). In this anthology, Peltier charts the course of his activism, describing his evolution from a young man on a South Dakota reservation who wanted what other young men in his circumstances wanteda car, a jobto a political organizer keenly aware of the injustices visited past and present on Americas indigenous peoples. Although he too easily falls into sloganeering (We are the voices of the earth. We speak for those who are not yet born. When you exclude us, you exclude your own conscience. We are your conscience!), Peltier has much to say about American Indian politics, a dauntingly complex set of issues; among other things, he insists that the US government follow a Canadian model in offering reparations for historical wrongs. He also advances the plausible view that the siege at Wounded Knee was a sideshow meant to disguise a deal through which a uranium-rich portion of the Pine Ridge Sioux reservation was ceded to the federal government. Writing more personally, Peltier recounts the intricacies of living behind bars. As a houseguest in hell, he writes, you learn that the devil has many mansions, and you keep shuttling between them for no known reason. An important contribution to Native American letters, sure to stir both controversy and renewed attention for Peltiers ongoing quest for freedom. [1 copy available]
$ 9.00 + $ 3.19 media shipping. International shipping available.

RED POWER: The American Indians' Fight for Freedom
by Alvin M. Josephy, Jr. Condition: Good only, 1971 American Heritage hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), no printing given. Ex-library book with all markings. Content: An essential handbook for anyone concerned with the never-ending struggle of Native Americans to obtain freedoms that other Americans have long taken for granted. Contents: The New Indian patriots (Josephy); Indian Reservation System; Indian SElf-Government; Program for Indian Citizens; Declaration of Indian Purpose; Hopi Way of Life is the Way of Peace; American Indian Capital Conference on Poverty; Resoution for a New National Indian Policy; Indian Statement on Policy and Legislation; "We Are Not Free (Warrior); "I Am A Yakima and Cherokee Indian, and a Man" (Mills); Is the Trend Changing; American Indian and Bureau of Indian Affairs; "Our Brother's Keeper"; Statement of the United Southeastern Tribes; Indian Education; Indian Education: A Challenge for the Church; Indian Identity and Economic Development; Indian Water Rights & Reservation Development; "We Must Hold on to The Old Ways (from Alcatraz Island, 1969); Statement of the Indian Members of the National Council on Indian Opportunity; Message to Congress on Indian Affairs; "We Have Endured, We Are Indians"; and This Country Was a Lot Better Off When the Indians Were Running It (Deloria, Jr.). Somewhat dated, but still powerful. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 5.29 + $ 3.29 media shipping

SONGS FROM THIS EARTH ON TURTLE'S BACK
edited by Joseph Bruchac. Condition: Very Good 1983 Greenfield Review Press Trade Paperback, second ediiton. Problems: short "repaired" tear top edge front cover, notes on one page (156), and a check-out envelope inside front cover. Content: An anthology of prose, but mostly poetry, from today's top Native American writers: Duane BigEagle; Peter Blue Cloud; Robert J. Conley; Nia Francisco; Mah-do-ge Tohee; Gerald Vizenor, et al. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 6.89 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

WAR DANCE: Plains Indian Musical Performance
by William K. Powers. B&W photos throughout. Condition: NEW 1992 Univ. of Arizona Press Trade Paperback, second printing. Content: The Indian powwow, with its colorful war dance, is among the most vital aspects of American Indian culture. William Powers has witnessed both the traditions and trends in Plains Indian music and dance over the past thirty years, and here encapsulates his long career in what may be the first book that deals with Plains Indian musical culture as a unit. After providing background material on the study of American Indian music, Powers gives a full description of the popular war dance, discusses the powwow as the context in which the war dance appears, and describes associated dances. While observing that a fascination with "pan-Indianism" temporarily misdirected the study of Plains Indian music and dance by focusing too sharply on what many believed was a nationalization of American Indians, Powers notes that individual tribes continue to be concerned with maintaining their ethnic identities through their styles of music and dance. In the balance of the book, Powers offers essays describing Plains songs available on disc and tape, including notes on the history and culture of tribes and some translations of Lakota songs. A concluding essay offers some observations of why Plains Indian music and dance have received the interest they have and why they will continue to symbolize a burgeoning contemporary American Indian culture--not only on the Plains, but in every corner of the world where American Indians are respected, admired, and imitated. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 10.49 + $ 3.19 media shipping. Priority & International shipping available.

WITHOUT RESERVATION: The Making of America's Most Powerful Indian Tribe and Foxwoods, the World's Largest Casino
by Jeff Benedict. Condition: PLEASE READ / UNREAD 2000 HarperCollins hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. The book was probably intended for a library but never made it - the flaps are pasted to the inside covers - library style. Content: The Mashantucket Pequot tribe of Connecticut were nearly penniless just a couple of decades ago. Today, they are the richest tribe in America and owners of the world's largest gambling casino. And, writes Jeff Benedict, their wealth is based on a fraud. Without Reservation will remind some readers of A Civil Action, by Jonathan Harr, for its novelistic approach to nonfiction as well as its earnestness. Benedict says that Congress was essentially tricked into granting tribal status to the group--a political process that allowed it to skirt the much more stringent recognition standards maintained by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Benedict's reporting is provocative, showing, for instance, that Skip Hayward, the man who headed the tribe for many years, listed his race as "white" on the application for his first marriage license. And Benedict's narrative is character driven almost to a fault, though it makes reading about congressional hearings and backdoor politics enjoyable. There is convincing evidence on these pages that pols were duped by Hayward, first in Connecticut and then in Washington. The evidence is strong enough, in fact, to warrant formal congressional hearings on the decisions made in the 1980s to confer official status on the tribe, and perhaps even revoke that status or redirect some casino profits to poor Indians. In short, Without Reservation is the kind of book that can kick-start a controversy--or at least amplify an existing one to the point where the need for reform becomes urgent. If the book has a weakness, it's that Benedict didn't get to interview many tribal officials. But then it's easy to see why they might avoid a man with so many hard questions. This book needed to be written, even without their cooperation. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 9.49 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

WOUNDED KNEE 1973: A Personal Account
by Stanley David Lyman. Edited by Floyd O'Neil, June Lyman, and Susan McKay. Foreword by Alvin M.Josephy, Jr. B&W photo section. Condition: UNREAD 1993 Bison Trade Paperback, second printing. Tiny shelf wear. Interior clean & tight. Content: "Superintendent Lyman’s running account of the tense events of the siege, as he saw them, [supplies] one of the most important and hitherto missing perspectives of Wounded Knee II."—Alvin M. Josephy, Jr. in his foreword. This book, a diary of Stanley David Lyman, tells with gripping immediacy what went on among the besiegers. . . . Wounded Knee 1973 is an important document that provides a missing perspective to what Lyman believed was a ''revolution,'' pure and simple. But as he puts down his thoughts and emotions of those critical times, in which lives quite literally were in the balance, Lyman sees a government confused, poor communications, ignorance, bureaucratic ineptitude and intolerance to the extreme. Lyman, who was the Bureau of Indian Affairs superintendent at the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1973, gives an inside view of what happened when AIM (American Indian Movement) activists occupied the village of Wounded Knee. Photos. Map. Bibliography. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 15.00 + $ 3.19 media shipping. International shipping available.

NATIVE AMERICAN PONY BOOKPLATES
art by Deviney. Condition: NEW package of 12 bookplates made by pacaritambo books. The peel-off label stock is heavier than most bookplate materials and is matte and not glossy. They are as perfect as possible, and we feel the subject matter is much different than you can get at a big store. 3.0 wide x 4.00 high. Content: Prancing Indian Pony decked out in feathers with his portrait above. We can personalize your bookplate (the font is Enviro D) - just email us the name. Any questions, click here to email us.
$ 4.00 + $ 2.85 first class shipping. International shipping available.