Library Acquisitions with Summaries

The Two-Legged Creature, An Otoe Story, retold by Anna Lee Walters - There once was a magical time when all the animals lived close together, sharing the earth and sky with one another, living in peace and happiness without argument and fear. Among them lived a two-legged one we now call Man, and the other creatures showed him how to live.

Before long, the two-legged creature stopped listening to the other creatures and began to act differently, treating those around him cruelly. How did the other creatures deal with their destructive companion?

This Otoe story shows us how people came to be separated from the rest of the animal kingdom, drawing on traditional Native American values to teach us how we are viewed by other beings living in the world with us.

The Unbreakable Code, by Sara Hoagland Hunter - John is scared. His mom married the man from Minnesota, and now he has to leave the Navajo Reservation. John has never lived off the Reservation. What will it be like? How will he measure up to the people who live outside of the Four Sacred Mountains?

But John's grandfather tells him he will be all right, for he has something very special to take with him; he has the unbreakable code -- the code that saved the lives of thousands of Americans in the Pacific during World War II, invented using the then unwritten Navajo language.

The Unbreakable Code portrays the quiet pride of a Navajo code talker as he explains to his grandson how the Navajo language, faith and ingenuity helped win World War II.

"The simplicity of this story will greatly enhance the interest of students to learn about the daring episode of diversifying a Native American language into an instrument to help win the war. The fact that Sara Hunter and Julia Miner had personal interviews with the Navajo code talkers makes this story authentic." --Dr. Sam Billison, President of the Navajo Code Talkers Association

Old Father Story Teller, by Pablita Velarde - As a child at her native Santa Clara Pueblo, near Santa Fe, New Mexico, Pablita Velarde heard the legends of her people told by her grandfather and great-grandfather. Now recognized as one of the greatest American Indian woman artists, she has selected six of the most memorable of these tribal stories for her book Old Father Story Teller. These legends are simply written, much as Pablita related them to her own children when they were young. She has illustrated each story with the natural earthtone paintings that have gained her national and international renown. Her illustrated legends reveal the artist at her best, in a book that will delight old and young alike.

We Dance Because We Can - People of the Pow-Wow - Five hundred years after Columbus, the old inhabitants of the New World are creating a Native American Renaissance. At the heart of this resurgence are tribal dancers who sustain the community's spiritual and artistic traditions. Every year at hundreds of pow-wows across the country, master dancers compete in exhibitions of skill and pageantry -- largely out of sight of the general public.

In We Dance Because We Can, photographer Don Contreras and writer Diane Morris Bernstein bring to light the modern practitioners of this ancient art form. Stunning full-color portraits capture more than 30 dancers in traditional regalia, along with photos and profiles of selected tribal leaders, craftsmen and children. In their own words, the dancers of their traditions and experiences in a world most Americans never see.

We Dance Because We Can celebrates the rich tapestry of Native American life, a profound spirituality woven with yarn of exuberant hue.

Less Than Half, More Than Whole, by Kathleen and Michael Lacap - A young boy playing with his friends at the lake suddenly recognizes that he is different from them. In the water's reflection, Tony sees that he does not have sky-colored eyes and yellow hair like Scott, nor does he have brown skin and hair dark as night like Will. The other boys notice this, too, and Will says, "You're not like me. I'm all Indian. I think you're only half, or less than half."

Tony travels through the pages of Less Than Half, More Than Whole searching for an answer to his question: What does it mean to be less than half? Finally, while visiting his grandfather on the reservation and examining the Creator's gift of corn, he is shown that he is more than whole. Any child who has ever felt "different" will find a sense of peace and belonging in the touching wisdom of this story.

Legends & Lore of the American Indians, Edited by Terri Hardin - Here is an extraordinary collection of Native American legend and lore drawn from a wealth of material gathered together by both storytellers and scholars. Much Native American belief centered around myths of creation, hunting and farming. The gods of sky, sun and rain were all supplicated with song, ritual and, the most sacred of all, tobacco. Many legends also grew up around certain plants that were valuable for medicinal purposes and around certain animals that were considered sentient beings. By establishing a rapport with these animals, they could become an individual's spiritual guide and protector. Legends and Lore of the American Indians is a bountiful crop of some of the most famous and interesting Native American myths.

For easy reference Legends and Lore of the American Indians divides the United States into four sections: the Northeast and Southeast; Central and Great Lakes; the Southwest; Coastal California and the Northwest. Tribal lore and legend is organized within the geographic area where a particular tribe lived at the turn of the century. A list of tribes for each region is included.

The Native American, according to C.M. Skinner, "is a great storyteller. Every tribe has its traditions, and the elderly men and women like to recount them for they always find listeners." Legends and Lore of the American Indians makes these traditions available for generations to come.

Folk Tales of the North American Indians, by Stith Thompson - First recorded by European settlers of the New World in the 1600s and collected widely over the next three centuries, the tales and myths of the North American Indians reveal striking similarities from region to region.

Many fine examples of these great stories are contained in this new edition of Folk Tales of the North American Indians, the pioneering book that provided the first comprehensive account of Indian folklore by motif.

Based on the work of a generation of gifted folklorists and ethnographers, this classic work was compiled by Stith Thompson, author of the well-known Motif-Index of Folk Literature and the scholar who almost single-handedly put the study of folklore on a firm basis.

Collected here, from every region of the continent, are Mythological Stories, such as Sun Sister and Moon Brother (Eskimo), The Woman Who Fell from the Sky (Seneca), and The Beginning of Newness (Zuni) ... Mythical Incidents, including The Theft of Fire (Maidu), The Sun Snarer (Menomini), and The Release of the Wild Animals (Comanche) ... Trickster Tales like The Eye-Juggler (Cheyenne) and The Big Turtle's War Party (Skidi Pawnee) ... Hero Tales such as The Jealous Uncle (Kodiak), The Attack of the Giant Elk (Jicarilla Apache), and The False Bridegroom (Gros Ventre) ... Journeys to the Other World, including The Stretching Tree (Chilcotin) and The Arrow Chain (Tlingit) ... and stories of Animal Wives and Husbands, like The Piques Buffalo-Wife (Blackfoot) and The Dog Husband (Quinault).

The volume also features fascinating Tales Borrowed from Europeans, such as Cinderella (Zuni) and The Ant and the Grasshopper (Shuswap) ... and Bible Stories, including The Tower of Babel (Choctaw) and Crossing the Red Sea (Cheyenne).

Catlin's Letters and Notes on the North American Indians.  George Catlin was one of the greatest American artists of the 19th century. He also wrote extensively trying to preserve the rapidly vanishing Native American culture he so admired.

Letters and Notes on the North American Indians is Catlin's finest work, presenting in vivid detail his first-hand observations of the manners, customs and living conditions of the Indian tribes of the American frontier during his travels between 1832-1839.

Filled with 400 illustrations, carefully engraved from the author's original paintings, this pioneering collection of 58 extraordinary "letters" brings to life 48 different tribes many of which were virtually unknown to the white population of his day.

From the Senecas, Oneidas and Tuscaroras of the Northeast... to the Choctaws, Cherokees, and Creeks of the South ... to the Mandans, Pawnees and Sioux of the Great Plains ... to the Blackfeet, Nez Perces and Crows of the Far West, these writings capture all aspects of a vibrant Native American civilization, which in a few short decades would almost cease to exist.

Included are unsurpassed descriptions of the leaders, both men and women, from each tribe, together with detailed accounts of their villages, family groups and marriage patterns, hunting and eating rituals, spiritual beliefs, dances and games and many other facets of communal life -- plus full notes on their character and history.

Who Was Who in Native American History, by Carl Waldman.  From the author of the highly acclaimed Atlas of the North American Indian and Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes follows this fascinating, extensive reference to the individuals who shaped Native American history, from early contact until 1900. More than 1,000 exciting entries retell the lives of prominent Indians and the white men and women who interacted with them.

Included in the alphabetically arranged entries are English and Indian names, birth and death dates, tribe, occupation, relationship to other prominent Native Americans and concise biography.

Comprehensive and authoritative, Who Was Who in Native American History brings together, for the first time in one collection, the stories of both renowned and less familiar figures, including tribal leaders such as Sitting Bull, Joseph Brant and Massasoit, medicine men such as Arpeika, Canalla and Nakaidoklini, warriors such as Crazy Horse, Osceola and El Mocho, army scouts such as Christopher "Kit" Carson, Bloody Knife and Davy Crockett, explorers such as John Cabot, Jean Ribault and William Clark, American and European statesmen such as Andrew Jackson and Lewis Cass, army officers such as George Crook and Miles Standish, Traders such as Simon McTavish, William Henry Ashley and John Tanner, artists and photographers such as Carl Bodmer and Howling Wolf, scholars and educators such as Franz Boas and Henry Rowe Schoolcraft.

Who Was Who in Native American History is written in a clear, concise style that makes it accessible to students, history buffs and general readers alike. Cross-referenced and complete with an appendix organizing names by tribe or occupation, it is an invaluable reference for anyone interested in American history and its heroes.

Rebels & Yankees, The Commanders of the Civil War, by William C. Davis.  In the spring of 1861 the time for talk had run out. Union and Confederate forces faced one another across Charleston Harbor, and the moment had come for the guns to decide the matter. On a wave of patriotic fervor, America went to war with itself, but in the rush to arms very few people north or south gave much thought about how the new volunteer armies were to be led to victory.

The Commanders of the Civil War seeks to explain from the officers' own experiences and points of view how the war was waged, and how those chosen to lead coped with the responsibilities of command. It is a story rich in depth, for the officers on both sides presented a diverse and remarkable group of individuals, from the professionals of the "old army" and navy to the political generals and social visionaries, from those whose military abilities are best left forgotten to those whose genius for war made them legends.

The book is graced with illustrative material of the highest order, including contemporary photographs and uniform illustrations. Specially featured are color plates of historical artifacts which present to the reader an unparalleled opportunity to view many of the rarest items from some of the best private and institutional Civil War collections in the United States. Among others, the uniforms and personal belongings of Lee, Grant, Meade and Stuart along with more macabre items, such as the coat worn by Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville, which still bears the mark of the fatal bullet. With an extraordinary grasp of the times and its people, William C. Davis weaves tale and anecdote into the broad sweep of history and allows us a rare insight into the lives of these men, from their struggle with conflicting loyalties in 1861 to their often harsh and ignoble fates after 1865. With The Commanders of the Civil War, Davis has produced a work of living history, and one which deserves its place among the finest books on the Civil War period.

The Cherokee Nation, by Marion L. Starkey.  First published a half-century ago, this classic history of the Cherokee Nation tells in vivid detail the tragic story of a great and beloved people both before and after it was uprooted and forced to travel that bitter road known as the "Trail of Tears."

Marian L. Starkey relates how the Cherokees had at first lived in harmony with their white neighbors in the southeastern United States, how they had adopted modern dress and technology; and how Sequoia had developed a Cherokee alphabet.

The author explains how this harmonious relationship was shattered beginning in the late 1830s, when the Federal government undertook to remove the Cherokees from their ancestral lands in Georgia and the adjoining states and force them across the Mississippi to what would become Indian Territory and then Oklahoma.

She recounts the struggles surrounding this shameful removal, masterfully describing the roles played by the U.S. government, the state of Georgia, and the Cherokee people. Victims finally of greed and cynicism, the Cherokees were herded along the "Trail of Tears" -- an enforced migration which produced incredible suffering, horror and death, and which remains one of the darkest chapters in American history.  Written with great empathy and respect for a noble people, The Cherokee Nation is a book for today's readers to experience, learn from and remember.