This compelling collection of essays explores the Qhapaq nan (or Great Inca Road), an extensive network of trails reaching modern-day Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. These roads and the accompanying agricultural terraces and structures that have survived for more than six centuries are a testament to the advanced engineering and construction skills of the Inca people. The Qhapaq nan also spurred an important process of ecological and community inte...

American Indian Nations takes stock of Indian history, policy, and culture over the past 30 years. A distinctive contribution to the understanding and interpretation of current Indian affairs, policies, and community development, this dynamic commentary of contemporary issues brings together a Who's Who of tribal leaders, scholars, and activists. No other collection offers such a thought-provoking and utterly current series of essays on the problems and achievements of modern Nati...

The Education of Augie Merasty offers a courageous and intimate chronicle of life in a residential school.Now a retired fisherman and trapper, Joseph A. (Augie) Merasty was one of an estimated 150,000 First Nations, Inuit, and Metis children who were taken from their families and sent to government-funded, church-run schools, where they were subjected to a policy of "aggressive assimiliation."As Merasty recounts, these schools did more than attempt to mold children...

"I had a profoundly well-educated Princetonian ask me, 'Where is your tomahawk?' I had a beautiful woman approach me in the college gymnasium and exclaim, 'You have the most beautiful red skin.' I took a friend to see Dances with Wolves and was told, 'Your people have a beautiful culture.' . . . I made many lifelong friends at college, and they supported but also challenged me with questions like, 'Why should Indians have reservations?'"What have you always wanted to know about Ind...

The story of the Lakota Sioux's loss of their spiritual homelands and their remarkable legal battle to regain itThe Lakota Indians counted among their number some of the most famous Native Americans, including Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. Their homeland was in the magnificent Black Hills in South Dakota, where they found plentiful game and held religious ceremonies at charged locations like Devil's Tower. Bullied by settlers and the U. S. Army, they refused to rel...

The teachings of the Native Americans provide a connection with the land, the environment, and the simple beauties of life. This collection of writings from revered Native Americans offers timeless, meaningful lessons on living and learning. Taken from writings, orations, and recorded observations of life, this book selects the best of Native American wisdom and distills it to its essence in short, digestible quotes — perhaps even more timely now than when they were first written. In addit...

For four hundred years--from the first Spanish assaults against the Arawak people of Hispaniola in the 1490s to the U.S. Army's massacre of Sioux Indians at Wounded Knee in the 1890s--the indigenous inhabitants of North and South America endured an unending firestorm of violence. During that time the native population of the Western Hemisphere declined by as many as 100 million people. Indeed as historian David E. Stannard argues in this stunning new book the European and white American de...

Since it was first published in 1998, The First Nations of British Columbia has been an essential introduction to the province’s first peoples. Written within an anthropological framework, it familiarizes readers with the history and cultures of First Nations in the province and provides a fundamental understanding of current affairs and concerns. This fully revised third edition includes:an all new introduction and conclusionupdated information and referen...

Since its publication in 1932, Black Elk Speaks has moved countless readers to appreciate the American Indian world that it described. John Neihardt’s popular narrative addressed the youth and early adulthood of Black Elk, an Oglala Sioux religious elder. Michael F. Steltenkamp now provides the first full interpretive biography of Black Elk, distilling in one volume what is known of this American Indian wisdom keeper whose life has helped guide others.Nicholas Black El...

In The Path of Power, Sun Bear's life and lessons are told subtly through stories of his experiences—through his teachings, readers can discover how to accomplish their goals, survive this time of earth cleansing, and follow their own path of power in life.From a childhood spent in the forest of the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota, Sun Bear went on to become one of the most groundbreaking and inspiring spiritual teachers of the late twentieth century....

When the first edition of this book was published in 1957, the art of making a tipi was almost lost, even among American Indians. Since that time a tremendous resurgence of interest in the Indian way of life has occurred, resurgence due in part, at least, to the Laubins' life-long efforts at preservation and interpretation of Indian culture.As The Indian Tipi makes obvious, the American Indian is both a practical person and a natural artist. Indian inventions are commonly ...

For a realistic look at Indian Country in the 21st century go no further than Keeping Heart on Pine Ridge. In this bold anthology of real-life stories Vic Glover lays bare the challenges history bonds and rich traditions that infuse the stark reality of life on "the rez." The author invites readers to cruise down the back roads of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation one of the poorest in North America. Here they''ll encounter harsh winters deadly roads sweat lodge protocols and sun dances--d...