"With Crook in pursuit of Geronimo and his band.The author of this book was a U.S. soldier in addition to being a well known and highly regarded author on the Apache Wars of the later nineteenth century-in which he was an active participant. He maintained an interest, respect for and in some measure an affection for the Apaches and he also made a serious study of and wrote notable works on their customs and culture. He is perhaps best known for his classic account of the Apache Wars...

In "The Medicine-Men of the Apache," John G. Bourke offers a groundbreaking ethnographic exploration of the spiritual and healing practices among the Apache tribes of the American Southwest during the late 19th century. Bourke's narrative blends meticulous fieldwork with a rich tapestry of native lore, utilizing a vivid and descriptive literary style that reflects both reverence and curiosity for Apache culture. This work is situated in the context of the burgeoning interest in indigenous ...

John G. Bourke's The Medicine-Men of the Apache is a compact but richly detailed ethnographic study of Apache ritual specialists, their healing practices, sacred objects, songs, masks, and ceremonial authority. Written in the descriptive, comparative style of late nineteenth-century anthropology, the book combines field observation with references to wider Indigenous and global religious practices. Though marked by the terminology and assumptions of its era, it remains an important histori...

In "The Medicine-Men of the Apache," John G. Bourke delves into the intricate world of Native American healing practices, specifically those of the Apache tribes. Drawing on his firsthand experiences as an Army officer in the late 19th century, Bourke presents a comprehensive ethnographic study that interweaves detailed observations with vivid storytelling. His literary style reflects a blend of rigorous research and poetic prose, capturing the mystique surrounding Apache medicine-men'Äîfi...

"There is an old saw in the army which teaches that you can never know a man until after having made a scout with him in bad weather. All the good qualities and bad in the human make up force their way to the surface under the stimulus of privation and danger, and it not infrequently happens that the comrade who at the military post was most popular, by reason of charm of manner and geniality, returns from this trial sadly lowered in the estimation of his fellows, and that he who in the ga...

The Medicine-Men of the Apache offers a closely observed ethnography of Apache healers: their rites, chants, materia medica, cosmology, and social authority. Bourke alternates translated incantations with case sketches and careful inventories of paraphernalia, embedding practice within mythic etiologies. Stylistically, it blends taxonomic catalog with vivid field reportage, typical of late-nineteenth-century Bureau of Ethnology work, rich in lexical notes and ritual choreography yet inflec...

General Crook fought and ended the Apache wars in the American Southwest and travelling and fighting with him was John Gregory Bourke. This is a fascinating account of war first hand and is a must read for anybody with an interest in the military history of the United States. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern edit...

Who, and what are the medicine-men (or medicine-women), of the American Indians? What powers do they possess in time of peace or war? How is this power obtained, how renewed, how exercised? What is the character of the remedies employed? Are they pharmaceutical, as we employ the term, or are they the superstitious efforts of empirics and charlatans, seeking to deceive and to misguide by pretended consultations with spiritual powers and by reliance upon mysterious and occult influences? Suc...

In 'The Medicine-Men of the Apache (Unabridged)' by John G. Bourke, the author provides a comprehensive study of the Apache tribe's spiritual leaders and healers, known as medicine-men. Through meticulous research and detailed accounts, Bourke delves into the rituals, practices, and beliefs of these medicine-men, shedding light on their crucial roles within Apache society. Written in a scholarly yet engaging tone, the book offers a unique insight into the spiritual and cultural traditions ...

Published originally in two volumes in 1890, this extraordinary study of primitive myth and magic led Scottish anthropologist J.G. Frazer to identify parallel patterns of ritual, symbols and belief across many centuries and many different cultures. His observations on the mysteries of fertility and death, and the rites of the sacrificial king who must die to save his people, overturned much of contemporary intellectual thinking, not least because of the enlightening or 'heretical' parallel...

The people known as Diegueño, called by themselves Kawakipai or southern people, occupy the extreme southern part of California. The region which they inhabit coincides approximately with the boundaries of San Diego county.In culture, the Diegueño show a marked similarity to their neighbors, the Luiseño on the north, and the Cahuilla on the northeast.Most of the rites which the Diegueño have in common with the Luiseño belong to a definite cultus. This cultus is what has bee...

"The task of recording the descriptive material embodied in these volumes, and of preparing the photographs which accompany them, had its inception in 1898. Since that time, during each year, months of arduous labor have been spent in accumulating the data necessary to form a comprehensive and permanent record of all the important tribes of the United States and Alaska that still retain to a considerable degree their primitive customs and traditions. The value of such a work, in great meas...