Classic Hopi and Zuni Kachina Figures
Photographer Andrea Portago saw her first kachina in the early seventies in the studio of George Terasaki, from whom her friend and collaborator Andy Warhol was buying Native American art. When Alan Kessler's collection of kachinas was auctioned at Sotheby's in 1997, an extraordinary collection of classic kachina figures was unveiled that served as the impetus for Portago's exploration of the carvings. Presented here are classic-era (1880s-1940s) Hopi and Zuni carved dolls that have rarely been displayed. Portago gracefully photographed these rare figures using available light so as not to distort their colors, and to reveal their drama and passion.
Code Talker
The United States is at war, and sixteen-year-old Ned Begay wantes to join the cause—especially when he hears that Navajos are being specifically recruited by the Marine Corps. So he claims he's old enough to enlist, breezes his way through boot camp, and suddenly finds himself involved in a top-secret task, one that's exclusively performed by Navajos. He has become a code talker. Now Ned must brave some of the heaviest fighting of the war, and with his native Navajo language as code, send crucilal messages back and forth to aid in the conflict against Japan. His experiences in the Pacific—from Guadalcanal to Iwo Jima and beyond—will leave him forever changed.
"Readers who choose the book for the attraction of Navajo code talking and the heat of battle will come away with more than they ever expected to find."—Booklist, starred review
Daughters of the Earth
The Native American woman was the guardian of the hearth and, on occasion, ruler and warrior, managing the affairs of her people, sporting war paint as well as necklaces and earrings. Sometimes she was a visionary and a healer, sometimes mother and matriarch. She built houses and ground corn, wove blankets and painted pottery, played field hockey and rode racehorses. Frequently she enjoyed an open and joyous sexuality before marriage. The book surveys dozens of North American tribes to explore the chronology of the Native American woman's life from childhood through puberty, marriage, old age and death. The Native American woman emerges as a proud, sometimes stoic always human individual from whom those who came after can learn much. The stories of these early women are enhanced with the fables, songs and incantations that were part of their cultural and spiritual lives.
Fourth World of the Hopis
Here the noted folklorist brings together traditional accounts of epic events and adventures in the life of Hopi clans and villages, from legendary to historical times. The setting of these various adventures and events is not the Southwest as we know it today, but a vast and largely unpeopled wilderness in which clans and families wandered in search of a final living place, and in search of their collective identity. Notes, a pronunciation guide, and a glossary enhance the reader's appreciation of the text.
Indian Givers
An utterly compelling story of how the cultural, social, and political practices of Native americans transformed the way life is lived around the world. Now available with a new introduction by beloved author Jack Weatherford.
"Remarkable...Weatherford is certainly right in his central thesis: that we have underrated and ignored the contributions of American Indians to the world's economy and culture".—Los Angeles Times
Native American Testimony
In a series of powerful and moving documents, anthropologist Peter Nabokov presents a history of Native American and white relations as seen though Indian eyes and told through Indian voices: a record spanning more than five hundred years of interchange between the two peoples. Drawing from a wide range of sources—traditional narratives, Indian autobiographies, government transcripts, firsthand interviews, and more—Nabokov has assembled a remarkably rich and vivid collection, represnting nothing less than an alternative history of North America.
Beginning with the INdian's first encounters with the earliest explorers, traders, missionaries, settlers, and soldiers and continuing to the present, Native American Testimony presents an authentic, challenging picture of an important, tragic, and frequently misunderstood aspect of American history.
Native North America
With abundant photographs, more than 160 in color, Native North America illustrates tribal life, sacred arenas, spiritual traditions, and artifacts of the indigenous people of North America, from the Inuit of the Canadian north to the Navajo of the American southwest.
Navajo Weapon
Based on first-person accounts and Marine Corps documents, and featuring the original code dictionary, Navajo Weapon tells how the code talkers created a unique code within a code, served their country in combat, and saved American lives. It relates the events of nine key battles of the South Pacific, including Bougainville, Cape Gloucester, New Britain, Saipan, Guam, Peleliu, and Iwo Jima.
"A gripping account of Navajo Tribal men who...created the only unbreakable code in modern military history!" - Lee Cannon, Past President, 4th Marine Divison
Pueblo Food Experience
The Pueblo Food Experience Cookbook is an original cookbook by, for, and about the Pueblo peoples of New Mexico. This cookbook is a product of the Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute, founded by Roxanne Swentzell at Santa Clara Pueblo. Its goal is to promote healing and balance by returning to the original foodways of the Pueblo peoples. The precontact, indigenous diet emphasizes chemical-free meat, fowl, fish and a wide variety of whole grains, nuts, seeds, fruits, and vegetables. Buffalo Tamales, Blue Corn Cakes, and Rabbit Stew are just a few of the unique and delicious Pueblo recipes. Five thought-provoking essays contribute to the understanding of Pueblo history and culture. Though written in the Tewa Pueblo of Santa Clara, indigenous peoples everywhere and anyone interested in learning about Pueblo culture and food will delight in this book.
Soul Would Have No Rainbow
Sayings of time-honored truth and contemporary wisdom from the Native American tribes.
"Proverbs are time-honored truths which condense the collected wisdom and experience of a people and their culture. If you want to know a people, the saying goes, know their poverbs" - Preface, Guy A. Zona
Spider Womans Gift
At Canyon de Chelly, in the heart of the Navajo Nation, stands an eight-hundred-foot sandstone rock formation known as Spider Rock. According to Diné oral history, this sacred place is where Spider Woman makes her home. For centuries, her gift of weaving has provided the Diné with a constant means of sustenance.
Spirit of the Earth
Often spoken at the end of a prayer, a well-known Sioux phrase affirms that "we are all related." Similarly, the Sioux medicine man, Brave Buffalo, came to realize when he was still a boy that "the maker of all was Wakan Tanka (the Great Spirit), and . . . in order to honor him I must honor his works in nature." The interconnectedness of all things, and the respect all things are due, are among the most prominent--and most welcome--themes in this collection of Indian voices on nature. Within the book are carefully authenticated quotations from men and women of nearly fifty North American tribes. The illustrations include historical photographs of American Indians, as well as a wide selection of contemporary photographs showing the diversity of the North American natural world. Together, these quotations and photographs beautifully present something of nature's timeless message.
Uprising
The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 changed the course of history. It was the only war that American Indians ever won against the Europeans. The Pueblo people rose up to drive the Spanish military, colonists, and Franciscans all the way back to New Spain (today's Mexico).
In this new nonfiction account, Jake Page delves into the events leading up to the revolt, its aftermath, and the lesser-known second revolt. Experience the history, culture, and struggle for religious freedom from the perspective of the Pueblo people.
Warriors
During World War II, as the Japanese were breaking American codes as quickly as they could be devised, a small group of Navajo Indian Marines provided their country with its only totally secure cryptogram.
Racruited from the vast reaches of the Navajo reservation in Arizona and New Mexico, from solitary and traditional lives, the young Navajo men who made up the code talkers were present at some of the Pacific Theatre's bloodiest battles. They spoke to each other in the Navajo language, relaying vital information between the fron lines and headquarters. their contribution was immeasurable, their bravery unquestionable.
Seventy-five of the surviving Navajo code talkers are included in this book, their faces testaments to long and valiant lives.
Weaving A World Textiles and the Navajo Way of Seeing
Navajo weavings, long regarded for their remarkable aesthetics, have never before been investigated from the standpoint of the weaver's process and intent. This book explores the patterns and irregularities often overlooked or considered "flaws" in these beautiful textiles, and it seeks to identify the mythic symbols and historic and personal stories they contain. The inclusion of objects and the use of color, pattern, and weave variations are found to be significant symbols of the way a weaver thinks about the world. A weaver may pray her way into the center of the rug, where the most intricate work and color will appear. Patterns may portray a vision of the world animated by spirits and holy people, recounting the creation of the heavens, the earth, and the loom itself. Weaving a World includes seventy rugs from the celebrated collection of the Laboratory of Anthropology in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and documentary photographs of today's weaving culture on the Navajo reservation.
Wild Plants & Native People
This book emphasizes prehistoric uses of plants in the Four Corners area, focusing on Mesa Verde National Park, Chaco Canyon, Canyon de Chelly, Aztec Ruins, Hovenweep, and other major sites of the region once occupied by the Navajo, Ute, Paiute, Hopi, and Apache peoples. Dunmire and Tierney are able to eloquently illustrate the importance of the people-plant relationship that has existed throughout the ages among Native peoples and how ancient traditional uses of these plants inform contemporary uses today. Through vignettes of background information drawn from lore and cultural traditions and interviews with tribal elders, Wild Plants and Native Peoples of the Four Corners describes uses for edible, medicinal, and dye plants, as well as plants used for making baskets, tools, and shelters. Complementing these essays are profiles of fifty new trees, shrubs, herbaceous perennials, and grasses common to traditional Native America.