Mammoth Book of Native Americans

by Jon E. Lewis

Native Americans make up less than one per cent of the total US population but represent half the nation's languages and cultures. Here, in one grand sweep, is the full story of Native American society, culture and religion. Here is everything from the land-based spirituality of their early creation myths and the late rise of Indian Pride, to the 88 uses to which the Sioux put the flesh and bones of the buffalo and the practice of berdache (men adopted as women). The book offers a chronological history of America's indigenous peoples. It covers their dramatic early entry into North America, out of the now submerged continent of Beringia, then in more recent times the 'forgotten wars' of the 16th and 17th centuries, which wiped many tribes from the face of the East Coast, and finally describes to the last struggles of the Cheyenne and the Comanche. Celebrating these peoples' way of life rather than focusing narrowly on the manner of their genocide, it does not ignore uncomfortable facts of the Amerindian past - including the cannibalism believed to have been practised by some tribes and the Native Americans' part in the decimation of North America's buffalo herds.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Native American, Native Americans, Historical, American, Native American History

512 pages, Hardcover

First published January 12, 2003

About the author

Jon E. Lewis is a historian and writer, whose books on history and military history are sold worldwide. He is also editor of many The Mammoth Book of anthologies, including the bestselling On the Edge and Endurance and Adventure.

He holds graduate and postgraduate degrees in history. His work has appeared in New Statesman, the Independent, Time Out and the Guardian. He lives in Herefordshire with his partner and children.

From: Constable & Robinson

Reviews

[Edward Gwynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good basic overview of the history and stories of Native Americans, with a great appendix.

[Pink · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me so very angry. More angry than any other book I've read (and I read some depressive stuff) I think that what irritated and infuriated me so much, was the "white is right" attitude of the colonists and governments. Mass slaughters, land grabbing and broken treaties (370 of them in the 90 years after American Independence) all things that make for difficult reading.

If you like your history to be harrowing, then this is a fantastic book. I rated it highly because I found it fascinating and think there are important lessons to be learnt the world over. However, this took me a few attempts over a few years to be fully ready to embrace the story. I found it too tough the first couple of tries and had to put the book aside.

I'm not sure that I'm really selling the book to any prospective readers, but I'll include a more upbeat quote, one that is full of wry humour - The Alcatraz Proclamation, written in 1969 by Native Americans during their occupation of Alcatraz (which they held for nineteen months before being forcibly removed) -

Proclamation To the Great White Father and All His People:

We, the native Americans, re-claim the land known as Alcatraz Island in the name of all American Indians by right of discovery. We wish to be fair and honorable in our dealings with the Caucasian inhabitants of this land, and hereby offer the following treaty: We will purchase said Alcatraz Island for 24 dollars in glass beads and red cloth, a precedent set by the white man's purchase of a similar island about 300 years ago. We know that $24 in trade goods for these sixteen acres is more than was paid when Manhattan Island was sold, but we know that land values have risen over the years. Our offer of $1.24 per acre is greater than the 47 cents per acre the white men are now paying the California Indians for their land. We will give to the inhabitants of this land a portion of that land for their own, to be held in trust by the American Indian Government for as long as the sun shall rise and the rivers go down to the sea -- to be administered by the Bureau of Caucasian Affairs (BCA). We will further guide the inhabitants in the proper way of living. We will offer them our religion, our education, our life-ways, in order to help them achieve our level of civilization and thus raise them and all their white brothers up from their savage and unhappy state. We offer this treaty in good faith and wish to be fair and honorable in our dealings with all white men.

We feel that this so-called Alcatraz Island is more than suitable as an Indian Reservation, as determined by the white man's own standards. By this we mean that this place resembles most Indian reservations, in that:

1. It is isolated from modern facilities, and without adequate means of transportation.

2. It has no fresh running water.

3. The sanitation facilities are inadequate.

4. There are no oil or mineral rights.

5. There is no industry and so unemployment is very great.

6. There are no health care facilities.

7. The soil is rocky and non-productive and the land does not support game.

8. There are no educational facilities.

9. The population has always been held as prisoners and kept dependent upon others.

Further, it would be fitting and symbolic that ships from all over the world, entering the Golden Gate, would first see Indian land, and thus be reminded of the true history of this nation. This tiny island would be a symbol of the great lands once ruled by free and noble Indians.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very detailed accounting. Large focus on wars and intricacies of Native Americans and treaties/laws. It is a shame that we do not, as a country, pay more attention to the incredible history and customs of the Aboriginal Americans.

[Daniel Pitcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been meaning to read up on the Native Americans for quite some time and after a little deliberation plumped for this thick tome as my introduction.

It turns out that I made a good choice, as this book is very readable & comprehensive. The account of how the Native Americans were treated by the Whites aroused many emotions in me- anger, disgust, horror and shame among them. Whilst the Indians were certainly not always angels, the behaviour of the Whites was at times, head shakingly sad and unbelievable. I defy you to not have a tear in your eye when reading about several of the massacres.

A very thoroughly researched and well written book.

[Bronwyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dry in parts but a comprehensive review of the genocide of Native Americans.

[Jack · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've taken up the habit of going to the library and picking up books with only the vaguest idea of what will be inside, and a specific hope that they will provide what I seek. I'm not sure if that expectation gives me the appropriate notice to review a book or not, but that is the situation with library books. This book appeared to me to be a general anthology of the history of Native American tribes and cultures, but instead was a simple history of their subjugation, and as such is mostly an account of Natives as Others to the white man. I was hoping to learn much more about native cultures before the familiar depressing narrative of colonialism -- that just wasn't the particular story I was hoping to read at the time. The appendices and bibliography might be more promising.

[kitty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive well researched introduction to the story and history of the Native Americans. Covers a lot of ground in a fair and even way, and illustrates the constant forces and betrayals enacted against the Native people and their attempts at survival. Should be read by every school student in the US, and also should be read in order to understand other colonial settler states and nations that ended up genociding or attempting to genocide their population. It gave me a greater passion and interest in understanding the Native experience, and also references a lot of further material which I've now added to my reading list to tackle more thoroughly, like the Sand Creek Massacre or the story of Tecumseh.

[Saran Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a long read, but super enriching. There are a lot of books on Native American history that focus on indigenous peoples in the context of American colonialism, but I liked this one because it also dug into the culture of many of the tribes, before and after colonialism. The second half of the book includes texts and excerpts from indigenous writers on their culture, myths and legends, and even an oral history of the Sioux from the 1700s to the early 20th century. The latter was a nice reminder that the way we (non-native Americans) view native history and important events is shaped by our own cultural perspective; the Sioux had a vastly different account of what was significant over the years.