Where the Lightning Strikes: The Lives of American Indian Sacred Places

by Peter Nabokov

A revelatory new look at the hallowed, diverse, and threatened landscapes of the American Indian For thousands of years , Native Americans have told stories about the powers of revered landscapes and sought spiritual direction at mysterious places in their homelands. In this important book, respected scholar and anthropologist Peter Nabokov writes of a wide range of sacred places in Native America. From the “high country” of California to Tennessee’s Tellico Valley, from the Black Hills of South Dakota to Rainbow Canyon in Arizona, each chapter delves into the relationship between Indian cultures and their environments and describes the myths and legends, practices, and rituals that sustained them.

Genres: Nonfiction, Native American, Indigenous, History, Social Science, Native Americans, Geography

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 19, 2006

About the author

Peter Nabokov is professor of American Indian Studies and World Arts and Cultures at UCLA. His previous books include A Forest of Time, Native American Testimony, Native American Architecture (with Robert Easton), Indian Running, Two Leggings: The Making of a Crow Warrior, and Architecture of Acoma Pueblo

Reviews

[Mike Mikulski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nabokov describes Indian Sacred Places across North America raising the interesting perspective that Indians have a relationship to the earth similar to a living person or God, while western religions center around a supreme being with man made structures erected to worship these Gods.

Congress passed laws protecting Indian freedom of religion, but then used a western standard to protect Indian sacred places, not recognizing a different relationship between Indian spirituality and the earth. When Indian sacred places are threatened by development , mining, roads or dams the efforts to protect these spaces are often ineffective because the courts don't see a church or established place of worship to protect.

[K. Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really fascinating exploration of about a dozen different indigenous cultures and their ties to the land and its innate spirituality. I'm gonna be chewing on this for a while and will probably be sporadically revisiting sections.

[Erin Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I'd had Nabokov as a professor. I think he would have changed my life.

Instead, I will be content with his books. Unlike some other reviewers, I appreciate the scattered-ness of the book - it's sort of like a "who's who" of Native American tribes, and opens the door to some interesting discoveries and stories.

To say this book is well-researched does not do it credit - it is clear that Nabokov lives and breathes his work. This is no fluffy panoramic, but a guidebook to the peoples that we (us newcomers) have shunted aside, lied to, and visited with devastation. And that is the thread that gives an underlying message to this book, if nothing else does: that wherever we walk, beneath our feet are the sacred spaces of a people that we chose to push from their known worlds.

[Abby]

I agree with some other reviewers that this book is a little scattered, and maybe not quite what it sets out to be. But for what it turned out to be, it's pretty good. I am continually struck by Nabokov's good writing (and his overexcited grammar too, sometimes). The book is broad, literary, and clearly personal, and I like Nabokov's honesty as he navigates the treacherous waters of somebody else's religion. Informative work, but not earth-shaking.

Serendipitous moment: while driving around Backroads Wyoming for work, I accidentally ran smack into Fort Laramie the day after I read about the notorious treaties there. Whadya know.

[J.S. Bangs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting this book to be a discussion of various specific sacred places in North America, but in that respect I was somewhat disappointed. The book is instead a discussion of sixteen different tribes and sacred traditions, with an broad overview of that tribe's relationship to its geography and spirituality. As such it was very informative and sometimes moving, but it suffered from being slightly impersonal and scattered.

[Christian Crowley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book I received from the author at an Interior workshop. Great stories so far, many of which provided an uncanny parallel to the chapters of Cadillac Desert, which I was reading at the same time.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the past into the future, the author has researched Indian sacred places with descriptions of then and the current state of affairs. It's a sad tale of the robbing of Indian lands and the destruction in the name of commerce and consumerism that resulted in our current reservations.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not an unbiased account, but an emotionally wrenching one. This book will break your heart.

[Deena Metzger · Rating 5 out of 5]

An essential text to understand this sacred land and the actions against it.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just dipped in to areas in which I was interested.

[Adrian · Rating 3 out of 5]

i want to visit every place mentioned in this book :)