Native American Testimony by Peter Nabokov

Goodreads Synopsis:
In a series of powerful and moving documents, anthropologist Peter Nabokov presents a history of Native American and white relations as seen through 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, representing 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.


My Review:
This book took awhile for me to finish. And not because it wasn't interesting or relevant, but because the material was heartbreaking. The book is broken up into short 2-3 page accounts. In these accounts you get a very personal glimpse into the life of members from different tribes. Spanning from 1492 to 1992, this book delivers scope. This is not a history book written from a Eurocentric mindset where the telling of events become skewed through the eyes of the victor. This is straight from the underdog's mouth and it's powerful. I wish this were required reading in high schools because young Americans would benefit from native perspectives. I'm so glad I bought this book. Definitely something worth reading again in five years.

The editor, Peter Nabokov, sets up each chapter with a brief overview of what was going on during that particular time period. Then each chapter is broken down into 5 or 6 personal accounts from Native Americans. And he doesn't focus on just one tribe. You really get a feel for what people were going through across the country.

There is, however, some controversy over one of his more recent publications, "The Origin Myth of Acoma Pueblo." Nabokov promised to consult with the Acoma Tribal Council before publishing the book as it discusses sensitive cultural and religious information, but he failed to do so. You can read more about this here: Acoma Pueblo vs. Peter Nabokov

The Editor

About the Editor: Peter Nabokov is an anthropologist, writer, and professor at UCLA.

Favorite Quote:

"The old people came literally to love the soil," wrote the Sioux author Luther Standing Bear. "They sat on the ground with the feeling of being close to a mothering power. It was good for the skin to touch the earth, and the old people liked to remove their moccasins and walk with their bare feet on the sacred earth. The soil was soothing, strengthening, cleansing and healing."

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They Called Me Number One by Bev Sellars

Synopsis from Goodreads: 

Xat’sull Chief Bev Sellars spent her childhood in a church-run residential school whose aim it was to “civilize” Native children through Christian teachings, forced separation from family and culture, and discipline. In addition, beginning at the age of five, Sellars was isolated for two years at Coqualeetza Indian Turberculosis Hospital in Sardis, British Columbia, nearly six hours’ drive from home. The trauma of these experiences has reverberated throughout her life.

The first full-length memoir to be published out of St. Joseph’s Mission at Williams Lake, BC, Sellars tells of three generations of women who attended the school, interweaving the personal histories of her grandmother and her mother with her own. She tells of hunger, forced labour, and physical beatings, often with a leather strap, and also of the demand for conformity in a culturally alien institution where children were confined and denigrated for failure to be White and Roman Catholic.

My Review: 

This was a part of native history that I wasn't as familiar with which is what drove me to read it. After finishing this title, it's definitely a subject I would like to better educate myself on. Bev Sellars speaks simply with an often pragmatic voice that has little flourish in language, but the memories she shares are no less vivid for it. While her passion for the injustices committed at these residential schools is more than evident, she asks for no sympathy in recounting them. In fact, there were moments when it felt like my heart was breaking more than hers. Not surprising when you grow up being shown little to no respect or courtesy. I can imagine that would toughen someone up pretty quick.

I don't know if it's true for all residential schools, but the one Bev was forced to go to received money from the government for each Indian child they could house and feed. Quality of life was not so much a concern as quantity of children. The children were called by their number not the name their parents gave them. It was forbidden to speak their native tongue and corporal punishment along with verbal abuse was commonplace. In addition to chores, the students were forced to make arts and crafts that the school would sell for their own profit. Their diet was of such a poor quality that one of the newly-hired chefs refused to feed the kids such poor food (spoiled food was known to have been served as well). The children often wore uniforms and shoes that did not fit. DDT was used to kill lice. Children who were injured from play or by accident were not taken to a doctor or hospital. They were left in bed with broken arms or legs that never properly healed in their adult life. This school, along with others, would later face charges of sexual assault against both girls and boys. 

The worst part of this is that, according to Sellars, when she would return home for parts of the year no one would speak about what happened at the residential school. Both her mother and grandmother and other family members who had also attended the school remained silent. Friends pretended it was a different life, not wanting to relive those moments or even admit to them. Later in her life, Sellars would lose many family and friends to alcoholism. She believed very strongly that their experiences were too much to cope with and alcohol was an easy way to drown out the pain. 

One thing that really surprised me was the law in Canada prohibiting any native from LEAVING the reserve without a pass from their Indian agent....?!? Here is an article that talks more about the Indian Act and also shows an image of one of those passes: http://www.ictinc.ca/blog/21-things-you-may-not-have-known-about-the-indian-act-. 

Bev Sellars, although painfully shy, later went on to become chief of her tribe for over 20 years.

The Author

Author Tidbit: Bev Sellars won the 2014 George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature. She also has a degree in history and law.

King Arthur: A Military History by Michael Holmes

Synopsis from Goodreads:
Is it true that King Arthur was a real historical figure? That he had a profound influence on the actual history of England and the world? The evidence presented here comes from many reliable ancient sources that depict the world of Britain around the year A.D. 500, and, more important, from numerous modern historians who have developed methods of examining ancient records to uncover hidden kernels of historical truth. What is known about the history of the period is compared with intriguing details imbedded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and other legendary sources. The most valuable contribution is a careful study of major events in Gaul and Britain during the Arthurian era to show how a leader of Arthur's stature could have caused the known victories in battle and the known shifts in political power. Every major battle in which King Arthur is supposed to have engaged is treated as an actual happening, and each is described in meticulous detail, complete with maps and campaign charts. What a few years ago was thought be a futile quest now is being taken seriously: that only a historical person who led real battles and produced major victories could have inspired the centuries of stories and legends.

My Review:
If you are interested in more than just the romantic myth of King Arthur and his Knights then you should add this to your Arthurian collection. It covers the time period, the landscape and the events surrounding the speculated military career of Arthur. The author, Michael Holmes, (a physicist by trade), goes into surprising detail, pulling from primary historical sources and applying a healthy dose of reason and logic to his speculations. He sets the scene with events that took place before Arthur's birth, events that would have influenced his father and grandfather. He goes into the Celtic tribal mindset and the Roman military machine and how these two things would have played an important role in shaping the romano-celtic people including King Arthur. 

Two of the main sources the author pulls from are Nennius's "History of the British" and the "Annales Cambriae."  These sources reference Arthur (although there is some debate on his name being added long after the first arthurian myth developed). But if that's not the case then the points Holmes presents are really interesting. Towards the end of the book, he goes into an incredibly detailed and thoughtful account of King Arthur's campaign defending England from the Anglo-Saxons and the numerous battles leading up to the victorious Battle of Mount Badon and the betrayal of Medraut (Mordred). 

All in all, even if what Holmes is suggesting can't be proven, it's an interesting book written by someone who obviously loves the legend of King Arthur. And there is enough honest history in it to please the history buff.

Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen

Goodreads Synopsis: Americans have lost touch with their history, and in this thought-provoking book, Professor James Loewen shows why. After surveying twelve leading high school American history texts, he has concluded that not one does a decent job of making history interesting or memorable. Marred by an embarrassing combination of blind patriotism, mindless optimism, sheer misinformation, and outright lies, these books omit almost all the ambiguity, passion, conflict, and drama from our past. 

My Thoughts: This is a book that every person should read. Having been written in 1996, I think it's still relevant. Without taking a political side, Loewen gives the cold hard facts that our high school textbooks are leaving out. Spending years (about 11) combing through 12 of the most frequently used textbooks in schools, Loewen shows us how most of these books are written in a way that encourages patriotism before truth, blind optimism over reality. I love the country I live in, despite its many shortcomings. Every country has shortcomings because they're filled with PEOPLE. And people fall short. But it's important to know the true history of where you come from. Opening our eyes to this history doesn't make us less patriotic, just more aware and better able to take care of our country. And that's the point of this book. 

I always try to understand the author's angle, the lens they're looking through and what their ulterior motives might be. Loewen writes from a pretty unbiased point of view without the rhetoric of the Republican and Democratic parties that I get SO TIRED of hearing. He's not here to make you vote a certain way. He doles out harsh truth, but leaves praise where it's deserved in a voice that is more observant and analytical than emotional. And while the title of the book might sound cruel, he also spends a chapter trying to find an explanation WHY we're using these textbooks in the classroom and it's not just the fault of the teachers. There is a larger more political issue going on here that goes beyond the classroom. Prepare to take less pleasure in some of our national holidays...

**Also, the man's Notes section in the back of the book total just over 55 pages so if you want to take this reading further then you have plenty of references to look for.

Favorite Quotes: "Lying to children is a slippery slope. Once we have started sliding down it, how and when do we stop? Who decides when to lie? Which lies to tell? To what age group? As soon as we loosen the anchor of fact, of historical evidence, our history textboat is free to blow here and there, pointing first in one direction, then in another. If we obscure or omit facts because they make Columbus look bad, why not omit those that make the United States look bad? or the Mormon Church? or the state of Mississippi? This is the politicization of history. How do we decide what to teach in an American history course once authors have decided not to value the truth? If our history courses aren't based on fact anyway, why not tell one story to whites, another to blacks? Isn't Scott, Foresman already doing something like that when it puts out a "Lone Star" edition of "Land of Promise," tailoring the facts of history to suit (white) Texans?"

"Hugh Trevor-Roper, the dean of British historians, has written, "A nation that has lost sight of its history, or is discouraged from the study of it by the desiccating professionalism (or unprofessionalism!) of its historians, is intellectually and perhaps politically amputated. But that history must be true history in the fullest sense.""

The Author

Author Tidbit: James W. Loewen helped write a US history textbook called "Mississippi: Conflict and Change" in 1974. The textbook was not approved for use in the Mississippi school systems leading to a lawsuit Loewen vs. Turnipseed. This became a historic First Amendment case.

Broken by Lisa Jones

Book Synopsis from Goodreads:
Writer Lisa Jones went to Wyoming for a four-day magazine assignment and came home four years later with a new life.

At a dusty corral on the Wind River Indian Reservation, she met Stanford Addison, a Northern Arapaho who seemed to transform everything around him. He gentled horses rather than breaking them by force. It was said that he could heal people of everything from cancer to Êbipolar disorder. He did all this from a wheelchair; he had been a quadriplegic for more than twenty years.

My Thoughts:
For me, this book was another eye-opener. And not just in the way it portrays the current condition of some Native American tribes but also because it reminds us how one person can become the source of strength for many. I think that's what spoke the loudest. The central figure of the book is an Arapaho horse gentler, Stanford Addison, who continued his father's work on the Wind River Indian Reservation...but in a very different way. When he was a boy learning from his father, they broke in horses sometimes using aggressive techniques and intimidation to get the results the horse owners needed. Stanford lived a similarly wild life with little regard to the consequences of being reckless. This resulted in a car wreck that left him broken and a quadriplegic for life. It was after this that he began to see the world differently. Hard moments coupled with the new and unsettling presence of ghosts led Stanford to approach his work in a more compassionate way. He developed new methods of taming wild horses without using fear. He passed these techniques on to the younger generations of the tribe, but his reach didn't end there.
                   Stanford, without meaning to or even wanting to, became a magnet for the sick and the broken. People from all over the country and the world came to his home for guidance or to take part in one of his famous sweat lodges. Some people even wound up staying with him or his family for an extended period of time. The author, Lisa Jones, who became one of these people recounts these moments. Despite his own struggles, he never seemed to turn anyone away.
                   That, to me, is the pivotal message behind the book. The author does have her own epiphanies as a result of being around the horse trainer, but that becomes secondary as you start to realize the reach this man had. His offer of help and guidance, opening his home that, to many, became a sanctuary although it was falling apart; these life-changing gestures are done in such a nonchalant and unassuming way. It's a lesson in humility. 
                  Lisa Jones relates this humility in a refreshing and biting form of honesty. She is sincere in her love of Stanford, but she doesn't hold back any punches. Her writing is lyrical and on point.

My Favorite Quotes: "To begin a scary task is to be close to finishing it. In fact, beginning takes more courage than anything else, because once you make contact with the forces of nature, your most practical and clear-eyed self emerges."

The Author

Stanford Addison