This book is an engaging mixture of the author's personal experience woven into a wealth of natural history of the Plains region. The illustrations by her husband are an added bonus.

Land of Grass and Sky is like your first drink of morning when you shake sleep from your limbs and stand at the window, breathing deep and stretching. It is fresh and clean and wakes you to a new vision of what may have seemed a stale landscape.

Mary Taylor Young's song of the prairie alternates classic images of big sky and waving fields with practical tips and throat-gripping stories of survival. When I tried to read the dust-storm passage aloud to my husband, I could barely finish, my voice shook so much and my chest felt so tight. It is a terrifying passage, perhaps too close to home as we face the worst drought in recent memory.

In the end, I reluctantly closed the cover of the book, feeling as if I was just returning from a lovely and soul-nourishing morning walk on the Great Plains.

Man of the Shadow is a riviting book that you just don't want to end. The story of Eagle and his denial to fully accept the beliefs of the People is a wake up call for us all. There may be a Trickster out there waiting to fool us all. I thought Eagle and the Old Man were as unlikly to get along as the Head Splitters and the smell cat. It was amazing they wintered together and didn't come to blows. All in all it was a great book and I can't wait to read more of the Spainish Bit Saga.

DR. COLDSMITH IS THE GREATEST IN THIS BOOK HE SHOWS US THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TRICKSTER THE CARING SIDE AS WELL AS THE HUMOROUS SIDE VERY ENJOYABLE READING WELL WORTH THE TIME AND MONEY DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND READ IT IT'LL MAKE YOU A BETTER PERSON

As a high school science teacher on the Omaha Indian Reservation, both my students and myself found this book to be an invaluable resource this past fall. As my students did their ethnobotanical survey of the reservation, I often found them waiting to use my one copy of the book. (I will be getting additional copies for the upcoming school year.) We found the information to be both accurate and thorough. The students especially enjoyed the well drawn pictures and easy to follow format. I would suggest this book to anyone interested in plains ethnobotany.

Medicinal Wild Plants contains information on nomenclature, habitat, Indian use, Anglo folk use, use in medical history, some entries for recent scientific research, and cultivation. Kindscher frequently cites Eclectic medical use for the plants. These books are authoritative. Kindscher has thoroughly studied the ethnobotany of each and presented the most useful information. What is most striking to me about these books are Kindscher's frequent comments revealing that he has personally seen and tasted these plants, and sometimes tested the methods he writes about, something rare in the ethnobotanical literatue of North America.

Moki is a girl who would rather be a boy than a girl. She wants to prove that girls can be just as good as boys. Even though her friends don't understand her, Moki has made up her mind, and nothing can stand in her way! I like this book for one reason. Moki is a courageous girl. I recommend this book for all ages. So get the book now, because this a book you cannot put down.

Moki is a girl who would rathe be a boy than a girl. She want's to prove that girls can be just as good as boys.Even though her friends don't understand her Moki has mad up her my ,and nothing can stand in her way! I like this book for one reason, and one reason only.Moki is a courgous girl. I recommend this book for all ages. So get the book now,and this is a book you can not put down.

Beautiful illustrations, excellent content, clear instructions. This is the perfect book for a person interested in crafts and life on the prairie.

I bought this book for my 31 year old daughter tammi who loves to sew. She said it was the best book she has ever had. Charlotte

Erin's poetry style is imminently readable, and a lot of the poems in One Above & One Below are positively fun. One of my favorites was "On Being Fired Again." The poet's wry sense of humor is evident even she deals with darker issues. She also has a remarkable ability to fashion a poem in a form to fit the content - you can tell the workmanship behind even casual-seeming phrases. I also recommend Infanta, which showcases a different, more melancholy facet of this writer.

A spectacular second volume, this group of poems features settings as culturally central as Paris, but finds its home mostly in the badlands of Nebraska. Belieu places people in the most quotidian of circumstances (hanging out in the Dairy Barn parking lot, cooking stew in a pioneering sod house)and finds a way in each instance to reveal the richness of her character's imagination via an exact and lyrically rich procession of images. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the best that the youngest generation of American poets has to offer.

Peter Miller's work is marked by both personal and professional integrity. His writing always is clear, sensitive, funny, sympathetic to the subject unless he isn't, and layered with well researched meaning like a fine painting. His photography is as unwavering as the agreement in an old time Vermont handshake.

When Peter Miller hit the roads of the Great Plains to photograph and write about its people, it was a journey of discovery as much as a quest for stories, information and images. His discoveries are as significant, beautiful and moving as the stories and images in People of the Great Plains. This is a book every reader, every lover of fine photography, every person interested in the soul of America will want to have.

I am surprised to be the first reader reviewing this book, but accept the honor of setting the table. But why no other reviews? This book is beautiful in every department; Miller's photography is stunning, often provocative, and his portraits of a people shine in the pages, capturing the tenacity, grit, and joy of Great Plains life. Miller wisely lets everyone tell their own stories and saves most of his own remarks for the book's introduction and conclusion. He also rightly includes the stories of our indigenous peoples remaining on the reservations, whose ancestors held their own stories of the land long before Europeans arrived. Plains history includes both beauty and tragedy.

The book deserves its award for visual excellence. Miller includes several panoramic shots, only appropriate considering the ocean-like vastness of the landscape. He also shows us the people in a way that, combined with the text, almost makes you feel you've been introduced to them in person. This book honors them, and if they had the chance to read it I hope they would agree.

Plains people, of course, are no more or less important than anyone else. But if this book were, say, "People of the Strip-Mall Towns," I don't think it would have quite the same appeal. It seems Great Plains life is in many ways endangered, not only its economy but also, more importantly, its ideals. What is it like to have roots, a heritage? What is freedom, good work? These questions beg to be asked as we careen through our microchipped, catch-me-if-you-can Information Age, a beat to which America marches faster each year. The future can never--and should not--be exactly like the past, but nevertheless there are many things worth saving. Read this book and you may understand.

I took Dr. Jones in 1997, for the Indians of the High Plains class, at UCF, Orlando. He is, without a doubt, one of the most articulate, fascinating, and knowledgable people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Sanapia is based on the time he spent with a Comanche woman of the same name, and it is a fascinating glimpse into the customs of the Comanche tribe. He spends a great deal of time discussing the spiritual concepts of the Comanches, as well as the use of various plants for ritualistic purposes. I recommend this book to anybody not only to anthropology students, but also to anybody with even a slight interest in Native American beliefs/culture.

In reading about the eagle doctor,Sanapia is very concern about the comanche losing their idenity, and theri traditional ways. The book explains her going through to become a eagle doctor as her mother and grandmother before her. I'm still interested in the Pabukut.

Minneapolis Star-Tribune, July 29, 2001: "This book is a wonderful reference, beautifully illustrated."

These stories of the North American prairie lands provide a rich blend of generations of voices and stories of natural history and the land, blending poems, stories and essays with insights on both native peoples, geography and wildlife. The result is a multi-faceted collection which doesn't neatly fit into singular categories of natural history, geography or culture; but which embraces them all.

this book has been instrumental in helping me identify six new weed seeds i previously didn't know.this book has been very helpful to me being in the grain export buisness.if you are into weeds this book is for you.

For those of us who are either professionals, amateurs, or curious people. As greater and greater interest grows in discovering and growing native grasses and forbs - this book becomes more valuable. No key is required , and even if you don't know the species, it is possible to get a genus.

Thes book should entice readers to start their own seed identification collection. With a 10 power hand lens one can become an expert in an old but newly emerging area of interest.