Written by Jim Great Elk Waters (the Shawnee Sub-Chief and a legislator on the Shawnee Nation URB Tribal Council), View From The Medicine Lodge is a thoughtful and thought-provoking collection of essays, stories, and poems that present Native American-based inspiration and life lessons to contemporary readers of all backgrounds. Lasting wisdom and deeply meaningful ponderings fill the pages this thoughtful account, which emphasizes the importance of finding balance between Man and Nature. View From The Medicine Lodge is an enthusiastically endorsed recommended for Native American Spirituality and Cultural Practices reference collections and reading lists.

I received this book as a gift. What a great gift. The book contains many short stories that would have appeal to both the young reader as well and the older reader. The book would have a broad range of appeal. The book contains may one liners which can be used in our normal lifestyle. This book is a keeper and will become part of your library.
This book will be on my gift giving list....

Jim Great Elk Waters is wise, observant and a great story teller. History came alive for me through his tales of Indian culture and his positive approach to life is evident in every story. His book will appeal to lovers of history, to families needing the answers reflected in his quote, "Happiness, laughter and family voices in a home keep more people living right than all laws man can make," and to those people looking for inspiration, "You can be your dreamed self if only you believe." I enjoyed all of his "Views from the Medicine Lodge."

This book, which I found at the library(can I say that word here?) was truly engrossing. The author juxtaposes indian and colonial culture so clearly and freshly, putting a historical and very personal perspective on facts not previously so well illuminated. He described and de-bunked for me the particulars of early period of colonial-indian political and territorial relationships. The action and battle scenes are painted with skillful brushstrokes as are the characterizations of the principle players. Mr Gilbert fairly describes with a warm heart the phenomemon which was the native American, sharing the fine points which created this honorable people without filtering the panorama through rose-colored glasses. The reader is reminded of this sad and shameful legacy of our country's history with each turn of the page. I think we would have been a much greater nation had we dealt these people an even hand. Great reading, greta history.

The history of the deceit effected upon Native Indian ancestors, especially the Shawnee, by the British, French, Americans, and by the Iroquois truly made me ashamed to be a white American. We call ourselves "civilized"; the lies, purging, and needless slaughter of Native Indian nations is comparable to the extermination of the Jews. Americans stole this continent from the Indians. Tecumseh (Tekamthi) was an honorable, just man, who only wanted what God had given his people - the land and the freedom to roam it and to use it (Mother Nature). As I approached the last chapter of God Gave Us This Country, I did not want Tecumseh to die; but I know he still lives on in the minds of living Indians as well as those of us who avidly study Native American history and who prefer justice

This book and the book Follow the River are both excellent depictions of the life of my ancestor. She was a heroic woman who shall be remembered and honored by me and all my family members. We are proud of her and are happy to have such excellent books to share.

Mary Ingles was courageous! I read it in one night and I'm going to read it again. I'd read about Mary Ingles in the book Follow the River, but I didn't know she lived in Lancaster or that her parents were Scotch Irish. This book tells about her whole life including escape from the Indians. That's the most exciting part though when she hikes 800 miles through rivers and mountains to get home and see her family. I think this is a very good book so I gave it five stars!

Simply put, Mr. Noe's comprehensive presentation is an intellectually clear and concise treatment of the Shawnee. The breadth of his study of the subject is remarkable.

I've been researching Shawnee history and genealogy for decades, and I can think of no single work more valuable in that endeavor than this descriptive bibliography. Every metropolitian, university, and genealogical library in the United States ought to have at least one copy.

The descriptions and quotations get at the heart of the work at hand and are so generous and interesting that you want to read it from cover to cover--and there are 2779 entries. An amazing work, destined to be a collecters' item at a much higher price--get one now while you still can.

Everything you ever wanted to know about collecting this fine pottery is in here. Very impressed about the history and how complete it is. Pam did an EXCELLENT job in researching. Easy to follow with great pictures. You will never regret getting a copy of this book. It is WONDERFUL.

This book is a must for any Shawnee collector. The information and pictures are extensive and laid out in easy to read chapters. She covers all Shawnee, from cookie jars to ashtrays. I take this with me on all Shawnee excursions. It is large and somewhat heavy, definitely not a "pocket guide".

"Black Jack" Logan was perhaps the best of the "political" generals of the Union army.
His military service, from Forts Henry and Donelson, through Vicksburg and Atlanta and on to the Carolinas, demonstrated not only his own abilities and personal courage, but also was emblematic of the skilll and sacrifice of his "Egyptians" of southern Illinois generally. His political thought, too, illustrative of the times, reflected the shift in Illinois opinion from initial confusion and wavering, to near-solid support for Lincoln and his war policies.
In conjunction with this very readable biography, the reader might be also be interested in "Reminiscences of a Soldier's Wife", Mrs. Logan's memoirs, which cannot be regarded as entirely reliable but which are a valuable adjunct to Jones' biography and give a colorful insight into the times.

(The "score" rating is an ineradicable feature of the page. This reviewer does not 'score" books.)

Florence Drake was a well-respected professor at the University of Oklahoma, when she wrote this book. She interviewed, Thomas Wildcat Alford, and he told his story to her. He was the grandson of Tecumseh. He told what he felt and thought, as he was given the opportunity to leave his tribal home and attend an American school. He was the first one of his family to do so. This book gives the reader his perspective of his story, and it is well written, so that you understand his time in history.

With great anticipation, I have awaited the release of this book. Pirtle recounts the true story of Susan "Sukey" Richardson's escape to freedom using the Underground Railroad. Through letters that had been hidden away for more than a century, Pirtle weaves us in and out of the life of one of Sukey's most sympathetic supporters, William Hayes. Through this non-fiction account we learn of the hardships all Americans faced during the mid-19th century. We're told of Sukey, her master, and those brave men and women who risked their lives, reputations, and personal finances to help others make their way to freedom. Equally fascinating is the courtroom drama between Sukey's master and those who allegedly helped the young woman in her run to freedom.

If you're a US history enthusiast, a fan of Illinois history, an Underground Railroad aficionado, a Civil War buff, or just a casual reader who's interested in a captivating story...you'll be sure to enjoy this tome. I highly recommend it.

And...if you're interested in other stories related to Southern Illinois history, I urge you to try to get hold of Pirtle's other two books: "Shining Moments" and "Where Illinois Began: A Pictorial History of Randolph County."

This is the story of Jonathan Alder, who was captured by Indians at the age of nine from his home in western Virginia in 1782. He was adopted and lived among the Mingos for 13 years along the Mad River in Ohio. Alder became a respected hunter and warrior and gives a vivid and detailed account of his life among them. He gives a fascinating retelling of his life in a late 18th century Indian village, in an age when white settlers were beginning to push north of the Ohio River from Kentucky and West Virginia in the years after the Revolutionary War and how that increased conflict between the two groups for possession of the Ohio Country led, eventually, to the loss of Indian lands. After the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, Alder leaves the Indians to live in Pleasant Valley, near what is today Columbus, OH, though continuing to live as an Indian. Around 1805, he is persuaded by a friend to travel to Virginia and is reunited with his white family.

Alder's narrative is truly fascinating in all respects. He gives fully detailed accounts of his life among the Indians, from hunting and cooking, to relations with his Indian family which include a genuinely loving and kind mother and father, as well as an abusive sister who is resentful of the white boy and beats him for any infraction. Alder tells of his participation in several horse-stealing raids in Kentucky as well as his part in the Battle of Fort Recovery in 1794, . After Alder leaves the company of the Indians in 1795, he goes on to tell about his relations with the early white settlers in central Ohio and their often strained relations with the remaining Indian population. Although he is reunited with his white family in 1805, and subsequently drops his Indian dress and lives as a white settler, Alder, it seems, is never fully one of them. He views his neighbors through the eyes of one who lived a life far removed from their daily drudgery and often seems to reflect with nostalgia on his Indian days. One gets a sense of forelorn sadness and loneliness in his later years, as though he is the product of a lost time and place. His relationships with both his white and Indian family are intriguing, especially a poigniant encounter many years later with his Indian sister who abused him as a child.

This is a very intereing book and I recommend it highly.

Altsheler can paint a picture with words like no other author can. He is so descriptive with his words that you feel that you are right there in the midst of the story with the same feelings and senses as the protagonist, Henry Ware.

The Kentucky Frontiersmen is a newer version of the same book as the "The Young Trailers" that Altsheler wrote in the late 1800"s except a more modern version. The difference being that a lot of the slang is taken out and replaced with more modern words, there are illustrations and I believe that the print is larger.

I first read books from the "Young Trailer Series" back in the 50's when I was in grade school and they had a great influence on my life. I recently ordered some of the books from the Altsheler series from Amazon.com and enjoyed them again immensely. The theme represented throughout the series was the constant struggle to be the best and to be ready and prepared to prove it at anytime or it could cost an early Kentucky settler his life was a lesson that I took with me into competitive situations like sports, academics and the business world.

The "Kentucky Frontiersmen" teaches values that are so important especially to growing children that deal with responsibility, hard work, integrity, intelligence and the special type of people that built this country.

Every resident of Kentucky should read these books because historically they give an accurate view of what Kentucky was like back in the early days of settlement. What a special place Kentucky must have been and I'm sure, still is.