Leonard Crow Dog tells his family history and the history of his nation with a love and power which can almost overpowers the reader.

In the beginning paragraph it says, "We are still making history." as Crow Dog explains his family roots. That sentence sums up the book for me. It is history. The history that is learned and not lost by Crow Dog. The ceremonies and native ways that he is trying to maintain and to pass on are intricately described. I don't think I have read a book that is so visually written. I could picture the things he described. I savored this book for a few months, letting each chapter sink in. Although the book is written in a simple manner there is nothing simple about the information shared. A great read!

With the abundant help of Richard Erdoes, Leonard Crowdog gives us the history of his people and their never-ending battle for freedom in a white world that was once theirs. I highly recomend this book for people interrested in reading about the injustices loaded onto the Native American people since the arrival of white men on their land.

Is Paris Burning? is one of my favorite books. It's a little like a comfort book... I love history but sometimes find reading about it a bit dull. Is Paris Burning? was very appealing from the first page. I found myself making a movie in my mind everytime I read it.

Having lost my original copy of the book, I am anxious to get a replacement for it. Though I was in hospital at the time of the events, I checked with many comrades from my unit (3rd company, 501 Regt French tanks, 2nd French Armored Division)who were interviewed by the authors in the early 60's, and they vouch for the accuracy of the account. I still see a few survivors at our yearly get-together. A must for my (or anyone's) grand children. Pres. French War Veterans, NY

This book gives a truly fascinating story of the last days of the Nazi occupation of Paris. It is an especially good read if you happen to be in Paris. I never realized until I read this book, how close Paris was to being totally destroyed by the Nazis. A very exciting, interesting book.

I have read this book and there are things I didnt even know or have forgotten about my tribe. My father and uncles helped with the informatiion in this book about the Lower Brule Sioux........

This book was excellent. I loved it! It leads you through the ins and outs of Golf in a very hilarious way. If you've never played before, it will give you tips, tricks, rules and jargon you'll need so that you don't look like a fool when you start playing the game. If you've been playing Golf for years, you'll love the humor, inside jokes, funny stories, and whimsical remarks on THE GAME! Brule MacDuff has obviously been playing this game for years and has a great sense of respect and humor for this sport! This is the most interesting golf lesson you'll ever get!!! Read it and by extras for all your golfing buddies!!!

I do not often read westerns, however I thought I would give a book like Brules, touted to be more literature than genre, a try. I'm sorry I did.

Brules is too long, too wordy, and unnecessarily racist. Yes, the white men and the indians didn't love each other. We know that. But having that driven home without redemption for over 400 of the 500 pages is nauseating at best. Brules himself is mostly without redemption. There is little to love in a man who views his woman as a beautiful piece of flesh and shoots and kills people to get whatever he needs. Yes, I'm sure there were lots of cowboys like that out there, but do we really want to spend a whole 500 and some pages in the company of one?

That said, Brules is fairly well written, and Harry Combs did manage to create one character I really cared about--the young man we meet at the beginning of the book and to whom Brules tells his story, Steven Cartwright. I hear Combs wrote a whole book about him, The Legend of the Painted Horse, and perhaps I will go give that a try.

All told, Brules is probably a good read for Western readers. I think the rest of us, however, will find it a bit nauseating.

This is one of the best books that I have read about the old west. The detail that Mr. Combs puts into this book is just awsome. After you read this book you will want to go and saddle a horse, strap on you .38 Smith & Wesson, put your model 66 Winchester in its sheath and have your own adventures. If you like Louis L'amour's books then you will love Brules. He is the man that we all wish we could have been, in the time of history when survival of the fittest was the way of the land. This was a hard time that demanded hard men to tame the "wild west". What they got in Brules was one of the harderst and most dangerous men(when rialed) they could have imagined. Brules is one of the men that legends are made of. This IS the best western book that I have read and I highly recommend this book to any person who is fascinated about the time and people.

THIS BOOK BY HARRY COMBS IS FABULOUS. THE DETAILS OF THE AREA ARE SUPERB. AS WE LIVE VERY CLOSE BY AND HAVE BEEN TO THIS SPOT MANY TIMES, WE ARE VERY PLEASED WITH HIS PRECISE DETAIL. THE STORY IS SO EASY TO FOLLOW AND CAPTIVATING, WE COULD NOT WAIT TO OBTAIN THE NEXT 2 BOOKS. MANY OF OUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS IN NORWOOD HAVE ORDERED THIS ON OUR RECOMMENDATION. THANK YOU HARRY COMBS.

This book is highly readable, but is not a beginning-to-end narrative, so those who pick up the book expecting a simple story will be disappointed.

Yes, it is a book of activism, and there is some feminism. Reservation poverty is described in detail. Domestic abuse and alcoholism also appear here. Plus Sun Dance self-torture. Thankfully, many sweat lodge and cedaring-off descriptions dull down the affect of the more shocking parts of Mary Brave Bird's experiences.

She falls prey to an alcoholic lifestyle inolving "party-ing" until you're either beat up or in jail. She eventually leaves her husband, Sioux medicine man Leonard Crow Dog, and treks across country (with 4 children), moving from women's shelter to homeless shelter, until they all spend a wild three years in Phoenix.

Definitely, the alcoholism mars this narrative, and lowers Mary Brave Bird's credibility. Yes, there are a lot of references to the American Indian Movement's standoff at Wounded Knee. And there's a good chapter about native American traditions with regard to menstruation. And inspiration about fighting for the land.

But I can't help wondering if the sort of hopeless drunken revelry portrayed here typifies ALL reservation Indians, and if so, aren't they in fact contributing to the end of their own culture..? Who's watching all those Indian kids while Mom's on a two day drunk?

In other words, this is a disturbing book. It's good but scandalous reading.

I read Ohitika Woman a few months before I read Lakota Woman; this was the first Native autobiography I ever read. To respond to an earlier review, the book did reiterate things covered in Lakota Woman, but that is neccesary if people read this one first as I did. I spent some time on Rosebud as a volunteer teacher last summer and came to understand to some degree why Mary writes what she does about the rez.

"Ohitika Woman" is a true confession of a life most American Women have never lived. From Wounded Knee to Washington, from rags to riches, from love to heartbreak. Mary Brave Bird talks openly about her life as a proud Lakota woman, who defends the best interest of her people in the best ways she knows how. She talks honestly about life growing up on a poor Indian reservation, and proudly of her time with the American Indian Movement during the seige of Wonded Knee during the massive Red Movement of the 1970's. She is is a remarkably head-strong woman, and has lived her life this way even against incredible odds. What I enjoyed most was her enduring strength and the need to succeed and never give up. For this, she is a true winner, and a true success. A book for all Americans, "Ohitika Woman" has something to teach us all. As a Native Canadian, I greatly admire her overwhelming courage, strength and passion in fighting for what she believes in!

You will find yourself laughing out loud at the antics in this book numerous times. I almost fell out of my chair when the book detailed Lame Deer's crime spree of moonshine whiskey and stolen cars. ;-) This one story alone os worth twice the price of the book!

There is much wisdom in this book; but the ceremonies in this book are not entirely accurate.

Many American Indian Nations witheld accurate information, but now more and more of them are coming forward and releasing accurate information. Even some of the Hopi Elders came forward about two years ago and released some of their sacred prophecies. I hope it is not too late.

I am deeply disturbed by the Kettle dance, but I am not of that culture, and have no right to judge it.

I would like to give this book five stars but I can't because some of the ceremonies are wrong.

I say the ceremonies are wrong because I have read ceremonies in many other books, and I have several full blooded American Indian friends, and they confirmed what I read in these other sources.

I recommend these books regarding American Indian Spirituality in the order listed.

"The Sacred Pipe" Joseph Epes Brown

"Native Wisdom" Ed McGaa

"Mother Earth Spirituality" Ed McGaa

"Foolscrow: Wisdom And Power" Thomas E. Mails

"Black Elk: The Sacred ways of the Lakota" Wallace Black Elk & William S. Lyons.

I recommend "The Sacred Pipe" highest because Mr. Brown actualy lived with the famous holyman Nick Black Elk for a few months while gathering information for this book.

Then; there are some books written by Indians that are full of new age pap because it sells. ;-(

I am the proud carrier of a Catlinite (pipestone) pipe that my American Indian friends helped me obtain. I agree with the 1990 quote by Orval Looking Horse "No one should be denied a peace pipe.".

If you have questions or comments; E-mail me. Two Bears.

Wah doh Ogedoda (We give thanks Great Spirit)

People here are prasing this book for the insight it gives into the lives of Native Americans. Not that this book isn't important for its take on Amerindian culture: to say that John Lame Deer doesn't have a grasp on what is important to himself and his people would be improper and negligent.

People are missing two of the things that make this book so powerful: its humor and its take on the white world that exists outside of the reservation. Erdoes commentaries on his Indian visitors, Lame Deer's comments on EVERYTHING, and the voice and process of this book are FUNNY. This book is well-constructed and fun to read. On to the second point: Lame Deer is fairly sucessful in making Europeans often look like clowns-- stripping their culture and sophistication, making them more human....

This book should have a much wider audience than it has ever had (and that is actually fairly substantial, strangely enough....) Not that this is a book that could change a person's life: it could at least give direction to the perplexed. I highly recommend this book....

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Without a lot of unnecessary rhetoric it will have a powerful effect on you, if you only read the introduction.