500 Nations: An Illustrated History of North American Indians

Westminster, Maryland, U.S.A.: Gramercy Books, 1994. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. This is the stirring, crowded, epic story- laden with courageous deeds and dreams fulfilled and betrayed-of the hundreds of Indian nations that have inhabited our continent for more than 15,000 years and their centuries-long struggle with the Europeans who arrived in ever- increasing numbers after 1492. Here is American history from the Native American point of view- a long saga of friendship, treachery, war, and ultimately the loss of homeland that began when Columbus disembarked at Hispaniola and came to a climax when the last groups of Sioux moved onto a reservation following the battle at Wounded Knee in 1890. 500 Nations is a story of leaders, customs, political systems, and ways of life-of men and women whom we meet through their own words, and others whose achievements have been resurrected from memory, memoir, and ancient documents. Brought alive in these pages are such heroes and heroines as Massasoit, whose greeting to the Mayflower pilgrims-"Welcome, Englishmen"-was given in their own language . .. Pocahantas, whose father's intervention on behalf of John Smith ironically changed the course of her life . . . Deganawinda, known as the Peace Maker, whose Great Law laid the foundation for the confederacy among the five nations of the Iroquois, which in turn may have influenced the colonists' fledgling efforts at confederation . . . Pontiac, whose battle plan for capturing British forts strung out along the Ohio Valley was successfully emulated by General MacArthur in the Pacific Islands during World War II . . . Sequoyah, inventor of the Cherokee alphabet . the famous chiefs and orators: among the Senecas, Red Jacket and Cornplanter: Tecumseh. the charismatic Shawnee leader: Satanta. who led the Kiowa resistance; Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce; among the Sioux, Red Cloud. Sitting Bull, and Crazy Horse. These and many others bring us close to the fascinating societies in which millions worked and lived on every part of our continent. adapting to every environment with ingenuity and beauty in infinite variety. Here are the fabulous pre-Columbian civilizations of the Maya, the Anasazis, and the Temple Mound Builders of the Mississippi Valley, and those of their descendants and inheritors-the Toltecs and Aztecs, Pueblos and Hopis, Navajos and Apaches, Creeks, Natchez, and Choctaws-and those of the hundreds of other Indian groups who first inhabited North America. Superbly written by the celebrated historian Alvin M. Josephy, Jr., and lavishly illustrated with 485 paintings, woodcuts, drawings, photographs, and Indian artifacts, this thrilling and beautiful book shows us the many worlds of North America's Indians-their lives, their cultures, their heritage-as we have never seen them before. This is a heavy book and will require additional postage outside the UK.