The World of the American Indian Author:National Geographic Society With the measured dignity of some timeless Indian chant words come rolling: You see I stand in good relation to the earth...to the gods...to all that is beautiful...You see, I am alive, I am alive. — The expression of the North American Indian's personal philosophy sets a cadence in the opening chapter of this book. It is a view of a world in ba... more »lance, of man in harmony with the earth and all things on it. Untold centuries of adaptation to the environment forged the equations. They echo today among a people those rebounding numbers total perhaps as many as when Columbus arrived to call them "Indios."
Ten distinguished scholar-authors-four of them of Indian descent-guide you. Dare flashing flukes of a whale with intrepid seamen of the pacific northwest and join their elaborate potlatches. Play stickball - "younger brother of war" - with woodland farmers or go on an Iroquois raid. Count coup with Plains warriors, beseech rain gods with Hopi Snake dancers, learn that Indian languages - where one word may contain all the elements of a sentence-can hardly be called "primitive." Use the books tribal supplement and 32 1/2-inch cultural map to discover details about nearly 600 tribes of the United States and Canada.« less