Pacaritambo

ANCIENT ENCOUNTERS: Kennewick Man and the First Americans
by James C. Chatters. B&W photo section; B&W maps. Condition: Gently pre-read, if at all, 2001 Simon & Schuster hardcvoer & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Content: In this intriguing work of scholarly detection, forensic anthropologist James Chatters relates the story of a fossil discovery that has challenged received wisdom about the peopling of the Americas--and that has touched off a storm of controversy. On July 28, 1996, two students happened on a skull that peeked from the mud of a Washington riverbank. When police officers arrived at the site, they called in Chatters, a deputy coroner and scientist. At first glance, Chatters guessed that the skull was that of a white pioneer, perhaps a hundred or so years old, but on examining other skeletal remains, he began to suspect that the human eventually dubbed "Kennewick Man" was much older indeed. Various scientific tests proved him right: the skeleton was around 9,500 years old. But Kennewick Man, he announced, was also "Caucasoid" in appearance, a revelation that triggered charges of racism and tomb-robbing by local Native Americans, who claimed the remains as part of their cultural heritage. The announcement also drew in white supremacists, who seized on Chatters's discovery to argue that their forebears were the first to arrive in North America. Both the term "Caucasoid" and its racially charged interpretations were off the mark, Chatters writes, for Kennewick Man should be seen as an ancestor to us all. Some of his features, and those of other ancient remains found elsewhere in the Americas, suggest a kinship with peoples as various as Polynesians, Ainu, medieval Icelanders, and Australian aborigines. More important than bloodline is the revision that Kennewick Man and his cousins force in our account of the arrival of humans in the Americas, which, Chatters argues, happened in waves over long periods of time and involved people of widely varied features and genetic traits. Writing evenly of a controversy that continues to rage, Chatters provides a behind-the-scenes view of physical anthropology, as well as a fascinating revision of the human past. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 9.59 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

CHIEF JOSEPH OF THE NEZ PERCE, Who Called Themselves the Nimipu, "The Real People"
A Poem by Robert Penn Warren. Condition: UNREAD 1983 Random House hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first edition, second printing. Content: Reviewer: "Written in Robert Penn Warren's final years, this book-length, narrative poem is searingly beautiful and historically accurate. Warren recounts the history of the peace-loving Nez Perce through the voice of their most famous leader, Chief Joseph. Warren's stark and forceful poetry combined with the tragedy of the historical event and the personal decency of its hero made this one of the most moving and memorable poems I've ever read." Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 6.59 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

GIVE ME MY FATHER'S BODY: The Life of Minik, the New York Eskimo
by Kenn Harper, foreword by Kevin Spacey. Condition: Very Good +. 2000 Steerforth Press hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket). First American edition. Book was intended for a library, but never shelved - thus the mylar jacket in place. NO library markings. B&W photos, maps. Content: In a story that is peopled with well-known explorers, including Robert Peary, "Give Me My Father's Body" tells the tragic tale of Minik Wallace, "a live Eskimo specimen, " who was orphaned in turn-of-the-century New York. Told simply and interspersed with personal letters and newspaper clippings, the book examines Minik's life both as a cross-cultural meeting place and a deeply personal search for a place to call "home." Photographs throughout of Minik give a glimpse into the incredible differences between the multiple worlds he inhabited, and how impossible it must have been to live in these worlds successfully. The title derives from one of Minik's more harrowing experiences-- finding his father's bones displayed in a natural-history museum as a "curiosity"--and his attempts to retrieve the bones for a respectful burial. [1 copy available]
$ 8.59 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

HOME BEFORE THE RAVEN CAWS: The Mystery of Indiana's Alaskan Totem Pole
by Richard D. Feldman. Color photos. B&W drawings by JoAnn George. Condition: NEW 2003 Guild Press & Eiteljorg Museum soft cover, no printing given. Content: From 1905 until 1939, an authentic Alaskan totem pole stood in the Indianapolis neighborhood of Golden Hill. How it got there - and what happened to it - became a mystery that was in danger of being lost. Also included is some history of the totem pole and the Native Americans who produce them. An enticing historical mystery. [1 copy available]
$ 8.59 + shipping.

KABLOONA [Among the Inuit]
by Gontran de Poncins in collaboration with Lewis Galantiere. B&W photo section with author's drawings. Condition: UNREAD 1980 Time Life hardcover (maroon boards with gilt lettering - no DJ issued), no printing given. Content: Originally published in 1941, De Poncins relates his 15 months spent among the Inuit people of the Arctic. He is initially appalled at their uncivilized lifestyle but eventually morphs from a "Kabloona" (a white man) to an Eskimo. No other book about the Far North is written with so much sympathy, vividness and dramatic imagination. A good volume for public and academic sociology collections. [1 copy available]
$ 8.59 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

LOOKING AT INDIAN ART OF THE NORTHWEST COAST
by Hilary Stewart. B&W photos and drawings illustrate. Condition: UNREAD 1987 Douglas & McIntyre Trade Paperback, 8th printing. Tiny edge wear. Content: Reviewer: "The book does a very good job of going through the basic form and function of the lines, shapes and colors used in Northwest art and the similarities between the various tribes along the Pacific Coast. It also teaches one how to recognize an extremely abstract form and identify it based upon the few similar characteristics found for any animal or figure, no matter what shape or tribe it came from. All in all a very good reference book for a beginner trying to figure out the way of the coastal natives' art." Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 7.29 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

PEOPLE OF THE DEER
by Farley Mowat. B&W drawings by Samuel Bryant. Condition: Good+ 1980 Seal Books (Toronto) paperback, 8th printing. Edgewear with pale spine crease. Interior clean & tight with moderate tanning to page edges. Content: They were in harmony with the land but they were on the brink of extinction. Sixty years ago, the Ihalmiut numbered 7,000. When Farely Mowat visited them, their population had dwindled to forty. For two years, Mowat shared their hard life -- the bleak winters, the shortages of food, the fervent struggle to withstand the intrusion of white men--and came to understand them. Here, Farely Mowat indicts those who have abused the Ihalmiut. But, foremost, he pays tribute to the last of the People of the Deer -- the proud, valiant Eskimos, desperately trying to survive. [1 copy available]
$ 3.59 + shipping.

SACAGAWEA'S SON: The Life of Jean Baptiste Charbonneau
by Marion Tinling. Cover painting by Kate McKeon. B&W era photos throughout. Condition: NEW 2001 Mountain Press Trade Paperback, no printing given. Content: Reviewer: "This is a seemingly well-researched biography of one member of the famous expedition who didn't have any stories of his own to tell about it, since he was only 18 months old when his parents parted from Lewis and Clark. Certainly many have asked, "Whatever happened to "Pomp"? He seems to have been a loner; his parents allowed Captain Clark to become his mentor in St. Louis, where he was educated with other half-Indian boys. During his entire life he saw little of Sacagawea (who died when he was 8) or Toussaint Charbonneau, his father, who was a guide and trapper. In his travels, Jean Baptiste crossed paths with many of the famous explorers and shapers of the American West. I'm no longer a "young adult," but found the book very interesting." (1 copy available)
$ 5.49 + shipping.

THE SHOSHONE: Pine Nut Harvesters of the Great Basin (America's First Peoples series)
by Kristin Thoennes Keller. Wonderful color and era B&W illustrations and photos. Condition: NEW 2003 Blue Earth soft cover, first printing. Content: This is a wonderful series on Native America for youngsters. This book takes a look at the Shoshone - both Eastern and Western - and their traditions and lore. It also includes crafts for kids based on the Shoshone culture. Excellent. Ages 6+. (1 copy available)
$ 5.59 + shipping.

WARM SPRINGS MILLENNIUM: Voices From the Reservation
by Michael Baughman & Charlotte Hadella. B&W photos. Condition: Gently pre-read, if at all, 2000 University of Texs Press hardcover (no DJ), first edition. Content: Established in 1855 on an area one-fifteenth the size of the lands relinquished in return for it, the Warm Springs Reservation in north central Oregon is home to some 3,600 Warm Springs, Wasco, and Paiute Indians, half of whom are under twenty. This book seeks to understand the reservation's inhabitants as a "viable people" who are both visible and vocal as they reflect on their daily lives, their struggles and successes, and their hopes for the future. Michael Baughman and Charlotte Hadella present extended interviews with seven Indian and two non-Indian members of the community. They discuss issues such as the difficulty of maintaining traditional lifeways centered around hunting, fishing, and gathering; the disruptions caused by alcoholism and diseases such as diabetes; and the need for culturally appropriate education for the young. The authors frame the interviews with explanatory material that covers the reservation's history and relations with white society and its efforts to transmit native languages and cultural traditions to its children. Questions welcome [1 copy available]
$ 7.49 + $ 3.09 media shipping.