Offers brief biographies of significant Native Americans

This wide-ranging and reliable encyclopedia offers the most up-to-date information on prominent and lesser-known Native American military leaders, chiefs, shamans, explorers, scientists, athletes, inventors, artists, writers, and political activists, as well as on a select number of significant non-Indians (from Benjamin Franklin to Marlon Brando). Sample entries include Big Foot, Black Elk, Cochise, Cornplanter, Crazy Horse, Vine Deloria, Jr., Michael A. Dorris, Louise Erdrich, Geronimo, Louis Hall, Chief Joseph, Lame Deer, Russell Means, Osceola, Ely Parker, Leonard Peltier, Plenty Coups, Pocahontas, Red Cloud, Will Rogers, Wendy Rose, John Ross, Sacajawea, Sequoyah, Sitting Bull, Tecumseh, Jim Thorpe, Victorio, Wooden Leg, and over 550 others. Together, they comprise a startling and unforgettable mosaic of nearly four centuries of Native American history.

Dispelling myths, answering questions, and stimulating thoughtful avenues for further inquiry, this highly absorbing reference provides a wealth of specific information about over 200 North American Indian groups in Canada and the United States. Readers will easily access important historical and contemporary facts about everything from notable leaders and relations with non-natives to customs, dress, dwellings, weapons, government, and religion. This book is at once exhaustive and captivating, covering myriad aspects of a people spread across a continent. Divided into ten geographic areas for easy reference, this work illustrates each Native American group in careful detail. Listed alphabetically, starting with the tribal name, translation, origin, and definition, each entry includes significant facts about the group's location and population, as well as impressive accounts of the group's history and culture. Bringing entries up-to-date, Barry Pritzker also presents current information on each group's government, economy, legal status, and land holdings. Whether interpreting the term "tribe" (many traditional Native American groups were not tribes at all but more like extended families) or describing how a Shoshone woman served as a guide on the Lewis and Clark expedition, Pritzker always presents the material in a clear and lively manner. In light of past and ongoing injustices and the momentum of Indian and Inuit self-determination movements, an understanding of Native American cultures as well as their contributions to contemporary society becomes increasingly important. A magnificent resource, this book liberally provides the essential information necessary to better grasp the history and cultures of North American Indians.

Integrating American Indian law and Native American political and legal traditions, this encyclopedia includes detailed descriptions of nearly two dozen Native American Nations' legal and political systems such as the Iroquois, Cherokee, Choctaw, Navajo, Cheyenne, Creek, Chickasaw, Comanche, Sioux, Pueblo, Mandan, Wyandot, Powhatan, Mikmaq, and Yakima. Although not an Indian law casebook, this work does contain outlines of many major Indian law cases, congressional acts, and treaties. It also contains profiles of individuals important to the evolution of Indian law. This work will be of interest to scholars in several fields, including law, Native American studies, American history, political science, anthropology, and sociology.

Covering Central America, the United States, and Canada, this book not only provides an introduction to the history of North American Indians, but also offers a description of the material and intellectual ways that Native American cultures have influenced the life and institutions of people across the globe.