Little Bear sat far back in the great wigwam. The warriors formed a circle around the council fire in front of him. Little Bear had listened to the long debate wishing he dared speak. Plainly two of the older warriors wanted this small hunting party to return to the main Sioux camp. He bent forward to listen as Big Buffalo, one of those two warriors, stood up to speak. “It is foolish to stay longer.” Big Buffalo spoke slowly. “The Pawnees have driven the buffalo from our hunting grounds. Next they will attack this small party.” The moment Big Buffalo sat down, Flying Arrow leaped to his feet. “Let’s drive the Pawnees out,” he roared. Little Bear had to clap his hands over his mouth to keep from shouting his approval. With deep disappointment he saw the heads around the circle shake in disagreement. Even the young warriors, whom he would have expected to approve Flying Arrow’s words, shook their heads. Little Bear’s eyes lighted with hope when he saw his grandfather, Great Bear, get to his feet. “The Pawnees on the other side of the river are many,” Great Bear pointed out. “We are too few to attack them. We could send to the main camp for more warriors, but that would take long. Yet, if we are alert, we can get meat to take back to the main camp.” When Great Bear sat down, Rain-Maker got to his feet. “Great Bear spoke words of wisdom,” Rain-Maker agreed. “We can hunt buffalo on our way back to the main camp. We may get much meat.” Little Bear looked expectantly at his grandfather. He knew this wasn’t the plan Great Bear had in his mind. The old warrior would never suggest they should run from the Pawnees. Little Bear expected Grandfather to jump up and angrily deny that this was his plan. But Grandfather made no move to get to his feet. Instead, he waited to give others a chance to speak. “He meant we’d hunt buffalo here and not run from the Pawnees.” Little Bear was frightened when he realized he had spoken aloud. He drew his blanket over his head and huddled down to make himself as small as possible. He wanted to stand up and dash out of the wigwam, but that would be still worse. A Sioux boy must wait and follow the warriors. He held himself quiet. He had spoken, in the warriors’ council without permission. He must stay and take his punishment. “The small one with the big mouth has spoken truly.” Flying Arrow had stood and was talking. “Great Bear would not counsel us to run from the Pawnees.” Little Bear hung his head in shame. He had been called “the small one with the big mouth.” He knew he deserved the name. It would not have seemed quite so bad if someone other than Flying Arrow had given it to him. Nevertheless from then on, the discussion changed. There was no more talk of starting back to the main camp without meat. The warriors agreed the Pawnees were not likely to attack while the Sioux were on their own hunting grounds. They decided they would stay and hunt buffalo. When they had enough meat, they would start for the main camp. Even though they were sure the Pawnees would not attack, they decided they would have outriders, scouts, and sentinels on every hunting trip.

A brief biography of the only Indian ever to be chief of all the Plains Sioux.

The history of American Indians on screen can be compared to a light shining through a prism. We may have seen bits and pieces of the genuine culture portrayed, but rarely did we see a satisfying and informative whole picture. Savages and Saints deals with the changing image of the American Indian in the Western film genre, contrasting the fictionalized images of native Americans portrayed in classic films against the historical reality of life on the American frontier. The book tells the stories of frontier warriors, Indian and white, revealing how their stories were often drastically altered on screen according to the times the films were made, the stars involved in the film's production, and the social/political beliefs of the filmmakers. Studio correspondence, letters from government files, and passages from western novels adapted for the screen are used to illustrate the various points. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

With the Great Sioux War as background and context, and drawing on many new materials, Thomas Powers establishes what really happened in the dramatic final months and days of Crazy Horse’s life. He was the greatest Indian warrior of the nineteenth century, whose victory over General Custer at the battle of Little Bighorn in 1876 was the worst defeat ever inflicted on the frontier army. But after surrendering to federal troops, Crazy Horse was killed in custody for reasons which have been fiercely debated for more than a century. The Killing of Crazy Horse pieces together the story behind this official killing.

Classic memoir of life, experience, and education of a Lakota child in the late 1800s.

During the century following George Washington’s presidency, the United States fought at least forty wars with various Indian tribes, averaging one conflict every two and a half years. Warrior Nations is Roger L. Nichols’s response to the question, “Why did so much fighting take place?” Examining eight of the wars between the 1780s and 1877, Nichols explains what started each conflict and what the eight had in common as well as how they differed. He writes about the fights between the United States and the Shawnee, Miami, and Delaware tribes in the Ohio Valley, the Creek in Alabama, the Arikara in South Dakota, the Sauk and Fox in Illinois and Wisconsin, the Dakota Sioux in Minnesota, the Cheyenne and Arapaho in Colorado, the Apache in New Mexico and Arizona, and the Nez Perce in Oregon and Idaho. Virtually all of these wars, Nichols shows, grew out of small-scale local conflicts, suggesting that interracial violence preceded any formal declaration of war. American pioneers hated and feared Indians and wanted their land. Indian villages were armed camps, and their young men sought recognition for bravery and prowess in hunting and fighting. Neither the U.S. government nor tribal leaders could prevent raids, thievery, and violence when the two groups met. In addition to U.S. territorial expansion and the belligerence of racist pioneers, Nichols cites a variety of factors that led to individual wars: cultural differences, border disputes, conflicts between and within tribes, the actions of white traders and local politicians, the government’s failure to prevent or punish anti-Indian violence, and Native determination to retain their lands, traditional culture, and tribal independence. The conflicts examined here, Nichols argues, need to be considered as wars of U.S. aggression, a central feature of that nation’s expansion across the continent that brought newcomers into areas occupied by highly militarized Native communities ready and able to defend themselves and attack their enemies.

"This production offers an engaging, original way for children to learn about a Native American hero. Renowned Abenaki author Bruchac has selected interesting facts that reveal how a young boy is transformed into brave Crazy Horse. ..." AudioFile Magazine