The Journey of Crazy Horse, a Lakota History.The Journey of Crazy Horse, A Lakota History Joseph M. Marshall, III Penguin Group, (USA) Inc. 375 Hudson Street Hudson Street can refer to:
New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , NY 10014 ISBN ISBN abbr. International Standard Book Number ISBN International Standard Book Number ISBN n abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m 0670033553 $24.95 294 pages If you are old enough to remember childhood games built on the budding imagination of youngsters rather than lines of computer programming, then you will recall such things as "Cops and Robbers" and "Cowboys and Indians." Who among us over the age of thirty-five can forget Saturday movie matinees where cheers erupted when a bugle bugle, brass wind musical instrument consisting of a conical tube coiled once upon itself, capable of producing five or six harmonics. It is usually in G or B flat. heralded the arrival of soldiers coming to save besieged be·siege tr.v. be·sieged, be·sieg·ing, be·sieg·es 1. To surround with hostile forces. 2. To crowd around; hem in. 3. settlers from attacking 'savages'? We were learning and playing out our burgeoning perceptions of good and evil. Cops and cowboys were good; robbers and Indians were bad. This book reminds us that there is another side. Or maybe that much of the American experience American Experience (sometimes abbreviated AmEx) is a television program airing on the PBS network in the United States. The program airs documentaries about important or interesting events and people in American history, many of which have won impressive is subjective. As the saying goes, "History is rewritten by the victors." It is one of the reasons Lakota (Sioux) educator-historian Joseph M. Marshall has undertaken this biography of his childhood hero, Crazy Horse. In describing this revered warrior's life, we are told (or reminded) of the dishonesties perpetrated by white culture on indigenous people in the name of "Manifest Destiny." We tend to hold suspect anything without a lengthy written chronicle to back it up. In an age when computerization com·put·er·ize tr.v. com·put·er·ized, com·put·er·iz·ing, com·put·er·iz·es 1. To furnish with a computer or computer system. 2. To enter, process, or store (information) in a computer or system of computers. allows instantaneous deletion or alteration of a word, this is an ironic attitude. Thus, we tend to ignore the ancient oral traditions of all tribes. Marshall gently takes us to task for this, by suggesting that the lopsided history we carry in our printed texts is inaccurate because we have chosen to exclude those who carry the other half of the story. Marshall gives us the native peoples' view of several major Indian treaties of the mid-nineteenth century. We ought to feel shame in the face of our forbearers' manipulation of a group whose culture simply did not include most of the odd concepts that shaped these pacts. "The whites seemed to want to say where the land ended and where it began by drawing a picture on a parched parch v. parched, parch·ing, parch·es v.tr. 1. To make extremely dry, especially by exposure to heat: The midsummer sun parched the earth. hide ... but who could find that line on the earth?" Most regrettable is the fact that of the 371 treaties made with various indigenous people, it is we, the writers and inciters of those treaties, who have broken all 371. So much for national honor. Of course in the nineteenth century the American Indian was regarded as being in almost the same class as black people imported to slavery. Labeling another society 'savage' or 'animal-like' provides a convenient pretext for asserting our alleged superiority while promoting whatever the current agenda is. By sketching a picture derived from Lakota oral tradition of Crazy Horse's childhood and growth into a warrior, the author shows us something of the vanished Plains Indian way of life. Their child-rearing approach was far from 'savage.' All women were considered mothers, aunts, or grandmothers to a child whether or not there was a direct familial connection. Men were teachers, particularly when male children began to show curiosity about the knowledge they would need to function as adults. There were definite positive attributes that were to be cultivated if one was to stand proud before his own people. These included "generosity, courage, fortitude, and wisdom." Among Jews, a man is expected to be a mensch mensch or mensh n. pl. mensch·es or mensch·en Informal A person having admirable characteristics, such as fortitude and firmness of purpose: , a charitable, ethical, fulfilled person. The Lakota male had a similar goal to become wica, or complete. Bravery in battle was not always defined by killing as it was to the white. It was considered a greater show of courage to ride up and touch one's enemy leaving him to fight again. Most military minds now accept that the Plains Indians were, in most cases, superior fighters, horsemen and tacticians. Their ability to live off the land allowed them to move swiftly using the element of surprise. (It is impossible to hide the cloud of dust generated by a hundred men dragging with them a herd of extra horses, supply wagons, and artillery.) These first people were defeated not by lack of civilized attitude, or absent valor valor a rodenticide no longer marketed because of toxicity in horses causing dehydration, abdominal pain, hindlimb weakness, inappetence, fishy smell in urine. Called also N-3-pyridyl methyl N1-p-nitrophenyl urea. , but by sheer force of numbers. Ultimately, what Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull and other leaders had to face was that they simply could not hold back the inundation INUNDATION. The overflow of waters by coming out of their bed. 2. Inundations may arise from three causes; from public necessity, as in defence of a place it may be necessary to dam the current of a stream, which will cause an inundation to the upper lands; of white settlers bent on taking "free" land. Joseph Marshall brings alive a segment of time and a slice of the population that we descendants of the first Europeans conveniently ignore. This book is a valuable addition to any public or personal library. We cannot undo the creation of a reservation system that evolved into an economic ghetto, home to people who wished only to live close to the land without destroying it. But we should back positive legislation that could return to them confiscated con·fis·cate tr.v. con·fis·cat·ed, con·fis·cat·ing, con·fis·cates 1. To seize (private property) for the public treasury. 2. To seize by or as if by authority. See Synonyms at appropriate. adj. territory or other recompense RECOMPENSE. A reward for services; remuneration for goods or other property. 2. In maritime law there is a distinction between recompense and restitution. (q.v. for what they have lost. |
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