Customer Reviews

Handbook of Native American Mythology (Handbooks of World Mythology)

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I am sorry to say that I view this book as a big mistake. I am an American Indian cultural and religious consultant. For over 40 years. I often review books on subjects related to American Indians. It is my view that American Indian culture is drowning in a sea of really bad information. This book does not help the problem...instead contributing to it in a very negative way. I think the authors may have just done cut and paste with pieces of information they have found here and there. Many of the "stories" are not attributed to any tribe at all. By failing to let us know where these stories are coming from means you cannot trust them in any way. Many times they may attribute some quality to a tribe, but really get it wrong. This book does not reflect a good understanding of historical timelines and has stories or "legends" that belong to conflicting timelines in the same story. The article on bears is the best example of everything wrong with this book. Each tribe that recognizes some teaching or story about bears does so in a specific and distinct way. In the stories here we do not know if they are talking about the north or the west, the plains or the rivers. I am sorry, really, in my view this book is very poorly written and presents an important subject in a very inaccurate way.