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How Can One Sell the Air?: Chief Seattle's Vision

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This text is one of a number of environmental pleas which are variations on a speech written by a european american in the early 1970s for a film. The speech was erroneously attributed to Duwamish/Suquamish Chief Seattle ?-1866. An article purporting to be the text of a speech from Seattle to Territorial Gov. Isac Stevens in 1854 appeared in a Seattle newspaper in 1878 - It is accepted by many scholars, including the Suquamish Tribal Museum, as an Americanized translation of an actual oration. Probably, this text was the inspiration for the 1973 film script speech, but the two have nothing in common and are frequently in direct opposition. The 1854/1878 text is not an environmental treatise. The 1973 text is not "another Seattle speech" - it is patently bogus, since we know its origin and it includes things (railroads in washington, buffalo slaughter from trains) which hadn't happened in 1854, indeed until after Seattle's death. This is a great text, but it does no service to environmentalism, scholarship, or the memory of this Puget Sound leader to sell books having nothing to do with him by attaching his name. Incidentally, this mis-attribution has been known for years - why do reputable booksellers continue to promote it?

Chief Seattle, leader of the Seattle Native American tribe called the Suquamish, gave an eloquent speech to Isaac Stevens, the Territorial Governor on January 10, 1854 during treaty negotiations. His impassioned and moving plea to respect the "Sacred Web of Life" has been translated world wide and is a rallying cry for today's environmental protection movement. Now in a newly revised edition, How Can One Sell The Air?: Chief Seattle's Vision presents his timeless insights drawn from three of his most often quoted speeches, some of which had been included in the Seattle tribe's oral tradition and to which they gave their official endorsement for authenticity. This expanded addition for a new generation of readers is enhanced with background information on Chief Seattle, the history of the region at that time, and the culture of the Suquamish then and now. The informed and informative text is enriched with rare historical photographs (many from the Suquamish Tribal Archives) of 19th century tribal village life. How Can One Sell The Air? is an essential addition to any personal, academic, or community library Native American Studies collection.

Does it make any sense to discuss whether the speech is originally written by Chief Seattle or not? The most importent sense is to get thoughts we - the Europeans and the Not-native Americans - have lost in organizing our modern civilization and technics. By the speech of Chief Seattle we can find back to mankind's roots.

The great speech by Chief Seattle is in pointed contrast to the slanders of uptight white males who want to pretend he didn't say these things. As a feminist who is challenging patriarchal oppressions of the enviornment, I find Chief Seattle's words a great inspiration to me.