Mad Bear: Spirit, Healing, and the Sacred in the Life of a Native American Medicine Man [Paperback]

Doug Boyd (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1994

Mad Bear was a member of the Bear Clan of the Tuscarora Nation of the Six-Nation Iroquois Confederacy of the United States and Canada. A Native American rights-activist, he was also a medicine man and a leader with great power and influence both among his own people and cross culturally. In this personal and captivating narrative, Doug Boyd recreates Mad Bear's tales of magic, his healing powers, and Native American legends. "Mad Bear" creates a rich and colorful portrait of the fascinating life of this vibrant, spiritual man.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Founder of the Cross-Cultural Studies program in New York City, Boyd (Rolling Thunder) narrates a dramatic thought-provoking tale of his cross-country travels with Mad Bear, a Tuscarora medicine man. Boyd portrays the aging but dynamic-sometimes downright impish-Indian-rights activist as having a balanced and profoundly insightful, if not purely psychic, mooring in his daily existence and interpersonal affairs. Mad Bear brings a supernatural dimension both to his doctoring and his larger work of building tribal and cultural bridges, and Boyd skillfully juxtaposes Mad Bear's communal methodology with a Japanese healer and teacher whose emphasis is more one-on-one. Although sometimes subtly sarcastic, Boyd's style is generally one of easygoing acceptance of his unusual travel companion and his deadpan humor is a refreshing break from overly meticulous details about Mad Bear's dizzying schedule of plane flights, hotel stays and road trips. The beginning is rather disjointed, but the strands pull together nicely for a cross-cultural spiritual summit conference.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Mad Bear, a Tuscarora Indian, activist, and healer, fought for Native rights during the 1960s and 1970s; he died in 1985. Journalist Boyd conjures the spirit and wisdom of Mad Bear in this lively memoir based on their meetings and conversations.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; First Edition edition (December 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671759450
• ISBN-13: 978-0671759452
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #247,443 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I cannot recommend this book highly enough., November 8, 1999

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D. May (Reston, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mad Bear: Spirit, Healing, and the Sacred in the Life of a Native American Medicine Man (Paperback)

Doug Boyd again, as in "Rolling Thunder", has shown us the everyday life of a remarkable man. Thank you Doug for reminding us how it is possible to live the sacred path with gusto. Since we are not all able to sit at Mad Bear's knee to learn his great wisdom, Doug shows us that the traditions still exist and are practiced. This is a book that should be read by everyone.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tuscarora dreaming, November 1, 2004

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kaioatey (Awatovi, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mad Bear: Spirit, Healing, and the Sacred in the Life of a Native American Medicine Man (Paperback)

This book follows Boyd after his meeting the eclectic Tuscarora medicine man and documents their travels across the country, with the aim of promoting inter-religious dialogue and cooperation. It is written well; Boyd managed to captureMad Bear's culinary and other idiosyncrasies in a way which is genuinely funny and, at the same time, filled with valuable information about modern native medicine. With native Americans information rarely comes in an explicit way; likewise, the most valuable stuff in the book is hidden between the lines: the Tuscarora/Iroquois dreaming practices, the practices used to take care of and obtain feedback from nature and the commitment to working together with spiritually aware people from all over the planet.

The Native Americans understand (suggests the book) that these are important times when teachings have to percolate from their keepers to a wider, global audience, that we have to work together to neutralize the forces of chaos and greed that are destroying the fabric of life on this planet and that life can be an amazing and mysterious adventure if one allows it to manifest itself through us. These things are brought forth in an easy conversational style, especially in the first half; the second has to do more with specifics of Boyd's own participation in inter-Indian dialogue etc which I did not find as gripping. Still, this is a valuable book and if you want to learn how to speak (and keep your mouth shut) with the Indians, you will found it useful.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Mystery of the Shaman, April 28, 2010

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J. Smith (Left Coast USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mad Bear: Spirit, Healing, and the Sacred in the Life of a Native American Medicine Man (Paperback)

I enjoyed this book, engrossing and interesting... yes, there are realms we are not aware of, and how close does madness come to genius? In modern culture, we have lost so much!