From Library Journal
This unique reference source features more than 100 fascinating profiles of notable Native American women from the 1500s to the present. Detailed entries include biographical sketches, photographs, descriptions of individual challenges and accomplishments, and recommended reading for each woman profiled. Entries range from relatively well-known individuals such as singer Buffy Sainte-Marie (Cree), writer Louise Erdrich (Chippewa), ballerina Maria Tallchief (Osage), and interpreter Sacagawea (Shoshone) to lesser-known women such as Catholic nun Kateri Tekakwitha (Mohawk), warrior Lozen (Apache), writer Zitkala-Sa (Sioux), and leader/ activist Wilma Mankiller (Cherokee). One misses notables like actress Irene Bedard (Inupiaq), storyteller Velma Wallis (Athabaskan), and writer Susan Power (Sioux). But as the introduction states, the women were chosen to "represent a variety of tribes, regions, chronological periods, and fields," and the selected bibliography features source material about other historically important Indian women. The alphabetical arrangement is aided by cross references, and indexes include entries by area of activity (activist, educator, interpreter, poet, etc.), tribe (Abnaki to Winnebago), and year of birth (1500s-1959). Recommended for libraries interested in women's biographical history and/or Native American studies.?Elizabeth Connor, Medical Univ. of South Carolina Lib.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
If your collection already includes Gretchen Bataille's Native American Women: A Biographical Dictionary (Garland, 1993) or Sharon Malinowski and Simon Glickman's Native North American Biography (UXL, 1996), you may not need this new title, but you'll want to give it some thought. Included here are many of the same well-known Indian women in addition to lesser-known artists, educators, lawyers, activists, writers, and tribal leaders, more than 100 in all. Alphabetical entries, from Elsie Allen (Pomo basket maker) to Zintkala Nuni (Lakota Wounded Knee survivor), range in length from one page (lawyer Arlinda Locklear and sculptor Otellie Loloma) to four pages (Ada Deer, Wilma Mankiller, Pocahontas, Sacagawea, Maria Tallchief). Most are around two pages, always with references listed under "Further Reading" and often with a photo. Indexes are by subject, tribe, and decade of birth. If anything, subject index headings may be overly specific--author would be more inclusive and useful than identifying poets, essayists, novelists and playwrights separately. See and see also references are plentiful.
Readability here is slightly more difficult than in the Malinowski set, and entries are usually longer than Bataille's. However, Sonneborn's writing is passionate while debunking the "popular fiction" of Sacagawea and Pocahontas, and the reader is drawn into caring about each biographee. One previewing student actually borrowed Lakota Woman after reading the entry on Mary Brave Bird. This fascinating, well-written resource will find use from middle-school to adult collections. It's the first volume in the developing series Encyclopedia of Women. Upcoming titles in the series include A^-Z of Women in Science and Math (July_ 1999) and A^-Z of American Women Writers (January 2000).
