Customer Reviews

North American Indians (Penguin Classics)

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4 star:		(3)
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George Catlin is certainly a man to admire, as is this book.Catlin lived amongst the Native Americans for many years and writes carefully of his experiences.This is an interesting read and provides another dimension to the subject of American Indians.The book is fascinating in as much as Catlin portrays himself as a wordly man and a friend of the Indians ( And he certainly was)but despite that you can still find evidence of his ignorance within the text.Nevertheless he was a fascinating man who had a fascinating life,his artwork allthough basic in my mind, is well worth a look.My only critiscm of this book is that quite some time is spent describing the scenery whereas I would have prefered even more writing on the Indians themselves,that is my personal viewpoint, others may find that intruiging.The book is full of facts and personal experiences and that in itself adds to the validity of this book as musthave for your collection

This takes place some 30 years after Lewis and Clark... Excellent documentary of the North American culture just before the BIG change. Its evident Catlin realizes this change and through his travels, he meticulously describes the native civilizations from an eyewitness account. In the final chapter, he makes a bold hypothesis concerning the origins of a particular tribe: the Madans. Fascinating!

I have always been extremely interested in North American Indians and own many books on the subject. I rate this one at the very top! George Catlin traveled among the tribes before their way of life was ruined by civilization. This book contains some of his journals, illustrations, and drawings. I wish there were Volume II!

North American Indians is a good book to read if you are interested in getting an idea of how native tribes on the plains lived in the first half of the 19th century. Catlin tries to take an objective approach to describing the tribes, and for his time he is surprisingly respectful. Unfortunately he doesn't refrain from describing certain practices as disgusting or inhumane, he also does refer to them as primitive, savage, etc so those who are turned off by such descriptions should avoid this book. Myself I read it for the description of the natives and the land they lived on for which he gives a good account. His beliefs and opinions I just simply ignored. In short this book is great if you want a good idea of what they wore, what they looked like and where they lived, but his opinions and ideas are far fetched and information he received on certain practices and stories are inaccurate and far-fetched.