The Piikani Blackfeet: A Culture Under Siege [Paperback]

John C. Jackson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1999

The Piikani Blackfeet: A Culture Under Siege [Paperback] 256 pages

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Mountain Press Publishing Company (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878423869
• ISBN-13: 978-0878423866
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,695,932 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Part beaver, part beaver tale, John C. Jackson has been trying to document the mythic fur trade for over fifty years because the real thing is more compelling than the fiction. His first book on David E. Jackson, concerning one of the founders of the Rocky Mountain hunt languishes out of print as does The Piikani Blackfeet but Oregon State press put the Children of the Fur Trade back on the shelf. Meriwether Lewis is going into a second printing with Prometheus Press which also has the next study, By Honor and Right: How One Man Boldly Defined the Destiny of a Nation in press with a fall publication. A major narrative history of "The North West Company Columbia Adventure" is presently being completed and will provide new insights into a quarter century of fur trade activities on the Pacific Slope.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A review of the first 59 pages...., June 15, 2005

By 

Barnes and Noble Junkie (Barnes And Noble, Midlothian, Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Piikani Blackfeet: A Culture Under Siege (Hardcover)

That's as far as I got... It was at this time that the first book of Simon Schama's History of Britain arrived at my door step, and after struggling to try to stay interested in this book I just couldn't take it any more...

Jackson does do a decent job of describing the decimating impact small pox had on the tribes, and he starts off by explaining the advancement in the trading posts. He does make several interesting points. For instance, once the Indians started trading for guns, they became dependent on the traders for ammunition. Unfortunately this is where the praise ends.

The first problem I had with the book was getting confused with who was who. As Jackson writes, the Niitsitapi (the people) "understood who they were and felt free to change personal names.... Groups were more concerned with identifying outsiders. ..these group names were often the teasing, slightly derogatory designations of neighbors. ..the writings of poorly informed Europeans froze individual identities and group names..." Jackson does add a section titled Synonymy in which he attempts to 'sort out the various names'. Jackson also tries to help the reader out by putting the 'European names in parenthesis, but I was still utterly confused at several times in the book.

The other problem I had with the book was Jackson's style of writing. What follows is a list of direct quotes..

"Going to the store was not a pleasant experience for the Piikani."

"..going to market was not much fun for anyone"

On going to the new trading post.. "The journey was another test of Kutenai determination" and The Kutenai journey was more a trial for them than a risk of outright hostility"

OK I get the point. I think there were other times when Jackson wrote pretty much the same thing...

I guess what finally made me decide to put the book down was that I just really didn't care too much about the Piikani and their trading habits..

Maybe one day, I'll pick this book back up again and read the whole thing, but right now there are just too many more interesting books out there..

PS You can pick this up in the bargain section of B&N for about $5.00.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding history of Piikani Blackfeet culture., July 3, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Piikani Blackfeet: A Culture Under Siege (Paperback)

John Jackson's Piikani Blackfeet examines the history and culture of the Piikani people, using government records, journals, and scholarly studies from both published and unpublished sources. Chapters chart the realities of early Native American life.

5.0 out of 5 stars History written well, November 7, 2010

By 

Gary - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Piikani Blackfeet: A Culture Under Siege (Hardcover)

I just spent a fruitless and depressing evening trying to read EMPIRE OF THE SUMMER MOON, by Gwynne, and, after writing a negative review of that book, realized that only rarely do I write reviews of books that I really like and admire.

THE PIIKANI BLACKFEET: A Culture Under Siege is such a book. When first I encountered this book, I was no stranger to the history of the Piikani (I am part Piegan myself). To say that I began reading it with a jaundiced eye, would be to put it mildly. But to date I've read John C. Jackson's book cover to cover three times, and no doubt I'll read it cover to cover many more times. Each time I read it, I either learn something new, or it sends me off on an investigative path that I'd never before considered. Be forewarned, though: Jackson's prose is deceptive. It never calls attention to itself. He gets you wrapped up in a story line and you want to press ahead, get involved in the lives that he writes about. But if you do, if you do not constantly pay attention, you miss much of what he has to say. My recommendation: don't even try. Read and enjoy. And count on reading it again. It's well worth it.