Turtle Island Alphabet: A Lexicon of Native American Symbols and Culture [Hardcover]

Gerald Hausman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1992

Pulitzer Prize-winner N. Scott Momaday provides the introduction for this lexicon of symbols and images central to native American culture that urges readers to use the legacy of native American history to interpret the future.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Turtle Island is an Indian name for the earth. In this elegant volume, Hausman ( Meditations with the Navajo ) examines major themes of Native American culture as observed in poetry, experience and collective memory. The entries go beyond simple definitions to brief essays on games, houses, blankets, medicine, religion. We learn that the cradle was a sacred object among the Pueblo, the frame notched to record the number of children who had slept in it. Games stem from ancient rituals derived from the hunt. Bead- and quill-work, once dying crafts, have been revived. The 150 illustrations and the volume's design enhance Hausman's lyrical text.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Hausman has produced a list of some 50 common Native American terms, artifacts, objects, and concepts in an illustrated dictionary format. This book is not intended to be a dictionary like John Stoutenberg Jr.'s classic Dictionary of the American Indian ( LJ 2/15/60), but rather a sensitive examination of these words as seen through the cultural eye of Native Americans. The "story" of each word is presented in art, poetry, and text giving the reader an explanation of how this word has been historically and mythically passed down through centuries of Native American storytelling. Objects and artifacts are described practically with a history of their use and development. All terms are given a mythological explanation indicating the word's significance to society. This fascinating browser for general readers is a unique mix of art, explanation, and philosophy.
- Bruce Alan Hanson, Wayzata East Junior H.S. Lib., Minn.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 204 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (April 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312071035
• ISBN-13: 978-0312071035
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #304,425 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > Education & Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Foreign Language > Native American

More About the Author

I am an inveterate storyteller, which is to say: I love to do it, am helpless not to do it, and I do it all the time, even when I am by myself there is an inner monologue going on in my head. This habit of privately roving around in the land of legends is something I've done for as long as I can remember. My mom worried about me when she saw that I spent too much time by myself. I would creep into a closet and close the door and in the silence of the darkness I would spin tales of all kinds. I was never lonely as a kid because I had the imagination of a wild thing, and I was content to play in the fields and valleys and secret caves of that imaginary world.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Earth, aka 'Turtle Island', September 10, 2006

By 

Ann K. Werner "anncan" (Monticello, In) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Turtle Island Alphabet (Audio Cassette)

Awesome storytelling, and delightful accounts that share the native american insights to common everyday experience.
I own the cassette and especially enjoy listening to them in the tones and inflections of the indians.
Whether you choose to believe them or not, (set yourself up for some disappointment if you are too literal), just enjoy the artful way things are presented.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Reference Book, November 6, 2006

By 

Michele Cozzens "www.michelecozzens.com" (Cloud 8) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Turtle Island Alphabet: A Lexicon of Native American Symbols and Culture (Paperback)

From Turtle Island Alphabet:
"When medicine men share a story, an educational process begins that is a circle of sharing between teller and listener. The story is born so that the listener may, at some point, become the teller; and this is how history is written in the human mind."

I've had this book on my shelf for a number of years and pull it out every once in a while to use as a reference for one or many of the symbols associated with Native American culture/s. Turtle Island Alphabet, available in paperback, contains a beautiful and informative introduction by the author. It's very thorough, with text, photos and illustrations, covering the symbolic meaning alphabetically from "arrow" to "zigzag." A vast number of tribes are included in the text, driving home the history of "the People." It includes an explanation of the geographic mistakes leading to the use of the word "Indian," and even more interesting and relevant to the book's name, "America" used in place of "Turtle Island."

Recommend for any study of Native American culture/s.

From the author of "A Line Between Friends," McKenna Publishing Group.