The Worlds between Two Rivers: Perspectives on American Indians in Iowa [Paperback]

Gretchen M. Bataille (Editor), David Mayer Gradwohl (Editor), Charles L. P. Silet (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2000

Originally published in 1978, The Worlds between Two Rivers intentionally reflected a wide spectrum of views on Native Americans in Iowa: those of Native Americans themselves and of Euro-Americans, those of laypeople, and those of professional educators, social scientists, and humanists.  Now, more than twenty years later, this expanded edition reflects the far-reaching and complicated changes for American Indians in this region.
Two new essays--one discussing the issues surrounding the reburial of disinterred American Indian skeletal remains and the repatriation of bones and cultural objects, the other dealing with the native people from whom the state of Iowa took its name--not only express the continuing American Indian presence in Iowa but also extend the bridge for non-Indian people to better understand those Iowans who represent the state's first nations.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This collection of essays illustrates the riches obtainable from combining the ideas and experiences of academics, social service people,  and native Americans themselves.  The editors have done a nice job in selecting and introducing the essays."--American Indian Quarterly

About the Author

Gretchen Bataille is provost and academic vice president at Washington State University; she was formerly in the Department of English at Iowa State University, where she taught American Indian literature. David Gradwohl is professor emeritus of anthropology at Iowa State University and former chair of the university's American Indian Studies Program. Charles Silet is professor of English at Iowa State University, where he teaches, does research, and publishes on contemporary fiction, culture, and film.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: University Of Iowa Press; 1 edition (June 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 087745700X
• ISBN-13: 978-0877457008
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,275,943 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Reading for Native American Studies, May 23, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Worlds between Two Rivers: Perspectives on American Indians in Iowa (Paperback)

This is a reissue of a book that is currently the only book that covers the general story of the Indians of Iowa, from past to present. In addition to the original essays, there are two new ones, both praiseworthy. One essay, by Maria Pearson, Yankton Sioux, describes her fight to protect native burials in Iowa-- which established state law that was the basis for the national law to protect native burials and sacred objects, NAGPRA. The other essay is a personal musings on the native tribe that provided Iowa with its name, the Iowa tribe; it is by Lance Foster, a member of the Iowa tribe. Few people recognize the importance of Indian history in the state of Iowa.. this book will help correct that.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Native American History in Iowa, October 5, 2008

By 

Lance M. Foster "Solvitur ambulando" (Helena, Montana, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Worlds between Two Rivers: Perspectives on American Indians in Iowa (Paperback)

This is a revised edition of milestone essays first prepared in 1971 and published in hardback form in 1978. It was prepared through a research group from Iowa State University, reportedly one of the first American Indian Studies courses in the U.S. Many of the authors of the essays were Native American; several have since passed away. The chapters in this revised edition include updates in the preface, resources/bibliography, and two new essays on NAGPRA and the Ioway tribe. The chapters are:

-A new preface to the revised edition recapping the history of the program and the current (2000) situation in Iowa.
1. American Indian Literature: Contexts for Understanding (Fred McTaggart)
2. The Image of the American Indian in Film (Charles Silet)
3. The Unknown Past: Sources for History Education and the Indians of Iowa (L. Edward Purcell)
4. The Native American Perspective in Iowa: An Archaeological Perspective (David Mayer Gradwohl)
5. Mesquakie History - As We Know It (Bertha Waseskuk, Meskwaki)
6. The Red Earth People in 1905: A Photographic Essay (Duren Ward)
7. The Lion, Fleur-de-lis, the Eagle, or the Fox (Donald Wanatee, Meskwaki)
8. Urbanization of the American Indian: One Man's View (Reuben Snake, Winnebago/Hochunk)
9. Educated or Indian? (Either/Or) (Owana McLester-Greenfield, Shoshone)
10. Education, the Family, and the Schools (Adeline Wanatee, Meskwaki)
11. The American Indian in Sioux City: A Historical Overview (Michael Husband and Gary Koerselman)
12. The American Indian and Ethnicity in Iowa's Future (Joseph Hraba)
13. Reflections of an Indian (Donald Graham, Santee Sioux)
14. Give Me Back My People's Bones: Repatriation and Reburial of American Indian Skeletal Remains in Iowa (Maria Pearson, Yankton Sioux)
15. A Closing Circle: Musings on the Ioway Indians in Iowa (Lance Foster, Ioway)
-The American Indian in Iowa: A Selected Bibliography
-Selected Updated Bibliography