From Library Journal
Immensely readable and informative, this important resource was edited by prominent North American Indian scholar Hoxie (Parading Through History: The Making of the Crow Nation, Cambridge Univ., 1995), as well as vice-president for research and education at the Newberry Library in Chicago. A "who's who" of scholars in the field have compressed traditional and new research into 400 authoritative articles accessible to lay readers. Several good one-volume encyclopedias on American Indians have appeared recently. Native North American Almanac (Gale, 1994) presents history (ancient and modern), statistics, essays, directory information, and contemporary biographies; Native America in the Twentieth Century (Garland, 1994) treats art, policy, law, religion, and tribes. With 100 historical biographies, 100 tribes, cultural overviews, and teminology, the Encyclopedia of North American Indians occupies a special niche within this group. It is distinctive for the interpretative quality of its diverse subject coverage and for its fulfillment of the editor's aim to "introduce, teach and invite further inquiry." Highly recommended for all public and academic libraries.?Margaret W. Norton, Morton West H.S., Berwyn Ill.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
This ambitious undertaking is edited by Frederick Hoxie, the vice-president of education and research at the Newberry Library in Chicago and the former director of the D'Arcy McNickle Center for the History of the American Indian. His advisory board included such luminary scholars and authors as Peter Nabokov, Joy Harjo, Vine Deloria Jr., Nancy Lurie, Alvin Josephy, and JoAllyn Archambault. Hoxie says that the volume "strives to introduce, to teach, and to invite further inquiry."The encyclopedia contains signed entries by 260 authors and numerous unsigned entries by about two dozen other authors. There are four types of entries. First, there are descriptions of 100 tribes--the editor tried to provide coverage of all major contemporary groups. These entries are supplemented with "regional entries" that discuss smaller native communities. There are five entries on the major languages (Lakota, Navajo, Cherokee, Cree, Ojibwa) and four on the major language groups (Algonquian, Iroquoian, Pueblo, and Salishan). Secondly, there are biographies of 100 prominent deceased Native Americans. The biographees are political figures, athletes, artists, and scholars. Next, there are 100 interpretive articles on topics such as beadwork, dreams, and treaties. Finally, brief entries provide definitions of topics such as peyote, cradle boards, or the Battle of Little Big Horn. Many of the longer entries include a two-to three-item bibliography. The entry Bibliographies by Velma Salabiye (Navajo) gives a broad overview of scholarship in the field. Black-and-white maps and photographs (most of them historical) add interest to the text. A detailed index aids access.
The articles are well written and easy to read. There is no entry on the Lewis and Clark expedition, but the one on Sacagawea discusses it. The entry on the Blackfoot does not note that the only Indian killed during the Lewis and Clark expedition was a Blackfoot. There is no entry for trickster or New Age.
This book is similar to The Native North American Almanac [RBB My 1 94] in its popular approach, though its contributors are scholars. It is appropriate for the high-school or public library where the user needs a definition or overview. A better work on contemporary Native Americans is Davis' Native America in the Twentieth Century: An Encyclopedia [RBB D 1 94].
About the Author
Frederick E. Hoxie is vice president of education and research at the Newberry Library in Chicago and former director of the D'Arcy McNickle Center for the History of the American Indian. His most recent book is Parading Through History: The Making of the Crow Nations.
