For the ancient and modern Maya, the landscape is ruled by powerful entities in the form of geographic features like caves, mountains, springs, and abandoned cities - spirits who must be entreated, through visits and rituals, for permission to plant, harvest, build, or travel their territories. Consequently, such places have served as points of ......
The Pleasant Valley War and the Trauma of Violence
In the late 1880s, Pleasant Valley, Arizona, descended into a nightmare of violence, murder, and mayhem. By the time the Pleasant Valley War was over, eighteen men were dead, four were wounded, and one was missing, never to be found. Valley of the Guns explores the reasons for the violence that engulfed the settlement, turning neighbors, families, ......
This exhaustive bibliographical reference will be the first stop for anyone looking for Calamity Jane in print, film, or photograph - and wanting to know how reliable those sources may be. Richard W. Etulain, renowned western-U.S. historian and the author of a recent biography of this charismatic figure, enumerates and assesses the most valuable ......
A classic of western literature, Julius Caesar's Gallic War is also a staple of Latin language instruction at both the high school and college levels. This new edition for students, prepared by a senior classical scholar and translator, is among the most comprehensive available and will be especially valuable because Caesar is one of the two ......
Ever since the Custer massacres on June 25, 1876, the question has been asked: What happened - what REALLY happened - at the Battle of the Little Bighorn? We know some of the answers, because half of George Armstrong Custer's Seventh Cavalry - the men with Major Marcus Reno and Captain Frederick Benteen - survived the fight, but what of the half ......
An incorrigible trickster, a clever thief, a rogue, sometimes a magnanimous hero, often a vengeful loser, but always a survivor, Coyote is the most complex character in the Nez Perce cycle of traditional myths. Nez Perce Coyote Tales, a collection of fifty-two stories translated from the native language, represents the most extensive treatment of ......
Native American Visionary Traditions of the Great Plains
In The Dream Seekers, Lee Irwin demonstrates the central importance of visionary dreams as sources of empowerment and innovation in Plains Indian religion.Irwin draws on 350 visionary dreams from published and unpublished sources that span 150 years to describe the shared features of cosmology for twenty-three groups of Plains Indians. This ......
In Wah'Kon-Tah, John Joseph Mathews relied heavily on the papers of Osage agent Major Labian J. Miles to recreate the world of the Osage during the last quarter of the Nineteenth century and first quarter of the twentieth century. Using his own experiences, Mathews stressed the spirituality, dignity, and humor of the Osages as they acculturated to ......
Among their celebrated achievements, the ancient Maya are renowned for developing a highly sophisticated writing system. Their unique hieroglyphic script adorns stone and wood monuments, as well as portable objects. Drawing on a wealth of research, this remarkable book-the third and final volume in The New Catalog of Maya Hieroglyphs series-offers ......