Written in engaging, accessible prose and sprinkled with anecdotes and quotes designed to draw the interest of all readers, alphabetically arranged entries provide:
-- Basic biographical information about more than one hundred American Indian women from all walks of life: political activists, filmmakers, professionals, performers, traders, peacemakers, great warriors, spiritual leaders, scholars and educators, writers, and artists.
-- Full coverage, including the obstacles some women overcame as well as the accomplishments each achieved.
-- A bibliography of sources for each woman featured that will inspire further reading and study.
The volume also provides subject indexes that list women by area of achievement, tribe, and decade of birth; a general bibliography; and a comprehensive index that allows full access to all the material in the book.
Most people know of Pocahontas and Sacagawea, but there are numerous other Indian women who have made contributions. Their lives will be of particular interest and relevance to all students and researchers who have yet to hear their stories.
This unique reference source features more than 100 fascinating profiles of notable Native American women from the 1500s to the present. Detailed entries include biographical sketches, photographs, descriptions of individual challenges and accomplishments, and recommended reading for each woman profiled. Entries range from relatively well-known individuals such as singer Buffy Sainte-Marie (Cree), writer Louise Erdrich (Chippewa), ballerina Maria Tallchief (Osage), and interpreter Sacagawea (Shoshone) to lesser-known women such as Catholic nun Kateri Tekakwitha (Mohawk), warrior Lozen (Apache), writer Zitkala-Sa (Sioux), and leader/ activist Wilma Mankiller (Cherokee). One misses notables like actress Irene Bedard (Inupiaq), storyteller Velma Wallis (Athabaskan), and writer Susan Power (Sioux). But as the introduction states, the women were chosen to "represent a variety of tribes, regions, chronological periods, and fields," and the selected bibliography features source material about other historically important Indian women. The alphabetical arrangement is aided by cross references, and indexes include entries by area of activity (activist, educator, interpreter, poet, etc.), tribe (Abnaki to Winnebago), and year of birth (1500s-1959). Recommended for libraries interested in women's biographical history and/or Native American studies.--Elizabeth Connor, Medical Univ. of South Carolina Lib.
