Land of the Spotted Eagle

This book is a detailed look into the Lakota way of life from the perspective of Luther Standing Bear.Overall, it is well written, very interesting and has many anecdotes to describe the usual on-goings of the tribe.The sections are: early life, boyhood, young adult/adult life (hunter, scout, warrior), later days (old age), courtship, marriage, parenthood, social customs (manners, morals, dress), wisdom (nature, religion, ceremony), civil arrangements (bands, chiefs, lodges), and indian relations to white settlers and America itself.

This book is so densely informative about the detials of daily life, and soo very good that I can only read it in small bits before bed. It strikes me how much lakota life was excactly what the christian country cowboy wants out of life today. It respects decency, honors warriors who protect the people, champions knowledge of the natural environment, family respect, a life lived honorably, passing on of tradition, etcetera. It's all the same. It just looked different. I think indigenous people all over the world had been existing as close to the experience that gives the human being all it needed. Sure we moderns don't have violence in certain places, but we have it in others. We just push our uncomfortable parts of life around, dress them up, and think we're more civilized. The suppression of the natural persona ends up creating horrible things like mental illness, murder, and rape, drug abuse, ad infinitum. The Lakota lived honestly, and they really worked out a society over millennia that we could never match.

One of the best books I've ever read. The indepthness and intimacy here is unparalleled with most books written on Indigenous culture. I'll reread this book several times in life no doubt.His analysis of reservation life at the end and the future for his people is spot on as well. Humbling book to read as a settler and can't recommend it enough for anyone.

This book shows the honest life lived by many thousands of American Indians prior to the destruction of their culture and take-over of their lands. Luther Standing Bear tells about family life, tribal culture, and the demoralization of their people. But he does so without apparent ill will towards the white man, rather an acceptance that would have proven very difficult for me personally. A very good read for those wanting to understand the other side of the story.

The new year of 2012 will be more of the same and Lakota people along with many in the U. S. continue living in a manner that is affluent beyond the dreams of the first nation people. The photographs and drawing in this book make it worth far more than the few dollars a seller charged. It is not only stamped with U S Office of education Washington DC but embossed with a Wyoming State Library of Cheyenne seal. Today, many of us read techincal 'books' on the net and skype action from remote sections of world into our homes, but the printed page still has much to offer. Standing Bear may not have been perfect and made his share of errors and I am glad that he got it all down before he left this earth..or did he?

Should you ever wish to understand Indian Culture and the way of the Sioux, read this book. Very well written and downright fascinating.

I'm still in the process of reading this book and enjoying it very much. I have always had an interest in Native Americans and their history. Now I'm learning from this book just how mistaken some ideas are about how these people lived. Makes me sad that we as a people did such an injustice to the Native American Nation.

Luther Standing Bear, a new hero for me. As eloquent a book about Sioux life as I have read. A great man I wish I could have met. I place him with Crazy Horse as a different Sioux hero. A true voice crying for his people.

Good to read one of the few books written by an Indian , than untrustworthy wasichu

Good book

Après avoir lu nombre d'ouvrages sur l 'histoire des "Native American" et visionné nombre de documentaires en DVD (dont les excellents "500 Nations" et "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee"), il y a quelques années, j'ai eu envie de revenir sur ce sujet.Le livre de Luther Standing Bear, un Lakota (Sioux pour les émigrants français), raconte la même histoire, mais l'autre face des choses. Celle des "Native American". ... et des horreurs que leur ont fait subir les "Whites". Les réserves, l'envoi des enfants dans des internats à plusieurs milliers de km, l'interdiction de pratiquer leur langue, etc. Chaque Indien devait avoir un prénom européen, en le choisissant au hasard sur un tableau noir. Sans avoir aucune idée de ce que signifiait ces signes bizarres à la craie. Et sans la moindre volonté d'attribuer un prénom "européanisé" ayant un quelconque rapport avec le prénom indien d'origine ... Acculturation. Comme les Chinois au Tibet!Un choc des cultures immense, qui a tourné au génocide pour nous (les blancs) nous approprier leurs terres, et ensuite les minéraux du sous-sol. Un choc aussi des valeurs, des philosophies de vie, du rapport à la nature.Luther Standing a subi ce processus, il a fait des études, est devenu enseignant à tour, Il a toujours suivi le conseil de son Père: "Fils, apprends le plus possible des Blancs, ils sont là pour rester".C'est un livre d'histoire écrit par les vaincus, qui est bien différente de celles des vainqueurs.Le récit décrit très bien le manque de compréhension, de tolérance, et plus généralement de respect envers des êtres humains différents. Et les souffrances engendrées.Ce thème est toujours d'actualité ... mais il semblerait que nous ayons fait quelques progrès depuis ...Ce livre est très bien écrit, très agréable à lire: il m'a énormément plu. Je le recommande vivement.

Rédigé dans un anglais très simple, sans problème de vocabulaire , ce "Chef" éduqué dans l'assimilation blanche, décrit l'histoire de sa tribu ( Lakota = Sioux en français), pourchassée depuis 3 siècles par la colonisation européenne et son parcage dans des réserves. Mais au delà de l'histoire, c'est la description des modes de vie, des rapportas à la nature, des structures des différentes tribus, etc...qui est passionnante et qui nous ouvre au décalage du regard sur les modes de vie et les différences . Un belle leçon d'ouverture de l'esprit aux droits de vivre "autrement" et de penser que selon les critères de notre propre histoire

Well written book, giving insight to everyday Lakota life, in days gone by.