|
|
Jack's Reading List
I don't get much time to surf the net, but reading books is something I can do at home, in my van and in hotel rooms. Our house and office are overflowing with books. I just can't resist them. Here's a list of some of my favorites. You'll see a common thread among them and if you'll read them, you'll get a lot of insight into the songs I've written and am in the process of writing.
Ishmael, This book should be standard issue for those entering or within the age of intellectual and spiritual reasoning. Ishamel is like a cultural optometrist who offers corrective lenses for perspective. (This is also a great book on tape.)
Killing Custer A critically acclaimed Blackfeet author, James Welch, gives Indian perspectives on the collapse of Plains Indian culture in the late 1800s. Good books on Custer are many, books on Custer by American Indians are few. This is one and it is good.
Phil Sheridan and His Army Hutton, a professor of History at the University of New Mexico provides remarkable insight into the man who enforced (and some would argue) helped create U.S. Indian policy on the western front. The military-industrial complex is born and nurtured. Undaunted Courage This is a very readable and human account of this great adventure that began the massive westward expansion of the United States. Ambrose talks of the great partnership of Lewis and Clark, as well as the mostly "disdain" for the native peoples they met. I had the great pleasure of meeting the author at a recent function, who incidentally was a featured contributor on the recent Ken Burns production of "Lewis and Clark" on PBS.
The Old North Trail
The Spiritual Legacy of the American Indian A solid examination of the principles present in American Indian spiritual tradition from a man who received focused instruction from Black Elk, the revered Lakota Holyman and featured subject of Black Elk Speaks (by John Neihardt).
Good Overviews
Blackfeet History and Mythology
The Sun Came Down Why Gone Those Times?
MontanaMontana, A History of Two Centuries We Montanans Montana's Indians, Yesterday and Today
The Last Best Place
Glacier National Park
Montana's Many-Splendored Glacierland
Grizzly Years
Place Names of Glacier/Waterton Park
Good Medicine in Glacier Park
American Indians
Ishi in Two Worlds Indian Givers Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
The Sacred Pipe
MUST READ BOOKS
Original Blessing This is an invigorating reinterpretation of Judeo-Christian
tradition by a
The Power of Myth One person commented at a recent concert "You sure like to use the word 'metaphor' a lot." It's probably this book, as well as the other many tapes and books by Joseph Campbell, that really helped me to understand metaphor and its inseparable relationship to myth. It's a superb introduction to mythology and helps one identify the common themes that run within cultures the world over.
Many of these books may be available from the Glacier Natural History Association , or in Canada at Ft. Whoop-Up web site. You can email the Executive Director of Fort Whoop-up, Richard Shockley, from their site.
copyright 1997 |
