This is a beautiful book about beautiful women....This book was given to me for Christmas and I loved it so much that I am buying them for friends as gifts..

Enjoy!

Wolakota,
Hanble Omani Winyan

Carolyn Niethammer offers a wide-ranged collection of historical information, stories, myths, and taboos connected with the lives of American Indian women, using the female rites of passage as the structure of her book. Her style is mostly descriptive and provides an insight into the hardships, the challenges, and most of all the variety of the lives of American Indian women. I especially like that she lets those women "speak" by quoting them, and each time I read the book again, I am grateful that she does not comment on those quotations. I feel that by letting them stand for themselves, she makes it possible for the reader to catch some of the spirit of these women. Something else I like about this book is that it does not romanticize American Indian women, nor does it consider them primitives. But most of all it does not look upon their lives from a modern feminist point of view. To cut a long story short: if you want to gain an insight into American Indian women's lives of the past - read this book! The only other book on Native Americans I enjoyed as much as this one is "Man's Rise to Civilization" by Peter Farb.

Based on wild/natural foods grown and gathered by Native Americans of the Southwest, American Indian Cooking presents a wealth of information on plants, uses and updated recipes for their consumption. Each plant is listed, described and illustrated painstakingly, followed by the plant's uses and recipes for serving. A great deal of Native American agrarian history is effortlessly presented in this attractive book. Some eye catching recipes are given for: Saguaro Cactus Jelly, Sweet Pumpkin Muffins, Walnut Corn Bread, Roasted Pumpkin Seeds, Blue Corn Mush with Onion Gravy, and Zuni Succotash. Take a walk in the desert and see what wonderful edible plants nature has provided.