Book Description
For her acclaimed collection of stories, Red Ant House, Joyce Carol Oates hailed Ann Cummins as "a master storyteller." The San Francisco Chronicle called her "startlingly original." Now, in her debut novel, Cummins stakes claim to rich new literary territory with a story of straddling cultures and cheating fate in the American Southwest. Yellowcake introduces us to two unforgettable families"one Navajo, one Anglo"some thirty years after the closing of the uranium mill near where they once made their collective home. When little Becky Atcitty shows up on the Mahoneys' doorstep all grown up, the past comes crashing in on Ryland and his lively brood. Becky, the daughter of one of the Navajo mill workers Ryland had supervised, is now involved in a group seeking damages for those harmed by the radioactive dust that contaminated their world. But Ryland wants no part of dredging up their past - or acknowledging his future. When his wife joins the cause, the messy, modern lives of this eclectic cast of characters collide once again, testing their mettle, stretching their faith, and reconnecting past and present in unexpected new ways. Finely crafted, deeply felt, and bursting with heartache and hilarity, "Yellowcake" is a moving story of how everyday people sort their way through life, with all its hidden hazards.
Customer Reviews:
Free At Last.......2007-09-20
"Yellowcake" called to me from the library shelf because of the Native American theme. Perhaps I didn't read closely enough, but I didn't realize I was a reading a book with a main element of cancer death. Ann Cummins does an interesting job of focusing on a group of characters all affected by radioactivity in the uranium mines. The term "yellowcake" apparently comes from the radioactive residue that coated machinery and was frequently handled by Native American workers. However, all that is background for the story.
It is in the narrative that the novel bogs down. There are so many characters that it becomes hard to keep them separate. After reading, I'm still a bit confused as to who belongs to whom. In a novel where there are several races as well as mixed blood, I was frequently confused about each character's heritage. It seemed to be an important issue; so it needed to be made more clear.
For a substantial portion of the book, we follow Ryland Mahoney who is in failing in health and walks with an oxygen tank. The story goes into Ryland's dream life punctuated by consciousness. Ryland was the foreman at the mine. Others blame him for the deaths of their loved ones. One of the most effective chapters is where Ryland takes a bath and falls asleep in the tub, becoming unable to move due to hypothermia. This leads into a series of chapters about a funeral. For quite a while, I thought the funeral was for Ryland. Instead, Cummins clumsily makes the funeral about a very minor character named Woody that appeared for about three pages. There doesn't seem to be any intentional misleading. We're supposed to recall the huge cast of characters and determine who has died by the family members involved. This was one of the most ineffective parts of the book.
Cummins also seems to explore many relationships in the book, leaving them open-ended. We have the reappearance of Sam who apparently is still married. Delmar is Sam's half-Native American, half-White son. Sam's wife Lily has failed to file divorce papers for something like 17 years (can't recall exactly) because she apparently still loves Sam. However, she then gets very frightened after giving Sam $5,000 and then claiming that he stole the money. No one addresses the fact that she's lying. Meanwhile she becomes totally paranoid about Sam attacking her and deteriorates mentally. Sam goes swimming in a stream and that's the last we hear of him. Cummins takes a major plot line and then drops it like a hot cake at the church pancake social.
Other love relationships are also unclear. Cummins spends less time developing the characters Becky and Harrison. Political issues about the reopening of the mine come into play, but the relationship is left hanging and unresolved. All of this leads to the experience of having dropped in on the life of these characters. Unfortunately, we exit the book not sure of what has happened. "Yellowcake" seems muddy and unresolved. The book's pacing bogs down as Cummins spends huge amounts of verbiage describing things that add no particular value to the unfocused plot.
In the end, this book was depressing. Segments were well written. But it was a story that I waded through to be able to joyfully exclaim as I turned the last page, "Free at last! Free at last! Great God Almighty, I'm free at last!" Maybe the best way to be free of this book is to not start it. Taxi!
wise and deep novel.......2007-04-01
I flat-out love this novel. The review in the Washington Post, which described the "marvels of insight and sympathy" in Ann Cummins's perceptions and character depiction, seems to get at what makes it so great -- that the book should have such a gripping set of intertwined plots, all beautifully balanced, along with wonderful writing, urgent human questions, and believable characters.
It's a wonder to have so many vivid people in this novel, all completely distinct and all seen with a mixture of clarity and compassion. Ann Cummins seems to understand people of all different ages, genders, backgrounds, celebrating their quirks and strengths without excusing any of their faults.
This is a novel that you experience as if you were living it rather than reading it. The book provides an education in how it feels to inhabit different lives. How are people caught in their circumstances, what kinds of choices do they have to make, and what do their choices cost them and the people around them? What are the specific human results of bottom-line decisions? At what point does peace of mind or duty to the family feel more important then doing the "right" thing? What is the right thing, and how do we know?
As a reader, I have a weakness for literary page turners, writers like Iris Murdoch or Toni Morrison who can keep you up all night with great plots and beautiful language, writers who can create characters you seem to know better than most of the people in your life. Yellowcake is that kind of literary page turner. It is a pleasure to read, and at the same time it makes demands: its intelligence asks for intelligence on the part of its readers. It leaves you bigger afterward, if you're able to face the questions it raises.
Ordinary Family Relationships--Extraordinary Book.......2007-03-28
Knowing nothing about the southwest, Navaho culture, uranium mining, or the illnesses that come from it, I entered a whole new world when I read Yellowcake. But not entirely new: Families seem to be the same everywhere, and the author has been able to capture the rich functions and dysfuctions of daily life in families and extended families when everything is going on: wedding preparations, terminal illness, new relationships blossoming, old relationships exploding. The inter- and intracultural, inter- and intragenerational relationships bring light to the external circumstances in the novel, just as the external circumstances push and pull the characters to their best and worst behavior. I've learned some about the southwest, Navaho culture, uranium mining, and Yellowcake, but mostly, I've entered a world of some very real people, and watched them as they've made difficult decisions under difficult circumstances. I loved the book, and didn't want my relationship with these people to end.
A great Southwestern read.......2007-03-27
Having lived for many years in New Mexico and being an enthusiastic consumer of fiction set in the area, I grabbed Ann Cummins' novel off the shelf as soon as it was published.
I expected a muck-raking story of oppression and exploitation in the notorious open-pit uranium mines. But what I found instead was a complex interweaving of several distinct stories, all centering on the difficult choices--and compromises-- we all must make in life. The characters were well developed and richly diverse, especially the half Navajo hero who holds the story together. I finished the book in a single evening, staying up far later than I should have on a work night. I was wiped out the next morning. It was well worth it.
I've read a lot of other "southwestern" novelists---Udall, LaFarge, Anaya, Hillerman, and even Willa Cather. Ann Cummins is right up there with them.
Over-baked Cake.......2007-03-23
The author's first novel (after a highly-praised book of short stories) bogs down in too much detail, and too little dialogue and action. The reviews told me this book was worth reading, so I was hopeful. It opened with a good scene, then fell flat. Little tension. Slow pace. I kept trying to move forward, but the narrator kept holding me back. Long sections, page after page, of big block paragraphs where the author is telling more than showing. Heavy-handed authorial (narrator) intrusion makes the reader feel too distanced from the characters to care enough about them.
Feels like pieced together vignettes. Or a short story stretched too thin and then overly padded into a novel. Where's the plot? There is a story in there somewhere. But the narrator keeps interrupting with details that overwhelm and frustrate the reader. I felt like every time I started to get close or warm up to the characters, the author/narrator pulled me aside to tell me about them.
The author needs to get out of the way and let the reader interact directly with the characters. Cummins may be trying too hard to prove her worthiness as a novelist. She needs to see from the reader's perspective. Less is more. And this felt more like a docu-drama than a novel. It's a worthy subject, and a valid effort at character study, but as a story it grows tedious. Obviously a capable writer who needs to smooth out the lumps and mix her ingredients better.
Amazon.com
A century ago, malaria was killing Washingtonians, Londoners, Parisians. Today HIV, along with various cancers, has taken its place among worldwide epidemics. Quinine, extracted from the cinchona tree of the Amazonian rainforest, quelled malaria; alkaloids taken from trees in the West African rainforest may well yield a cure for AIDS. Yet those woods, Mark Plotkin tells us, are fast disappearing, along with the native peoples who know the powers of the plants that dwell there. His account of wandering through the Amazonian jungles focuses on local knowledge about plants, whose uses range from the mundane to the magical. The rainforests of the world, Plotkin notes, are our greatest natural resource, an intercultural pharmacy that can cure woes both known and yet unvisited.
Customer Reviews:
Fascinating, Enligtening Read!!.......2007-07-26
I typically don't get too deeply interested in scientific books simply because unless that's your cup of tea they can come off very dry, dull reads. I was pleasantly surprised with this book however. The mention of shamanism in the title peaked my interest and I found this book to have numerous entertaining stories about an ethnobotanist's travels and studies across the Amazon. Many times during my reading, I would picture the Sean Connery film Medicine Man! The stories of this man trying to earn the respect and trust of the natives and constantly being laughed at and nicknamed "pananakiri" (natives' word for "white man" or "city slicker")were very entertaining and the information on the origins of many everyday household products here in the States was incredibly interesting. I also appreciate how this book stresses the importance of preserving the rain forests and the native cultures inside them. Plotkin definitely makes it clear how truly remarkable and irreplaceable these places are.
There were some sections that did feel like the author would run off on tangent topics, giving the book some portions of reading that drag on a bit. This would be the only reason I would give this book 4 stars rather than 5. Definitely recommended!!
Searching for new medicines in the rain forest? What?.......2007-02-05
I believe that the author of this book should review it. I did not fine any searching in this book.
Plant Power Rules.......2007-01-13
Mark Plotkin does a fantastic job of conveying the fantastic enthusiasm he has for rainforest plants and cultures. He shows us how important plants have been in the course of the development of civilization. As a historian, I greatly appreciated his vignettes into the origins of coffee, rubber and other life changing substances. Mark is a great story teller, and he is one of the luckiest men alive to have seen pristine rainforests and lived with these 20,000+ year old cultures before those clever capitalists and Christians wipe them all out. That's another thing I like about this book. It slams the arrogant missionaries who think they have all the right answers when in fact they are destroyers of indigenous cultures and invaluable medical knowledge. You can't help but read this book and feel that as you watch the rainforests burn, you might as well be watching the library of Alexandria burn.
But the book isn't depressing. It is empowering. Mark has a plan, and he's implementing it. Harness the greed of capitalism, and the pharmaceutical industry. Let's show the world that Science has brought us to this unprecedented point in our cognitive evolution and only Science (not praying to imaginary friends) will save us. Knowledge, not ignorance, is power.
A colorfully written and informative book..........2006-12-30
Plotkin does an amazing job in not only describing his experience in the Amazonian forest but in also describing the many medicinal plants that were used by the native people. The story, as one would think, would seem bland and dry but Plotkin does a wonderful job in keeping his narration flowing and interesting.
I particularly liked the descriptions of what was happening to him when he personally experienced it, such as epena or the flea egg under his toe nail. In describing what happened personally it adds a lot more credence to the story he was telling. Additionally, the extra tidbits of information about his journey were fun as well, such as the large electric eel that was in the water with him.
What is most important though is Plotkin drives home the over arching theme of his book, that of protecting the Amazon and thus its medicinal powers, and not letting the years upon years of wisdom die with the few remaining shamans. A well written book by someone who knows his field very well. I would definitely recommend.
5 stars.
This is a good book........2006-06-12
Occassionally its a paragraph too long, but otherwise a very, very beneficial book.
Book Description
Inspired by his Cherokee grandmother's healing ceremonies, Lewis Mehl-Madrona enlightens readers to "alternative" paths to recovery and health. Coyote Medicine isn't about eschewing Western medicine when it's effective, but about finding other answers when medicine fails: for chronic sufferers, patients not responding to medication, or "terminal" cases that doctors have given up on. In the story of one doctor's remarkable initiation into alternative ways to spiritual and physical health, Coyote Medicine provides the key to untapped healing methods available today.
Customer Reviews:
Tremendous Source of Insight.......2005-09-26
"Coyote Medicine" is a tremendous source of insight and experience within the path of shamanism and health. Dr. Mehl-Madrona's story-telling is magnificent and at times very suspenseful hitting directly on our sensitive health and spiritual issues we face culturally. But, he doesn't give you easy answers, because his path to becoming a healer was very complex. For me, this book opened up parts of my consciousness and answered questions I was asking and some of those I hadn't yet asked. This book was truly a God-send and I am savoring every word I read.
Essential Reading on Holistic Medicine.......2003-06-22
This book blew me away. I have reread much of it so many times and bought multiple copies for friends. I have filled the margins of my copy with notes and filled notebooks with essays and thoughts inspired by Dr. Mehl-Madrona's book. It is nothing short of miraculous itself, in addition to describing medical miracles and how they are brought about by spiritual intervention and Native American healing.
A child prodigy, Lewis Mehl-Madrona hitchhiked to a local college while still in high school, read philosophy science voraciously and was the youngest peacetime graduate of Stanford Medical School. The more impressive since his childhood was at times difficult.
At medical school, Dr. Mehl-Madrona became interested in shamanic traditions and attended some sweat lodge and tipi ceremonies. Here he encountered otherwordly phenomena such as blue light, sparks, sensorial stimulation and miracle cures in cases that were deemed too far gone by western doctors. Most importantly, Dr. Mehl-Madrona learned how shamans talked to patients, asked questions about their families and lives and spent long periods of time with them. The author learned that shamans tap into the inner healer of the patient, and consider themselves only partially responsible for any cure.
At the same time, Dr. Mehl-Madrona was encountering negligent and dehumanizing healing practices in his western medical pursuits. A few spine-chilling tales display the callousness and arrogance that exists in some hospitals and clinics. One example: two obstetricians made a bet concerning the fastest C-Section birth and the winner, very triumphant at seventeen minutes, accidentally tied something shut in the woman's internal organs. It was fixed and the woman even wrote a letter of thanks to the hospital! Such is the blind and sometimes unjustified trust the public has in the medical establishment.
The book is wonderfully woven with many colorful strands of storytelling. On one level, it is a memoir of Dr. Mehl-Madrona's journey to reconcile his western medical training with holistic and in particular Native American healing. He is part Native American, so this pursuit poignantly reflects his mixed heritage. Poignant because Dr. Mehl-Madrona often felt like an outsider in all areas of his life, as a Native American man, as an American man, as a western doctor and as an aspiring and ultimately successful shaman.
Another strand of his story is the Native American tradition of healing itself, which we discover in almost the same timeframe that he does. We are introduced to the traditional practice of storytelling as a healing technique at the same time that he is. Early in the book, when the doctor is a resident, he is tending a man whose medical condition is exacerbated (and perhaps caused) by his intensely critical nature. A wonderful passage in recounts Dr. Mehl-Madrona's tentative attempt at telling a story to the cynical patient, himself a psychologist, who groans with sarcasm as the story begins. As it continued, he was intrigued, however, and even hazards a guess at the meaning, to which guess the doctor gives an ambiguous confirmation. The great part of this passage is how Dr. Mehl-Madrona successfully enacts the role of enigmatic shaman even though he himself is still unsure of the story's meaning.
Coyote Medicine also discusses the role of the supernatural in shamanic healing, and the perception of magic and nature. For anyone who ever sat in the woods or even on his aparment steps late at night and felt a mystical connection to something unseen and bigger than himself, Coyote Medicine is a kindred spirit.
At one point the author goes on his vision quest and meets his power animals and is given shamanic healing tools. We as readers are present at many important moments in his life, including personal and family struggles (his first wife, according to the book, seemed to wrestle his children away from him and resented his shamanic efforts), professional travails (Dr. Mehl-Madrona's questioning intelligence, sense of dignity for the patient and also his holistic beliefs created friction with several different western medical institutions). When, at the end of the book, the author finds an accepting partner and on a professional level, a venue where he could combine holistic healing with Western, we feel as thought a close friend has triumphed in the face of great odds.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in healing, either for herself or others, and also about finding one's own individual path, as difficult as and untraveled as it might be, but that is true to the traveler.
Many blessings on this book and thank you Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona.
Robert Murray Diefendorf, Author of Release the Butterfly
Take the risk and make the leap.......2003-01-10
Coyote has always been a special animal to me, so the title jumped out at me. The two feathers and physician's symbol on the cover present a beautiful balance. The physician's symbol has the twin serpents and the two wings of the one. In the background is the four, the Mystery.
Lewis' experiences are related in an interwoven manner. He rushes through life in the quest for medical expertise and validation. In doing so, he trips himself into bouts with infinity as his beautiful plans fall through, day-by-day, year-by-year. However, his rapidly depleted physical/mental being is slowly but surely filling from the inside out. The book is a wonderful, candid sharing of one human's journey to clarify his purpose, his vocation, and to realize such.
He seems like a powerless pawn at times. Have you felt that way? I have. It takes courage to choose the walk toward balance with a fellow being. Lewis had to learn the way of the warrior to survive his path as a healer.
The sweat lodge accounts are beautifully done. I felt it better than any other accounts I have read. Although I have not participated in a lodge, I have experienced years of "spirit stuff". He is talking from experience. Lewis tells us without violating the trust of his friends, manifested or otherwise.
The visions he describes are direct accounts, rather than attempts to relay deep knowings into a form the reader may understand. Visions come in dreams, in rituals, in waking, everyday consciousness, you name it. If we need it and are open to input, we will receive guidance. A vision is experiential, so there is no way to relay the richness and life of such an experience.
Ya gotta walk the walk--it's the only way.
I laughed pretty good at his experience learning to talk with the desert. I too learned this while out alone walking in the desert. At first I thought my spirit friends were nuts--and said so--but I did it and learned a lot. You'll have to read the book to find out.
There were tears of joy and tears of sorrow while reading this book, and a lot of laughter. Thank-you for making the great leap and taking the risk of sharing, Lewis!
Moving, educational and inspiring........2001-08-09
This book is a well written merging of two subjects. The first is a personal sharing of Lewis Mehl-Madrona's upbringing and life experience as a half N.A. Native, his pursuit of a medical degree and specialty and his increasing disillusionment with the "science" of medicine as it is now widely practiced. The second is about Lewis' discovery of N.A. Native spirituality and shamani sm. He leads us on a winding path of discovery that introduces us to the intriguing characters who use shamanism to heal others, often while their own lives are in disarray, to those who sought healing and perhaps most importantly, to the spirits who assisted in the ceremonies. While pursuing this path of curing the individual, rather than the symptom, it seems that Lewis will lose site of his original goal to obtain his medical speciality. But, as so often occurs, as he helps others to heal, the path circles around to encompass his own needs and he completes his original path, a more well-rounded and enlightened human. More capable of understanding. More capable of giving what is really required. I found the writing to be powerful, the personal drama riveting and the glimpse into the ceremonies, symbolism and spiritualism of the N.A. shaman both moving and educational. After all these years of hearing the stories shared by N.A. natives, but not really understanding, I finally "got it". This book slaked a thirst I didn't know I had. Lewis not only shared his story but acted as a teacher and I know that I've grown as a result. I highly recommend it and hope that we'll hear more from this writer.
Excellent Reading.......2001-03-05
I enjoyed this book very much! It is full of truths ! I believe as does this man. I look forward to reading any book he writes.It was a easy read and on a level that I understood completely.I laughed and cried with his stories.I just loved it!
Average customer rating:
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American Indian Life Skills Development Curriculum
Teresa D. Lafromboise
Manufacturer: University of Wisconsin Press
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104 Activities That Build: Self-Esteem, Teamwork, Communication, Anger Management, Self-Discovery, Coping Skills
ASIN: 0299149242 |
Book Description
Suicide is a significant problem for many adolescents in Native American Indian populations. American Indian Life Skills Development Curriculum is a course for high school students and some middle school students that is designed to drastically reduce suicidal thinking and behavior.
Created in collaboration with students and community members from the Zuni Pueblo and the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, this curriculum addresses key issues in Native American Indian adolescents’ lives and teaches such life skills as communication, problem solving, depression and stress management, anger regulation, and goal setting. The course is unique in its skills-based approach. After first increasing awareness and knowledge of suicide, it then teaches students specific methods to help a peer turn away from suicidal thinking and seek help from an appropriate help-giver.
The skills-based approach of this curriculum follows well-established teaching methods to develop social skills. Teachers and peers inform students of the rationale and components of a particular skill, model and demonstrate the skill for them, and later provide feedback on individual skill performance.
Book Description
Eduardo Duran—a psychologist working in Indian country—draws on his own clinical experience to provide guidance to counselors working with Native Peoples. Translating theory into actual day-to-day practice, Duran presents case materials that illustrate effective intervention strategies for prevalent problems, including substance abuse, intergenerational trauma, and internalized oppression. Offering a culture-specific approach that has profound implications for all counseling and therapy, this groundbreaking volume:
* Provides invaluable concepts and strategies that can be applied directly to practice.
* Outlines very different ways of serving American Indian clients, translating Western metaphor into Indigenous ideas that make sense to Native People.
* Presents a model in which patients have a relationship with the problems they are having, whether these are physical, mental, or spiritual.
* Includes a section in each chapter to help non-American Indian counselors generalize the concepts presented to use in their own practice in culturally sensitive ways.
Customer Reviews:
The incompetent may be allergic to this book.........2007-02-21
Duran books spark diverse feelings. I found this and his prior work superb and profound, as have years of graduate students working in the field. Its still the best book of its kind for helping those with multigenerational trauma, both with Native Americans and other victimized populations. Yet one of the reviewers above, a woman using the innovative title "Anonymous" was clearly upset by both this book and Duran's Buddha in Redface earlier contribution. A quick look at her reviews sees her self-identify as "of Cherokee lineage" but in another as a "non-native person like myself"; she reads Lara Croft books even though "this book sucked" was the verdict for one of them; she loved the movie Hidalgo and hates her coffee pot. She says she headed a behavioral health unit with Native American clients. This rare allergic reaction to Eduardo Duran's continuing contributions is notble in that it truly does symbolize the many less than competent care managers and providers who for so long misunderstood and mistreated their diverse clients; who may lack the wisdom to know what they don't know. This confusion as to identity and capacity may be threatened by the clarity and substance of Eduardo Duran's books. They may see themselves and their shortcomings in these pages and, as Hans Toch says, if the shoe fits it will hurt.
Healing the Soul Wound.......2007-01-19
This is a great example of the kinds of books that will actually assist in the quest for cultural competence. It is written in clear and concise language and the cultural interventions appear to be appropriate to the circumstances.
An excellent and practical guide to working with Native Peoples.......2007-01-02
As a psychiatrist who has treated and worked with Indigenous people in both New Zealand and the United States, I can honestly say that Eduardo Duran's recent book, Healing the Soul Wound, has not only greatly influenced my way of working with Indigenous people but has changed my way of viewing the world. In this book, he artfully and intelligently weaves Native American, Jungian, and Freudian concepts and wisdom with touches of mysticism and philosophy. I found his insights into the dreamtime to be profound and extremely helpful..."we have lost the ability to communicate with the Sacred because our egos have become so full of themselves." He goes on to say that through our dreams the Creator has found a way to get around our egos and talk to us. I was particularly struck by his thoughts on the meaning of suffering and the healing of the soul, not only of our patients, but of ourselves.
Stereotypic internalized racism as projected metaphor.......2006-10-09
Duran's first book, NA Postcolonial Psychology was a ground breaker. This most recent book offends on many levels. The idea that all native people must return to traditional ways in order to heal makes the assumption that they don't have within them or around them what they need in order to do so without some hierarchical psuedo-shamanist wannabe medicine man with a degree in clinical psychology spoon feeding them. Then, to make matters worse, traditional medicines are taught to be used by 20 years worth of psychology interns without benefit of having walked that path. Leads to multiple generations of psychologists culturally misappropriating traditional ways under the guise of "helping cure" Native people. And what's this bunk about medicine people being the ones to use drugs and alcohol because they have the "power" to do so? Not sure that has anything to do with traditional native american worldview, but may have something to do with some seriously unhealthy practices. Different native people have different practices and understanding of medicine. Making blanket pan-Indian generalizations that smack of new age ideas isn't healing. There's a certain feel of cultural voyeurism that is promoted in this book and it is not recommended. I was a Director of a behavioral health clinic within the urban American Indian population, and am a psychologist. There are many ways to promote healing in communities and among people, and many ways to train cross-culturally, and this is not a book, philosophy or trend I would recommend.
Transformative Therapy.......2006-04-07
This new book by Dr. Duran includes case studies of his integrating shamanic healing techniques with traditional Western therapies. Dr. Duran's writing is intelligent, brilliant, and groundbreaking in scope and content. Though the clients he works with are Native Americans, his method is a challenge for each of us to find our mythic structures and to use them to mature the flat world view of Western materialism. Again and again his clients are struck by how familiar their work is with Dr. Duran. They literally reclaim a conscious relationship to their souls and to their mental and spiritual health. This book is a further development of his first book which was a theoretical consideration of postmodern neocolonial therapeutic models. This book actually introduces healing practices which demonstrate explicitly his theoretical viewpoint. If you read Dr. Duran's second book, "Buddha in Redface", this is what happened to the therapist in that book when he "grew up". It is a book of hope, elegance, humor, and finally of meaning.
Book Description
The first in-depth examination of the sacred underpinnings of the world of Native American medicinal herbalism
• Reveals how shamans and healers “talk” with plants to discover their medicinal properties
• Includes the prayers and medicine songs associated with each of the plants examined
• By the author of The Secret Teachings of Plants
As humans evolved on Earth they used plants for everything imaginable--food, weapons, baskets, clothes, shelter, and medicine. Indigenous peoples the world over have been able to gather knowledge of plant uses by communicating directly with plants and honoring the sacred relationship between themselves and the plant world.
In Sacred Plant Medicine Stephen Harrod Buhner looks at the long-standing relationship between indigenous peoples and plants and examines the techniques and states of mind these cultures use to communicate with the plant world. He explores the sacred dimension of plant and human interactions and the territory where plants are an expression of Spirit. For each healing plant described in the book, Buhner presents medicinal uses, preparatory guidelines, and ceremonial elements such as prayers and medicine songs associated with its use.
Customer Reviews:
a wonderful book!.......2007-04-09
In Sacred Plant Medicine, Stephen Buhner explores the processes whereby indigenous peoples throughout the world learned the use of plant medicines. The book is a sensitive and deep look at an uncommon subject, the sacredness of plants within indigenous cosmologies, how those plants interacted with human beings, and how human beings made relationship with them in order to learn their medicinal and spiritual uses. Indigenous peoples were clear, and Buhner's first hand accounts bear this out, they did not learn the uses of plant medicines through trial and error but directly from the plants themselves. This book is an important companion to Buhner's other books: Lost Language of Plants, and The Secret Teachings of Plants. Each of them look at the intelligence of Nature, especially that of plants, in close detail, each from a different perspective. Sacred Plant Medicine develops a map of the territory of plant intelligence and the human interaction with it by focusing on the earliest and most basic human form of that contact between differing intelligences. Lost Language of Plants approaches it from a look at the deep ecological interactions of plant chemicals as one specific language of plant communication, Secret Teachings explores the heart as the specific organ of cognition behind understanding plant and Nature contact and communication. All three books are essential, this one is a delight. Highly recommended.
Good book.......2007-03-21
This is a good book. It has quite a bit of the white man playing Indian in it. If you can filter through that stuff then you can get some good information out of it.
Book Description
Long before there was pharmacology as we know it, the North American Indians cured illness and maintained health by natural means, using the healing plants of the forest, desert, and seashore. Their discoveries continue to have impact on modern medicine: over 25 percent of all prescription drugs contain plant derivatives, and the mainstream medical establishment is acknowledging the effectiveness of herbal remedies in treating certain illnesses.
Earth Medicine, Earth Food is an A-to-Z reference to the plant remedies and wild foods used by the Indians. Organized by condition -- from allergies to female complaints to wounds -- it explains which plants were used by different tribes to treat specific maladies, how they were prepared, and how to identify them in the wild. You'll learn that:
-- The Catawba Indians treated back pain with a tea of arnica roots
-- The Iroquois and Mohegans used the boneset weed for colds and fever
-- The Blackfoot Indians applied a paste of scarlet mallow to burns as a cooling agent
-- The Menominees cured insomnia with a tea steeped from the leaves of the partridge berry plant
-- The Onondagas drank pennyroyal tea for headache
Earth Medicine, Earth Food also discusses non-animal food sources consumed by the Indians such as nuts, seeds, berries, and ferns, and examines the relevance of traditional dietary patterns to the way we eat now.
With over 160 detailed illustrations of plants as they are found in nature, Earth Medicine, Earth Food belongs on your shelf next to such works as Food and Healing Traditional Foods Are Your Best Medicine, and guides to Chinese medicine.
Customer Reviews:
Don't Be an Idiot..........2005-08-08
I think that you would be very stupid to pass up this book based solely on the writer's political affiliation. If I did this, I wouldn't read HALF of the books that I read.
Still useful survey by noted herbalist.......1997-06-08
Emphasis is on native North American uses of plants for medicines
rather than foods, though a last section covers this briefly but
interestingly.
Book is organized by condition or problem, listing herbal
remedies of various tribes for each. How they were prepared -- no info. Methods of identification (b&w sketches, not always clear). An
The majority of plant medicines were women's, (not "shaman's"). Few remedies were comprised of only one plant. Most medicines were complex mixes of several parts of different plants, picked at different times, prepared in diffeernt ways, and mixed in strict proportions, given in careful dosages if taken internally.
Last (Foods) section of the book is more interesting, and least dangerous (should the reader be tempted to experiment) . The
plants shown and told about there are usable today.
Plants are indexed by
common and botanical names, and grouped as "remedies" for problem medical conditions which no one should
try to use. No Indian names for any plant.
Black and white drawings of many (but
not all) plants are of varying quality, seem ot have been taken from old
herbals. None are much good for field identifications. Plants are not shown in different growth stages or seasons, though many must be IDed at one time then picked or dug at another (usually late fall, when they have lost all leaves or perhaps withered entirely from a bulb).
Weiner did all research for this book from old printed materials. There
is no indication he had ever met or spoken with an Indian person,
though he lived some years in Fiji doing research for another book. Most old ethnobotany writings were compiled by male anthros who were more interested in shamans performing than in women, who held and used and knew most of the pharmacopeia. Men couldn't really tell these guys much, and they didn't bother interviewing women, for the most part. Then too, few Native women in the 19th century would have spoken to visting anthros about anything.
Thus most of our real knowledge beyond what oral tradition and practical use preserved comes from a handful of 19th and early 20th century women anthros who were interested in women's knowledge and were trusted: Frances Densmore, Mathilde Coxe Stephenson.
Yankton scholar Vine Deloria, Jr, liked Weiner's book, but I think it is shallow. It tends to suggest
that Native herbal medicine was simplistic and ineffective. The food
sections suggest this is archaic stuff nobody prepares or eats today -- untrue. I find page numbers close to the center of the book (and missing on many pages) maddening when one must constantly flip back and forth between indexes. It bewilders me that only common names are used in the body text, you must look up botanic names in one of the indexes. It would have been easy enough to run them in parenthetically, next to the entry for the plant.
Still he doesn't get into garbled mysticism, and that's a break. It is the case that plant remedies require care, thanks, prayer, and respect, which is best not discussed except in very general ways in print.
Reviewed by Paula Giese, editor of Native American Books website
(http://www.fdl.cc.mn.us/~isk/books/bookmenu.html)
Average customer rating:
- Steven Raichlen's Healthy Latin Cooking
- Delicious
- Healthy Latin Cooking
- not to interesting
- Suculento y delicioso
|
Steven Raichlen's Healthy Latin Cooking: 200 Sizzling Recipes from Mexico, Cuba, The Caribbean, Brazil, and Beyond
Steven Raichlen
Manufacturer: Rodale Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor
ASIN: 0875964974 |
Amazon.com
Steven Raichlen brings the best of his culinary world to Healthy Latin Cooking: he absolutely loves Latin flavors, from Mexico to Argentina, from Cuba to Puerto Rico, and he is dedicated to a healthy diet that's low in fat yet high in flavor. (His High-Flavor, Low-Fat Cooking series is a must, as is his Miami Spice.)
Raichlen doesn't just drop the unwary cook into chapters of recipes that have been altered to reduce fat and salt and all the other nastiness. He begins with all the reasons for doing just that, and the many ways in which the true Latin diet is perfectly suited to a healthy pyramid approach. Nor does he shy away from truth, beauty, and justice, stating categorically that there are some dishes where lard just can't be left out of the flavor profile. He goes on, however, to show the reader how to cut way back on the total amount of lard used while retaining its great flavor.
Chapters are divided by kinds of food--appetizers, soups, salads, beans, and rice--not by place of origin. So it's kind of a Latin adventure to flip through this book, never knowing where you are going to land. There are Little Pots of Red Beans with Sour Cream from Nicaragua (140 calories per serving), Chicken and Vegetable Stew from Colombia (374 calories), Tamales from Mexico and from Cuba (163 versus 120 calories), Seafood Stew from Brazil (345 calories), Stuffed Pot Roast from Puerto Rico (533 calories), and flan from everywhere (423 calories). Steven Raichlen gives the reader a great way to spice up a diet, and a great diet to help life last a long, pleasurable time. --Schuyler Ingle
Book Description
Latin American food is famous for its vibrant colors and explosive flavors, and Americans have a passion for salsa, tortillas, and tacos. However, we also tend to prepare these foods with large amounts of lard, salt, and deep-fat frying. Steven Raichlen, master of delicious, low-fat Latin cooking, has taken 200 traditional Latin recipes and removed the fat-but not the fun!
Celebrate your own fiesta with the savory spices of Raichlen's more than 200 tempting recipes. From guacamole to Mexican hot chocolate, Raichlen blends his thorough knowledge of Latin America's diverse cuisine with his time-tested skill in healthy cooking.
Customer Reviews:
Steven Raichlen's Healthy Latin Cooking.......2007-03-15
Dissappointing for content; had especially wanted receipe for Feijoada and was referenced, but not provided in cookbook.
Delicious.......2007-01-03
This book is packed with a wide variety of recipes each tastier than the last. They're not all that difficult to pull off either. The book really captures that spiced flavor that I love, and now i dont have to go out to a restaurant to get it. If you're looking for a great recipe book, this will do, but if you want something with pizazz, then this is the choice for you.
Healthy Latin Cooking.......2006-02-25
This book gives recipies from different countries using ingrediants that are healthier for cooking meals. The recipies that I have tried are a great success and I enjoy trying different things from different countries.
not to interesting.......2002-12-06
I didnt really like the book. Some of the reciepes had extra and unnessary ingrediants. Not many pictures. I would look to have seen more pics and easier instructions.
Suculento y delicioso.......2000-10-19
This book has traditional recipes from every country in Latin America. Each recipe explains the techniques used to reduce the fat and calories while retaining the flavor and texture. Nutritional data is provided for each recipe. To make crisp empanadas without deep-fat frying, he "bake-fries" the meat pies in the oven with only a small amount of oil. His healthy guacamole replaces some of the high-fat avocado with tomatillos. To make a healthier flan, he uses lower-fat dairy products. There are incredibly satisfying recipes like Mexican Hot Chocolate, Huevos Rancheros, Roast Pork, Beef Fajitas, Roasted Spiced Chicken, and Nicaraguan Tres Leches Cake. This is a great book to combine the fantastic flavors of traditional Latin food with contemporary methods for healthy, convenient cooking.
Book Description
Discover the holistic experience of human life from the elder teachers of Cherokee Medicine. With stories of the Four Directions and the Universal Circle, these once-secret teachings offer us wisdom on circle gatherings, natural herbs and healing, and ways to reduce stress in our daily lives.
Customer Reviews:
Extremely informative and brings it all full circle.......2006-04-15
I have read several books by the Garretts and find them all to be wonderful sources of information and brings my Cherokee heritage home to rest in my heart. Thank You.
Great way to think, and to help keep things in perspective.......2002-12-28
The Garretts pull from their experieces from the "real world," as well as their healings and practical experience with the Cherokee to give us excellent starting points in helping ourselves and others. For such a thin book, there is a lot of advice hidden in the stories and accounts, if you know what to look for.
Not for Everyone!.......2001-06-02
I really enjoyed reading this material and consider it the best for Individuals of Indian ancestry who still believe in the Traditional Ways.
All living things are created equal.......2001-02-04
This is a must read book for first time people into the world of the Native americans. It will open a whole new door that you will bring out of it is the respect for all living things and for Morther Earth. The book helps you understand that certain things are sacred to the Native Americans and how it ties into their beliefs. Once you read this book you will begin to see things through the eyes of a different race, but from the point of a Native American. You will learn differemt ways of praying and saying thanks to mother nature. You will take things from the book and apllied to your everyday life. Wah Doh.
Excellent! WaDo.......2000-09-09
I am very Thankful that at this Time of Mother Earth The Elders are sharing The Ways of The First Nations of Turtle Island! I am looking forward to finding all the material available by the Garretts....
Average customer rating:
- Honoring the Medicine: sweet book
- Honoring the Medicine - by Cohen
- Honoring the Medicine : The Essential Guide to Native American Healing (Healing Arts)
- Excelent.
- A must read for anyone interested in shamanic traditions
|
Honoring the Medicine: The Essential Guide to Native American Healing (Healing Arts)
Ken Cohen
Manufacturer: One World/Ballantine
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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RESPeRATE Blood Pressure Lowering Device
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ASIN: 0345395301
Release Date: 2003-06-03 |
Book Description
For thousands of years, Native medicine was the only medicine on the North American continent. It is America’s original holistic medicine, a powerful means of healing the body, balancing the emotions, and renewing the spirit. Medicine men and women prescribe prayers, dances, songs, herbal mixtures, counseling, and many other remedies that help not only the individual but the family and the community as well. The goal of healing is both wellness and wisdom.
Written by a master of alternative healing practices, Honoring the Medicine gathers together an unparalleled abundance of information about every aspect of Native American medicine and a healing philosophy that connects each of us with the whole web of life—people, plants, animals, the earth. Inside you will discover
• The power of the Four Winds—the psychological and spiritual qualities that contribute to harmony and health
• Native American Values—including wisdom from the Wolf and the inportance of commitment and cooperation
• The Vision Quest—searching for the Great Spirit’s guidance and life’s true purpose
• Moontime rituals—traditional practices that may be observed by women during menstruation
• Massage techniques, energy therapies, and the need for touch
• The benefits of ancient purification ceremonies, such as the Sweat Lodge
• Tips on finding and gathering healing plants—the wonders of herbs
• The purpose of smudging, fasting, and chanting—and how science confirms their effectiveness
Complete with true stories of miraculous healing, this unique book will benefit everyone who is committed to improving his or her quality of life. “If you have the courage to look within and without,” Kenneth Cohen tells us, “you may find that you also have an indigenous soul.”
Customer Reviews:
Honoring the Medicine: sweet book.......2007-06-27
Honoring the Medicine is an amazing book foro anybody who is interested in Native American healing. The author rich and in-depth experience provides a direct connection and language to the reader to bring more clarity, wisdom and balanced knowledge.
Honoring the Medicine - by Cohen.......2005-09-30
I feel that this is one of the best books on the market on Nativer American Spirituality and teaching..Mr. Cohen has written it in terms that can be understood by anyone with a heart to opea and read..
Respectfully
Phillip Gray Wolf Rice
Munsee Lenape
Honoring the Medicine : The Essential Guide to Native American Healing (Healing Arts).......2005-07-20
Hi,
For me it is a great book, if you want to know more about your self and how native americans healed them self and others
Excelent........2005-04-11
This is an awesome book on Native American healing. I would recommend this to anyone of a Shamanic leaning, or to someone who seeks to learn more about Earth-based, Native spirituality.
This is brilliant, and a must for any spiritual person's library.
~OakRaven~
A must read for anyone interested in shamanic traditions.......2005-01-02
Ken Cohen brings us an outstanding overview of Native American healing. Cohen, also known as "Bear Hawk," is an adopted member of the Cree Nation, and has studied with many medicine persons over four decades. This clear and lucid summary explains the medicine traditions and approaches of many of the Native American nations.
As Cohen explains, this book will not teach you to be a healer in this tradition because Native American healing is not learned from books. What it will do is to give you a breadth and depth of appreciation of the rich folklore that has much to offer those of us who are raised in the (relatively) sterile tradition of Western medicine which addresses the disease the person has, often ignoring the person who has the disease. The point is well made by Cohen that the person who is the healer, together with the person seeking the healing, shape and individualize the medicine that is needed for that specific healing.
Cohen writes with great wisdom and sensitivity, sharing his voluminous knowledge and many years of experience in studying and practicing Native American healing. He brings a lightness to this monumental work by sharing many personal stories of his encounters with the wise elders and healers of many Nations.
This is a must read for anyone interested in shamanic traditions.
Books:
- YOU: The Owner's Manual: An Insider's Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger
- YOU: The Owner's Manual: An Insider's Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger
- YOU: The Smart Patient: An Insider's Handbook for Getting the Best Treatment
- A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
- Alternative Medicine Online: A Guide to Natural Remedies on the Internet
- America's Airports: Airfield Development, 1918-1947 (Centennial of Flight Series, 1)
- American Health Dilemma: Race, Medicine, Health Care in the United States
- Analysis and Management of Animal Populations
- Aquatic Entomology: The Fishermen's Guide and Ecologists' Illustrated Guide to Insects and Their Relatives (Crosscurrents) (Crosscurrents)
- Barcelona and Modernity: Picasso, Gaudi, Miro, Dali
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