Indian Life on the Upper Missouri (Volume 89)

by John C. Ewers

The Plains Indian of the Upper Missouri in the nineteenth-century buffalo days remains the widely recognized symbol of primitive man par excellence–and the persistent image of the North American Indian at his most romantic. Fifteen cultural highlights, each a chapter made from research for a particular subject and enriched by contemporary illustrations, provide a sensitive interpretation of tribes such as the Blackfeet, the Crows, and the Mandans from the decades before Lewis and Clark up to the present.

In an attempt to understand and record the old culture of the Indians, the author has developed, over the past 30 years, a special ethnohistorical approach. The results, as seen here, are enlightening both for other ethnohistorians and for historians of more or less conventional bent. This book is abundantly illustrated from historical sources.

Genres: History

240 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 1988

About the author

John Canfield Ewers was an American ethnologist and museum curator. Known for his studies on the art and history of the American Plains Indians, he was described by The New York Times as one of his country's "foremost interpreters of American Indian culture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C....

Reviews

[Keith W · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which is a collection of essays written over a period of years by the author, who was the first curator of the Museum of the Plains Indians on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana and later the Senior Ethnologist at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Each chapter in the book is clear, well-written, interesting and informative. I especially liked the ones that described trading patterns among the tribes that resided in the Upper Missouri basin, white influence on Plains Indian painting, the Blackfoot war lodge and “Self-torture in the Blood Indian Sun Dance.” One thing I noticed while reading the book is that the information and stories in some of the chapters were much more interesting than the titles would indicate. For example, the chapter entitled “The Blackfoot War Lodge: Its Construction and Use” contained several interesting accounts of what happened when Blackfoot war parties went out to engage other tribes. The accounts explained how each war party’s journey unfolded and what happened along the way, which I found fascinating and much more interesting than a mere account of how war lodges were constructed and used. A word of caution: if you have not read much about the Plains Indians in the 19th Century, you may find this book or aspects of it rather esoteric. It would be better to read it after you have gained some knowledge of the geography of the area and the history of some of the tribes that lived there. Once you have that in hand, I think you will find “Indian Life on the Upper Missouri” to be a very rewarding read.