Do All Indians Live in Tipis? Questions and Answers from the National Museum of the American Indian

by NMAI (Contributor), Kevin Gover (Foreword), Wilma Mankiller (Introduction)

How much do you really know about totem poles, tipis, and Tonto? There are hundreds of Native tribes in the Americas, and there may be thousands of misconceptions about Native customs, culture, and history. In this illustrated guide, experts from Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian debunk common myths and answer frequently asked questions about Native Americans past and present. Readers will discover the truth about everything from kachina dolls to casinos, with answers to nearly 100 questions, Did Indians really sell Manhattan for twenty-four dollars worth of beads and trinkets? Are dream catchers an authentic tradition? Do All Indians Live in Tipis? Second Edition features short essays, mostly Native-authored, that cover a range of topics including identity; origins and histories; clothing, housing, and food; ceremony and ritual; sovereignty; animals and land; language and education; love and marriage; and arts, music, dance, and sports.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Native American, Indigenous, Cultural, Historical

352 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2007

Reviews

[Moonkiszt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Featured in a grandma reads session.

Written by many, this book answers all kinds of questions Native Americans have been asked over and over, and these are their answers. From historical corrections - what really happened that first Thanksgiving, and is that day really a "holiday" for Native Americans?? - to music, arts, language and truthfulness in movie portrayals - this book takes on a lot of diverse, wide-ranging topics. Given in short few page sections, it can be taken bits at a time, and, like reading encyclopedias, skipping around works.

We read this over a number of sessions, with the kids picking the questions in which they had the most interest. I imposed a few I thought most important for their understanding. Would be a great reference book on the multi-cultural shelf of any home!

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

These short chapters make excellent reading passages for middle school students. The vocabulary is academic and might require some front loading. The Smithsonian should publish a teacher's guide and market it as curriculum. The readings lend themselves to a variety of question levels from knowledge and comprehension all the way up the hierarchical ladder to synthesis and evaluation. Maybe Bloom’s taxonomy is out of vogue, but I would guess it would work well for a common core curriculum, too.

Thanks Anastasia for your review. It put the book on my radar. I'm using it, now, with one of my students.

[Chris Heim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, written in Q&A form, is an excellent primer for those who have little knowledge of American Indians outside of the historically stereotypical portrayals conveyed in movies and other media. As I teach a lengthy unit on American Indians each year, I came in with a lot of background knowledge on the subject, but still deepened my schema on a few related topics and explored some questions I had never considered before, too.

[Corinne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up on a whim, and kept reading it when I noticed that it was produced by the National Museum of the American Indian/Smithsonian Institute, and has short, digestible chapters of 1-3 pages answering commonly asked questions (questions from the intelligent to the mortifyingly racist and ignorant). I learned a ton--everything from contributions natives have made to our society to why certain stereotypes are pervasive.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

FAQ about Native American culture. The answers are only a page or two long so the authors don't get bogged down in too many details, but provide just enough information.

I read this for work and it was just what I needed to develop a better sense of the "big picture." Now to work on all those details...

[Félix Contreras Franco · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been passionate about prehispanic cultures since I was a child, but I've never known much about the cultures that lived anywhere north of modern day Mexico City, so I picked this up to find more about them. It's a q&a format, with each chapter rarely extending more than 2 pages, so it was a rather light reading. I would've liked it to go a little deeper into several topics, such as the Native views on ecology, religion, tradition, etc, but the format limited the depth the authors could go to. Also, since this is covering general questions from non-Native Americans for Natives, the answers can sometimes be a two page way of saying " x thing varies incredibly from nation to nation, there is no one answer", since 'Native American' is seen as a kind of monolithic culture, rather than a plethora of cultures. It's a good "introduction to Native American/pre-Hispanic cultures" book, but it's not very thorough.

[Marti Martinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

(start sarcasm) Wah! Wah! I am white and this made me feel bad. It should be banned from school and public libraries! Wah! (end sarcasm)

I work at a museum and this was in our employee area. Published by that notoriously left-wing and evil Smithsonian, it's an easily read and digested book due to the short nature of each chapter. Clear, concise, profusely illustrated with photos and drawings.....it should make the reader angry at the treatment of "uncivilized" natives by "civilized" europeans. Especially the chapters on those residential boarding "schools".....Yeah, even you, too, Canada, screwed them over.

Buy it before Greene, Desantis, and Boebert ban it. And give it to your damn grandkids.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good intro to Native American culture with answers to numerous questions asked to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and answered by various Native writers. Short chapters of about 2-3 pages make it quite assessable, as you can read on the subjects of interest and skip around.

[Jessie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a fine book, but I just wasn't feeling it. I don't really know what would have made it better, but I personally didn't like the short answers that felt, in some ways, repetitive. I think it could be good as a reference source, but for me, who just read it straight through, it wasn't very good.

[Rebecca Herrera Alegria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This such a great informative and comprehensive book of frequently asked questions pertaining to Native Americans across the Americas. It was informative and straight forward while being easy to read. 😊

[Hera Sundstrom]

This answers so many questions that people assume about American Indians and the stereotypes in everyday life. It is also very informational about their culture that was interesting to read about. I would recommend this for middle schoolers during a history lesson or at home.

[ThreeSonorans Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a modern, quick, and easy way to get a lot of questions answered, mostly about stereotypes about Native peoples, including questions about cultural appropriation, music, ceremonies, language, and history.

[Karin Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was given to me as a gift. The gift lies inside with the knowledge and explanation of American Indian stereotypes. This will be on my desk as a ready-resource in my classroom.

[Joan Rausch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book, very informative and easy to read.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good companion to Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask by Anton Treuer (there's lots of overlap, with this book covering more topics).

[Sam Mosqueda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really good basic starting point. I originally bought it just for my own reading, but I could see myself using this in the classroom somehow. I like the Question/Answer layout.

[Dan N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.3 stars!

[Megan Pierson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick insightful read of Native American History as well as modern times. Learned a lot! A great read for all.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up at library when I saw the Smithsonian tag. What a wonderful idea to capture real life answers to misconceptions.

[Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

The answer to the book’s title is no. Most live in houses and apartments like their fellow citizens. The buffalo hide tipi was the traditional dwelling for only the Plains Indians. Other questions cannot be answered as succinctly, for example, there isn’t a single answer about correct terminology. Is it correct to say American Indian, Indian, Native American, or Native or is it correct to say tribe of nation? There is no clear consensus on this, so it’s best to ask, “how would you like to be referred to?” These and other questions are addressed in this series of two or three page essays about identity, origin, history, clothing, arts, crafts, ceremony and ritual, sovereignty, animal, language, education, marriage, dance, sports, land and popular misconceptions and stereotypes. And throughout the book are insights that are both surprising and profound.

“While most people believe that the ‘lowest person on the totem pole’ is the least esteemed, totem carvers [of the North Pacific Coast] know that the figure on the bottom of the pole, holds a position of great honor.”

“Jay Silverheels (Mohawk), the most famous of several actors who played Tonto [on The Lone Ranger] was born Harry Smith in 1912 on the Six Nations Indian Reserve in Ontario Canada.” Silverheels, which he uses as a stage name, was originally a nickname that he was given because of his speed and skill as a lacrosse player.

“The constitution of the Haudenosaunee [Iroquois] Confederacy made an indelible impression on the United States Founding Fathers, including Benjamin Franklin, who used it as one model for the Articles of Confederation, which later were incorporated into the U. S. Constitution…”

[Velia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I've been asked some of these questions and I've wondered about some things myself...like tipis, Pocahontas, do the more fortunate tribes help out the less fortunate tribes, and the word squaw. I finally have a book that can give me real answers.

The format is FAQ style and organized by theme, such as identity, housing, health, language, history, etc. This makes it easy to refer back to a question/answer at a later time. Most of the answers are short and to the point.

I think I would give/recommend this book to anyone who starts bombarding me with (rude and not so rude) questions that I'm supposed to tactfully answer and cannot.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know all those TOTALLY RACIST questions you want to ask but don't want to for fear that your super-progressive friends will hate you for the rest of your life? This book answers all of them. Short, 3-page-maximum passages that tackle a wide variety of commonly held beliefs and stereotypes, this is an excellent place to start if you feel overwhelmed by where to begin in your First Nation reeducation.

I wish some of the articles had more source citations, but I imagine they were removed for brevity's sake, and there's an extensive list of additional resources in the back of the book.

HIGHLY recommended; I'll definitely be using this in class this year.

[Ondra Panděro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't say I've learned a lot of new facts from this book (with a notable exception of political and economical history of Native people from pre-colombian times up to the most recent). After all, the book is clearly targeted primarily to much younger people than myself.
However, the main theme of the book is regaining dignity and self-respect, but without scorning or dishonoring someone else, without trying to fabulate some imaginary greatness. Expressed in a language quite unfamiliar to inhabitans of Central Europe. I would really love to see similar books about the neglected European minorities, such as Roma people.

[James F · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book full of solid information, my only criticism is that somebody used it to try and promote a special character for the alphabet for words with two "f"s together. Since no explanation seems to be given, it feels to be a poor choice, especially given the intended audience. Since there are so many authors included in the book, I am assuming it is just a weird affectation put in by an unnamed editor.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can see this being used by social studies teachers across grade levels. The essays are short and sweet and provide great jumping off points for further research. I did notice a very weird typeface issue. Most places where there should be a double f (ff), there is a μ (Greek mu). You'll want to know that going in.

[Philip McCarty · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick and easy read, yet very informative. Written in a question and answer format that makes it great to just pick up and learn something. Breaks down many stereotypes held regarding Indigenous Peoples. Highly recommend to anyone and everyone.

[sylas]

This book was recommended to me by a consultant at work.

[Kaya Fletcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

The short answers to questions people may be embarrassed to ask is a good way of bridging the gap with misinformation and stereotypes being dispelled.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative. Well-written answers to questions about different aspects of the Native American cultures.

[Jeffrey Gao · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very intriguing and educational look into the truth of Native America. Just when you think you know Native Americans, you realize you know less than Jon Snow. Highly recommended!