American Indians: Ready Reference - Hardcover

Markowitz of the D'Arcy McNickle Center for the History of the American Indian assembled this second installment in Salem Press' Ready Reference series. (The first was Ethics [RBB S 1 94].) This set contains 1,129 articles ranging in length from 200 to 3,000 words. The entries cover a wide range of persons, tribes, organizations, cultural and historical events, and contemporary issues of U.S., Canadian, and some Mesoamerican Indian groups. Individual entries appear for 275 North American tribes. Entries are arranged alphabetically and are illustrated with 250 black-and-white photographs, maps, charts, tables, and drawings. The charts and graphics are one of the best features of the work; the table "Major Events in Post-Contact Education" is especially helpful.

Each article contains ready-reference information at the top: birth and death dates or definition, alternate names, tribal affiliation or location, and the significance of the topic. See also references appear at the ends of entries, and articles longer than l,000 words have short bibliographies of books and articles that are sometimes annotated. Longer articles are signed by contributors. The list of contributors contains the names of approximately 160 authors and their institutions but does not note their qualifications.

Each volume has a table of contents for the volume, followed by one for the set. All volumes contain a classified index that lists entries under such categories as Archaeological Sites; Contemporary Life and Issues; and Tribes. The third volume contains a glossary; a list of educational institutions and programs (but not the tribal colleges); festivals and powwows by month; museums, archives, and libraries by state; organizations and agencies with address and date founded; populations of U.S. reservations; a list of reservations by state; a list of reserves and bands in Canada by province; a time line of significant events in Indian history; tribes by culture area; an annotated mediagraphy of documentary and feature films; and an unannotated bibliography.

Overall, the work has attempted to be culturally sensitive and uses the designators B.C.E. and C.E. (before the Common Era and Common Era) instead of B.C. and A.D. It would have been helpful if entries about authors had a bibliography of their works. There are some inaccuracies here. For example, the entry Medicine Wheels shows a bias toward New Age thinking; these are not always used as "teaching tools." Also it is the Forest Service not the Department of the Interior that controls the famous site in North-Central Wyoming, and there are no plans to make it a tourist site as the entry states.

This set joins a large number of one-volume works dealing with Native Americans, such as Native America in the Twentieth Century: An Encyclopedia [RBB D 1 94] and The Native North American Almanac [RBB My 1 94], and libraries owning them may find their coverage adequate. However, high-school and public libraries will find American Indians a worthy purchase because of its wide-ranging coverage.