Tillie S. Pine

This book gives a slightly patronizing overview of Native American technology: "The Indians knew that hot air and smoke rises!" They made openings in the top of their tipis to let the smoke out. Like nearly every other culture in the world. Wow. The ventilation arrangement in a tipi (described by Ernest Thompson Seton in a very insightful book with the truly objectionable title Two Little Savages) is actually a lot more sophisticated than this book implies, but the author seems not to have a comprehensive understanding of it. Lacking a deep knowledge of pre-contact North American cultures, she probably misses a lot of stuff that would amaze us. Still, it's not wrong as far as it goes. The most difficult thing about the book is not the author's fault at all, but a reflection of the book being published half a century ago: "Indians", in most parts of Canada or the United States, is no longer the word to describe indigenous peoples; in the United States, it's usually Native Americans, in Canada it's generally First Nations. Every other sentence in this book begins "The Indians knew..." and that's not the sort of habit of speech that I want my grandchildren, who go to school with kids from the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, to fall into.… (mehr)