Showing posts with label prairie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prairie. Show all posts

Come Sundown Review

Come Sundown
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Blakely is more than an author. I couldn't put this book down. It has history that should be required reading for every high school student to learn about the western plains tribes and the Europeans moving in. Blakely weaves classical music through battles, philosophy from both the European and Indian cultures, descriptions of horses used for buffalo hunting and battle, warfare from the Comanche and white perspective with conversations from the leaders of both sides, nature studies in plants and geography. Where else would you find a protagonist that is ugly, short and plays a Stradivarius violin for pleasure. He speaks several languages and teaches his Cheyenne wife to read and write.
This is the second book in his trilogy and I can't wait for the third one. No other author can put so much literature in a book that is called a Western. This should rank with Mark Twain and other classic writers.

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In Bear Country II: The Barbary Coast Review

In Bear Country II: The Barbary Coast
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In Bear Country Kiernan Kelly told us the story of Pride and Bear, two men of the mid of eighteen century who find love when they don't expect it. Above all since Bear was almost an hermit and he didn't think possible to love a man. Instead Pride is all alone and without family since he likes man, and in the common society this is a huge sin, something he can't reveal.
Alone in a cabin, Bear and Pride built a world of their own. The story was very good, but it was limited to that world, cozy and secluded. They didn't interact with the real world which banished them.
The Barbary Coast takes up where we left them and fills up the only weak point of the previous book, putting Bear and Pride among other people. Bear and Pride travel from Denver to San Francisco, since Pride wants to see the ocean. They don't know what to expect, they don't know the big cities, and San Francisco is a boiling city, but also a very dangerous one. Both Pride than Bear are simple men, they are too good and of open heart, and with the newfound wealthy from the previous book, they can allow to buy things and treat themself with the best hotels and restaurants. And also to help Jackson, a young boy they meet during their stay in San Francisco.
The Barbary Coast is an interesting reading for the historical setting, a San Francisco I was familiar thanks to movies and other historical romances: probably an ideal setting since it was a city that, at the end of the nineteen century gathered a lot of people from different origins and social status. And in this book Bear and Pride have the change to test their love and their boundaries, and to see if it's strong enough to survive also outside their secluded cabin.
I like Bear and Pride, but they are a bit naivee, almost innocent. I believe they are very lucky since during their journey they dare many time the fate, and the fate is kind with them. Probably not very true, in the real world, with their open attitude, they would be killed once they step outside the cabin, and instead, in this book, they meet Native American, cops, private investigators, chinese mafia, and so on, always escaping without problems, and sometime also with a nice experience.
Kiernan Kelly amuses herself and the readers, scattering many little historical details (daguerreotypes, Pinkertons...) which always make you feel more real the setting.

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Bear and Pride are leaving their home in the mountains, at least for a little while. Pride dreams of visiting the Pacific Ocean, so they're off to the Barbary Coast, ready to see San Francisco. While taking on provisions in Denver, they meet a man named Beckett who asks them to go on something of a quest while they're on their trip. He wants their help to find a missing young man named Jackson Dower. The two men decide to look for Jackson, but they have no idea what they've taken on by agreeing to do the job. There's a lot more to Jackson than meets the eye, and Bear and Pride are in for more than a few surprises. Their search will take them across the prairie and the desert, to the most infamous city in the country. Danger lurks around every corner for Pride and Bear. The past catches up to them, Jackson poses more problems than they really wanted to take on, and Pride ends up wondering if he'll ever be able to see that ocean he's dreamed of for so long. Their journey will test their mettle, and their love. Can Bear and Pride survive their adventure? Find out in Kiernan Kelly's sequel to In Bear Country!

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The Ioway Indians (Civilization of the American Indian) Review

The Ioway Indians (Civilization of the American Indian)
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This is the only book in print on the Ioway Indian tribe, originally located in Iowa, and now in two branches, one in Kansas-Nebraska and one in Oklahoma. The first edition was hardback and published in 1979; this second edition is paperback and published in 1995, with a valuable NEW section about the modern Ioway. The updated version listed here has an additional and very useful chapter that brings the book up to contemporary times.
"This account is the first extensive ethnohistory of the Ioway Indians, whose influence -- out of all proportion to their numbers -- stemmed partly from the strategic location of their homeland between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. ...Beginning with archaeological sites in northeast Iowa, Martha Royce Blaine traces Ioway history from ancient to modern times. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, French, Spanish, and English traders vied for the tribe's favor and for permission to cross their lands. The Ioways fought in the French and Indian War in New York, the War of 1812, and the Civil War, but ultimately their influence waned as they slowly lost control of their sovereignty and territory. By the end of the nineteenth century, the Ioways were separated in reservations in Nebraska, Kansas, and Indian Territory [Oklahoma]. A new preface by the author carries the story to modern times and discusses the present status of and issues concerning the Oklahoma and the Kansas and Nebraska Ioways." [From the book cover]
This is an essential book for members of the tribe, for those researching the Ioway's history and culture, and for anyone interested in the history and landscape of the American Midwest. Some have remarked the book is a bit academic in its approach rather than aimed at the popular market. I am a member of the Ioway tribe myself, and am a scholar of our language, history, archaeology, and culture, and I highly recommend it.
Every Iowa tribal member should have a copy of this book, as well as anyone else interested in Iowa history!

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Beginning with archaeological sites in northeast Iowa, Martha Royce Blaine traces Ioway history from ancient to modern times. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, French, Spanish, and English traders vied for the tribe's favor and for permission to cross their lands. The Ioways fought in the French and Indian War in New York, the War of 1812, and the Civil War, but ultimately their influence waned as they slowly lost control of their sovereignty and territory. By the end of the nineteenth century, the Ioway were separated in reservations in Nebraska, Kansas, and Indian Territory. A new preface by the author carries the story to modern times and discusses the present status of and issues concerning the Oklahoma and the Kansas and Nebraska Ioways.


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