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She was both guardian of the hearth and, on occasion, ruler and warrior, leading men into battle, managing the affairs of her people, sporting war paint as well as necklaces and earrings.She built houses and ground corn, wove blankets and painted pottery, played field hockey and rode racehorses. Frequently she enjoyed an open and joyous sexuality before marriage; if her marriage didn't work out she could divorce her husband by the mere act of returning to her parents. She mourned her dead by tearing her clothes and covering herself with ashes, and when she herself died was often shrouded in her wedding dress. She was our native sister, the American Indian woman, and it is of her life and lore that Carolyn Niethammer writes in this rich tapestry of America's past and present. Here, as it unfolded, is the chronology of the native American woman's life. Here are the birth rites of Caddo women from the Mississippi-Arkansas border, who bore their children alone by the banks of rivers and then immersed themselves and their babies in river water; here are Apache puberty ceremonies that are still carried on today, when the cost for the celebrations can run anywhere from one to six thousand dollars. Here are songs from the Night Dances of the Sioux, where girls clustered on one side of the lodge and boys congregated on the other; here is the Shawnee legend of the Corn Person and of Our Grandmother, the two female deities who ruled the earth. Far from the submissive, downtrodden “squaw” of popular myth, the native American woman emerges as a proud, sometimes stoic, always human individual from whom those who came after can learn much. At a time when many contemporary American women are seeking alternatives to a life-style and role they have outgrown, Daughters of the Earth offers us an absorbing—and illuminating—legacy of dignity and purpose.
Paperback: 450 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (December 1, 1995)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 068482955X
ISBN-13: 978-0684829555
Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 1 x 9.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #228,538 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #99 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Reference & Collections #268 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Specific Groups > LGBT #465 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Specific Demographics > Native American Studies
Carolyn Niethammer offers a wide-ranged collection of historical information, stories, myths, and taboos connected with the lives of American Indian women, using female rites of passage as the structure of her book. Her style is mostly descriptive and provides an insight into the hardships, the challenges, and most of all the variety of the lives of American Indian women.I especially like that she lets those women "speak" by quoting them, and every time I read the book again, I am grateful that she does not comment on those quotations. I feel that by letting them stand for themselves, she makes it possible for the reader to listen to the spirit of these women.Something else I like about this book is that it does not romanticize American Indian women, nor does it consider them primitives. Most of all, it does not look (down) upon their lives from a modern feminist point of view. To cut a long story short: if you want to gain an insight into American Indian women's lives of the past - read this book! The only other book about American Indians I enjoyed as much as this one is "Man's Rise to Civilization: The Cultural Ascent of the Indians of North America" by Peter Farb.
- Book chapters organized from American Indian women's birth, childhood, life in the tribe, role in society, marriage, old age, and death- I agree with the previous reviewer: Niethammer allows the women to speak for themselves. No personal comments from her, no judgment. Niethammer just states the facts.- I read the book in 5 hours straight because it was an interesting and easy read, and topics were well organized and presented. I could not put the book down!
I picked up this book because I was interested in learning more about the roles American Indian women have traditionally had, but I was a bit apprehensive about what I would read considering so many people writing on American Indians seem to be all into stereotypes and twinkie so-called "Native American spirituality" that supposedly encompasses all of the indigenous peoples of North America. Much to my delight, this book is filled with a lot of actual information and not just a bunch of putting them on pedestals because some misinformed, starry-eyed wannabe thinks it's "cool" to be American Indian.Niethammer goes from birth to death exploring the many aspects of women's lives, showing many of the activities with which they concerned themselves, and discusses which were more or less common among the various nations. I feel as though I learned more about the lives of indigenous women in this book than I have in any other single book I've read, and there are plenty of specific examples of women's personal stories, not just generalizations.I'm really pleased to see that she doesn't lump all groups together, but instead makes the distinctions between what the different groups did. I appreciate that she tells us WHY certain activities were expected or avoided, but I do agree with the other reviewer who stated that sometimes Niethammer's assessments can be somewhat patronizing.I disagree with the reviewer who found the book "negative and disturbing"; to the contrary, I found it to be quite intriguing and inspiring. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about what kinds of things American Indian women traditionally have done and some of the expectations of their societies; it can give a whole new appreciation for the first inhabitants of North America.
This is a beautiful book about beautiful women....This book was given to me for Christmas and I loved it so much that I am buying them for friends as gifts..Enjoy!Wolakota,Hanble Omani Winyan
I first read this in 5th grade, (6 years ago) and i fell in love with it. the idea of the native woman and the way they lived captivated me. this book influenced me greatly. Im so happy to have finally found it again after all these years!
This book has been around for awhile. It's one I go back to many, many times. It is well written, well documented, used in college courses and a must read for anyone interested in this subject. Don't let the "used in college courses" scare you. It's a good read,which is the first and formost reason to pick up any book.
I enjoyed reading this book, DAUGHTERS OF THE EARTH. I, personally, have it in my library; it is a terrific resource tool for my work and the information is invaluable, priceless. I cannot imagine the time and effort put into gathering the information and writing this marvelous book. Thank you for publishing it.
The book "Daughters of the Earth: the lives and legends of American Indian Women" contains some of the legends and surveys but not a total view of there lives: the book is more of a survey of different topical issues.The chapters in the book are set up as a cycle of life in general; and in between marriage and wisdom's old age is topics on different adult women adventures in life.The writing style is fine and the book is well reached containing the following sections: Notes, Annotated Bibliography, Bibliography, and Index. The Index is topical in nature broken down into different issues in a woman's life, which provides readers a different researching the material.In the Introduction there is point I would differ with her quote: "But anthropologists, even those who consider themselves feminists, discount whatever meager evidence there is to support theories of historical matriarchies."(page xii Introduction).Point 1: Has she done a total research on the topic to call it meager evidence, well certainly not here.Point 2: Iroquois's Confederation where the women did have public political power, and where killing a human limited mans political power in council.Point 3: Feminist have point out that men were gathering the so called evidence.Point 4: Many Native American women do state that Indian woman did have public political power, but do not have western type of evidence to support it.I rate the book 5 stars for this type of work, which is difficult to bring together in a written text: many of the stories are oral in nature.-Christopher Dec 15, 2008
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