John Fire Lame Deer (1903–1976)

Lame Deer Seeker of Visions

I highly recommend this book describing the life of John Lame Deer if you are interested in the history of Native Americans or their view of The United States.

These are the memoirs of Lame Deer that he worked on with Richard Erdoes. Lame Deer describes how Native Americans dealt with whites taking their land through lies and massacres. He also describes trying to keep his culture alive.

We, the reader, are taken to Native American ceremonies. We are shown what happens and why. Lame Deer also explains how they have changed through whites interference. To me, this book also gives the best description of how Native American people are connected to the land.

We also get the long life of Lame Deer. That guy lived quite a life. From criminal to Medicine Man, Lame Deer gives us frank description of all points in his life.

For me, the descriptions of the ceremonies and the myths behind them got a little tedious, but yet it is important to have a complete description of them.

This book is a good reminder that the history of Native Americans is not over. It continues as does their battles for their sacred lands. As a dominant culture we have a tendency to think, we have to move on. That is the past. This book describes how Native Americans are trying to do this, but their ancestors were massacred. They were not even allowed to keep their culture. It was takne from them at gun point.… (more)