Description
Across the Shaman's River is the story of one of Alaska's last Native American strongholds, a Tlingit community closed off for a century until a fateful encounter between a shaman, a preacher, and John Muir.
Tucked in the corner of Southeast Alaska, the Tlingits had successfully warded off the Anglo influences that had swept into other corners of the territory. This tribe was viewed by European and American outsiders as the last wild tribe and a frustrating impediment to access. Missionaries and prospectors alike had widely failed to bring the Tlingit into their power. Yet, when John Muir arrived in 1879, accompanied by a fiery preacher, it only took a speech about "brotherhood"--and some encouragement from the revered local shaman Skandoo'o--to finally transform these "hostile heathens."
Using Muir's original journal entries, as well as historic writings of explorers juxtaposed with insights from contemporary tribal descendants, Across the Shaman's River reveals how Muir's famous canoe journey changed the course of history and had profound consequences on the region's Native Americans.
Author: Daniel Lee Henry
Publisher: University of Alaska Press
Published: 12/15/2017
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.80d
ISBN13: 9781602233294
ISBN10: 1602233292
BISAC Categories:
- History | Indigenous Peoples in the Americas
- History | United States | State & Local | Pacific Northwest (OR, WA)
- History | United States | 19th Century
Tucked in the corner of Southeast Alaska, the Tlingits had successfully warded off the Anglo influences that had swept into other corners of the territory. This tribe was viewed by European and American outsiders as the last wild tribe and a frustrating impediment to access. Missionaries and prospectors alike had widely failed to bring the Tlingit into their power. Yet, when John Muir arrived in 1879, accompanied by a fiery preacher, it only took a speech about "brotherhood"--and some encouragement from the revered local shaman Skandoo'o--to finally transform these "hostile heathens."
Using Muir's original journal entries, as well as historic writings of explorers juxtaposed with insights from contemporary tribal descendants, Across the Shaman's River reveals how Muir's famous canoe journey changed the course of history and had profound consequences on the region's Native Americans.
Author: Daniel Lee Henry
Publisher: University of Alaska Press
Published: 12/15/2017
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.80d
ISBN13: 9781602233294
ISBN10: 1602233292
BISAC Categories:
- History | Indigenous Peoples in the Americas
- History | United States | State & Local | Pacific Northwest (OR, WA)
- History | United States | 19th Century
About the Author
Daniel Henry is an instructor at Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon, and the founder of the Alaska Native Oratory Society. He maintains a summer residence on a remote shore near Haines, Alaska.