The Native American Studies Shelf

Lakhota: An Indigenous History
Rani-Henrik Andersson, author
David C. Posthumus, author
University of Oklahoma Press
2800 Venture Drive, Norman, OK 73069
www.oupress.com
9780806190754, $34.95, HC, 440pp

https://www.amazon.com/Lakhota-Indigenous-History-Civilization-American/dp/= 0806190752

Synopsis: The Lakhota are arguably among the best-known Native American peo= ples. In popular culture and even many scholarly works, they were once lump=
ed together with others and called the Sioux. "Lakhota: An Indigenous Histo= ry" tells the full story of Lakhota culture and society, from their origins=
to the twenty-first century, drawing on Lakhota voices and perspectives.

In Lakhota culture, "listening" is a cardinal virtue, connoting respect, an=
d here co-authors Rani-Henrik Andersson and David C. Posthumus listen to th=
e Lakhota, both past and present. The history of culture unfolds in this na= rrative as the people lived it.

Fittingly, "Lakhota: An Indigenous History" opens with an origin story, tha=
t of White Buffalo Calf Woman (Ptesanwin) and her gift of the sacred pipe t=
o the Lakhota people. Drawing on winter counts, oral traditions and histori= es, and Lakhota letters and speeches, the narrative proceeds through such p= eriods and events as early Lakhota trading, the creation of the Great Sioux=
Reservation, Christian missionization, the Plains Indian Wars, the Ghost D= ance and Wounded Knee (1890), the Indian New Deal, and self-determination, =
as well as recent challenges like the #NoDAPL movement and management of Co= vid-19 on reservations.

"Lakhota: An Indigenous History" centers Lakhota experience, as when it shi= fts the focus of the Battle of Little Bighorn from Custer to fifteen-year-o=
ld Black Elk, or puts American Horse at the heart of the negotiations with = the Crook Commission, or explains the Lakhota agenda in negotiating the For=
t Laramie Treaty in 1851.

The picture that emerges (of continuity and change in Lakhota culture from = its distant beginnings to issues in our day) is as sweeping and intimate, a=
nd as deeply complex, as the lived history it encompasses.

Critique: Enhanced for the reader with numerous illustrations, a fourteen p= age Glossary, fifty-six pages of Notes, a twenty- six page Bibliography, an=
d a twelve page Index, "Lakhota: An Indigenous History" is a definitive his= tory that will have a very special appeal to students of Native American hi= story and culture. Also available for personal reading lists in a digital b= ook format (Kindle, $22.49), "Lakhota: An Indigenous History" is an especia= lly and unreservedly recommended for community, college, and university lib= rary Native American History collections in general, and supplemental curri= culum Lakhota History/Culture studies in particular.

Editorial Note #1: Rani-Henrik Andersson holds a Ph.D. in History from the = University of Tampere in Finland. He has served as the McDonnell Douglas Ch= air, Professor of American Studies at the University of Helsinki and is cur= rently working as a Core Fellow at the University of Helsinki Collegium for=
Advanced Studies. He has published a number of scholarly articles about to= pics in Native American history, and has held a position as a visiting rese= arch fellow at Indiana University where he worked with Lakota experts Ray D= eMallie and Doug Parks. Andersson is also the author of The Lakota Ghost Da= nce of 1890 (University of Nebraska Press, 2008). (https://www.history.ucsb= ..edu/visiting-scholar/rani-henrik-andersson)

Editorial Note #2: David C. Posthumus holds a PhD in Anthropology and is th=
e author of All My Relatives: Exploring Lakota Ontology, Belief, and Ritual=
and the novel The Legend of the Dogman. (https://scholar.google.com/citati= ons?user=3D-zOJHbYAAAAJ)

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