Native American Prophecies

This is a good book, but it is NOT about Native American Prophecies. The book is actually a collection of eight biographies of native (north) Americans. The lives of these individuals is the key focus. The, rather brief, prophecies they made in thier life is a minor point.If you are interested in the Myan, Aztec and 6 north american (native american) Indian tribes, then this is a good book. If you are looking for text focused on prophecies, then look elsewhere.

Scott Peterson examines Native American (pan-American) beliefs to determine if and how their belief that human beings are stewards of nature might be relevant to a world threatened by environmental degradation. He traces the primary creation stories and prophesies of the Maya through the Aztec to current Hopi beliefs. The belief to which he refers is that human kind, while a part of nature, is much more. Nature­­all plants, animals, the earth itself, and the sun, moon, and stars­­continue to exist only by thoughtful, mindful actions of humans. That man needs nature is long accepted. The corrolary belief that Nature itself depends on human action for its existence, arises from traditional Native American beliefs. Not only the ancient peoples of the Americas but the most recently arrived Native Americans­­the Navajo­­have creation stories that directly impact their attitudes toward the land. The story of the Navajo is true to their history and to the history of the European-Americans with whom they dealt. The author then identifies how three Indian prophets­­Deganawidah, Wovoka, and Sun Bear­­apply their religious understanding of human interdependence to the maintenance of peace. The story of Deganawidah, the Peacemaker, and the League of Five Nations (Iroquois) introduces the reader to one of the most democratically advanced societies known to Western culture. Meeting with leaders of this League, the young Benjamin Franklin was exposed to structure and safe guards of a federally organized state which he outlined to the colonists prior to the American Revolution. Wovoka, the Paiute Ghost Dancer, is introduced as an American Indian prophet whose attempts to re-assert Indian pride and assure moral choices, while valid goals, were eventually defeated by his own response to recognition and power. And finally, Peterson introduces Sun Bear, a present day prophet who represents integrated Native American beliefs and applies those beliefs to the environmental problems faced today and anticipated in the coming century.For anyone interested in the Native Americans' political, philosophic, and political, and potential environmental impact on current Americans, this is a "must read".