[Longhorn Review] An Indian winter
By: Freedman, Russell
Review From Publishers Weekly
"The Newbery Medalist returns to the subject matter
of Indian Chiefs and Buffalo Hunt --though with a narrower scope--in this recounting
of the 1833-1834 expedition of Prince Maximilian of Germany and the artist Karl
Bodmer up the Missouri River. While Maximilian's own journal provides details of a
difficult trek, the book's primary focus is the winter spent by Bodmer and the
Prince with the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes--details of their daily lives, customs,
modes of dress and beliefs. The book is generously if unevenly illustrated, chiefly
with works by Bodmer, whose watercolors of individuals are direct and immediate.
However, engravings later produced in Europe seem stereotyped, and several large oil
paintings are not well reproduced. Background information and sites to visit today
fill out the volume. Readers of Freedman's other titles on Native American topics
will find much of interest here, though some may question the reliability of two
European dilettantes concerning a culture they visited only briefly. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc."
Taken From: Amazon.com - (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0823409309)
Reviewer: Longhorn Reviewer
View this item in the Library Catalog
