Product Description
Some people want to become enrolled members of a federally recognized tribe. Others want to verify a family tradition (belief, fact or fiction, passed from generation to generation) that they descended from an American Indian, either in their distant or near past. While others might want just to learn more about the people they descend from and where they lived. ... Read more

Product Description
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has always been fascinated byhistory-nineteenth-century American history in particular. Tired ofL.A., restless and looking for new adventure, challenge, anddiscovery, he decides to go live among the Apaches he's read about.

He encounters a complex reality. The kids on the Alchesay Falcons teamdon't easily embrace what he's trying to teach them on thecourt. Gradually they begin to learn from him as he begins to learnfrom them. He teaches them to push out of their comfort zone and trynew things, both in sports and in life. They give him something hedidn't quite expect: a way to reconnect with his passion forbasketball.

This is a story about the qualities we have in common and the thingsthat still divide us in terms of race, culture, and history. Along theway, we get to know the kids, the coaches, the town of Whiteriver andAlchesay High, the tribe-but most of all, we get closer to Kareem, aman well into middle age who wants to pass along his knowledge andexperience in basketball and life. Kareem gives something back, and inso doing receives more than he ever imagined.Amazon.com Review
Nearly a decade after leaving professional basketball, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar decided to return to the sport he loved by becoming the assistant coach of the Alchesay Falcons--a high school team composed mostly of White Mountain Apaches. But in A Season on the Reservation, he may have actually learned more than he taught.

An outsider at the beginning, Abdul-Jabbar found ways to learn more about his athletes and the tribe. He discovered cultural traditions that made it difficult to coach the team (discomfort at being singled out for criticism, for example) and became more sensitive to the special challenges faced by young Native Americans. As Abdul-Jabbar notes, by working with the students he moved from a historical appreciation for the White Mountain Apaches as a people to an understanding of them as individuals. That said, Abdul-Jabbar can't quite seem to shake his romantic image of the young Apaches: "Sometimes I would glance his way and imagine him sitting astride a paint pony two hundred years earlier, ready to ride off into the mountains and hunt."

Through his players, Abdul-Jabbar finds himself getting caught up in the competition--his passion for basketball obviously rekindled. Readers may find the end of the Falcons' season rather abrupt, but perhaps that's the nature of high school sports. They also may be a bit put off by Abdul-Jabbar's occasional arrogance, especially when talking about his professional days ("The 1985 Lakers would have taken [Jordan's Bulls] in a championship series.") or when dissing later NBA stars such as Shaq ("He's publicly referred to the way I used to play as 'old man's basketball,' which it may have been, but it earned me six more rings than he's got so far."). Overall, however, A Season on the Reservation is infused with an obvious love of the White Mountain Apaches, their land, and the sport of basketball. --Sunny Delaney ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Interesting Story
This book is a record of Abdul-Jabbar's first season as a basketball coach.When Abdul-Jabbar's mother died, he became quite distraught and didn't know what to do with himself.One of his friends at the White Mountain Apache reservation in Arizona invited him to come to the reservation to try out coaching by working with the high school basketball team on the reservation for a season.Abdul-Jabbar found the invitation attractive for a number of reasons, and decided to give it a go.Once on the reservation, he had to learn not only how to coach rather than play basketball, but he also found himself trying to lead teenagers who weren't always looking for his directions, all while operating in an unfamiliar culture.

After reading the first chapter of the book, I stopped to re-examine the title and cover page to find out who the ghost writer was.After all, most books by sports figures are "told to" rather than written, especially books whose prose flows as well as this one.I was surprised to find that this volume had no ghost writer listed at all.As I read further along in the book, the reason became clear-unlike many other sports figures, Abdul-Jabbar has a number of academic interests and writes quite well.In reading this book, one finds that Abdul-Jabbar is a thinker, a person who brings his analytical skills to problems and new situations.He tries hard to get kids to appreciate the mental aspects of playing basketball.He is quick to pick up on the cultural characteristics that make the Apache kids react differently than other kids in mainstream America.He is occasionally carried away with emotion at games, but afterwards analyzes his inappropriate actions and chalks them up to lessons learned about coaching. Abdul-Jabbar explains how he happened to make a connection with the reservation, describes the kids on the team and the other coaches, and recounts hoop-by-hoop stories of several key games.In a few places, the tale bogs down a little in detail, but overall, it's well written and very enjoyable to read.

An Honest Look at the Man and his Passions
The honesty with which Kareem Abdul-Jabar's "A Season On The Reservation" is written is quite refreshing. In this age of spin control, especially when it comes to athletes and other public figures, it's nice to see a high-profile individual such as Mr. Abdul-Jabar share his insights and interactions with no noticeable smoke or mirrors. He begins his journey to an Apache reservation with hopes of uncovering some history (Mr. Abdul-Jabar has a fascination with Native-American history) and of sharing his wealth of basketball knowledge with the resident high school basketball squad. There are many bumps in the road, though, and "A Season On The Reservation" speaks eloquently about the cultural differences Mr. Abdul-Jabar encounters when dealing with the Native-American basketball players. They are not comfortable being singled out for criticism and they are not necesarily open to learning techniques that may make them better players. Over the course of the book, however, they learn from Mr. Abdul-Jabar and he, in turn, learns from them. One scene in particular, a confrontation with a player named Tony, is amazingly honest. "A Season On The Reservation" paints Mr. Abul-Jabar as a fellow human being, not a sculpture standing on a pedestal. The history lessons in the book, often drawing a parallel between Native Americans and African Americans, get a bit cumbersome occassionally, but "A Season On The Reservation" is well worth the cover price thank to its honest approach.

Very good book!
This book was very interesting and was filled with a lot of information in many ways.Abdul-Jabbar told us the history of the surroundings, the Apache tribe, and also told of his daily challenges and joys.

Call Him Coach
After being frustrated in his attempts at beginning a coaching career ateither the collegiate or professional level, circumstances led the NBA'sall-time leading scorer to an Apache reservation in Arizona where he becamethe assistant coach of the boys high school basketball team. In addition torelating the chronology of that season, Kareem also provides a fair amountof history while he's at it, and offers more of himself than he typicallydid during interviews throughout his playing career. As might be expected,Kareem gained as much from his year on the reservation as his players did.

Excellent, thoughtful book
Kareem tries to impart the difficulties of introducing a western culturalideal to a group of young men that are trying to keep their own culturalideals intact while at the same time competing within the majority culture. This book reflects Kareem's own difficulties in aculturation, and hisconflicts in trying to impart his basketball culture on another group. This is a thoughtful though imperfect work, less about basketball thanabout the difficulties of blending different people in the world today. ... Read more

Product Description
In making my bow to the public as an author, I feel it incumbent upon me to make a brief explanation of the motives that induced me to attempt this autobiographical sketch of nine years of my life. At intervals during the past decade, the country has been electrified by the recital of some horror perpetrated by Indians on white travelers.
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"Excerpt from the book..."

The present spirit of inquiry into the early history of New England is
bringing forth additional facts and evolving new light, by which we are
every day seeing more clearly the true motive and incentives for its
colonization
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Customer Reviews (10)

Life Among The Apaches
This is great reading. The real deal. Cremony knew the Apache culture, as well as their language, and describes his experiences with them in detail. When I first saw it I thought it was probably about basket weaving, but this book is a window into the conflict between 2 cultures in the mid 19th century. He illustrates how intelligent, yet vastly different from the white culture, the Apaches were. They have been portrayed as semi-communicating savages down through the years in movies, yet Cremony shows us that Spanish was the universal language everyone spoke at that time. I recommend this book to anyone who has a love of American history or has an interest in the Apache culture of that era. Great book.

A 19TH CENTURY VIEWPOINT OF NATIVE PEOPLE
In reading some of the other "reviews" of this seminal 1869 work, it is clear that a minority of the reviewers have a 21st century ax to grind with the author. It is a lamentable practice of modern, often "progressive" types, to apply today's standards and values to people of the past, who obviously did not share the preconceptions of 21st century liberalism. It is patently unfair (as well as ignorant) to apply one's values to people of the past. Fortunately, the majority of the reviewers evaluated this book for what it is- an amazing insight into the culture of a remarkable people, the Apache. That Cremony (the author) was a 19th century American makes this book all the more remarkable. The sensibilities ofthat era might have caused the average man to dismiss as mere savagery many of the practices and customs detailed in this work. One cannot separate Cremony from his century, and I would not want to. Odd that Cremony's critics slam HIM for his 1860s world view, but don't equally apply 21st century values and beliefs to the Apaches, who really did torture, murder, enslave, steal, terrorize and make bloody war on the defenseless Mexican inhabitants of the 19th century Southwest. I wonder why that is...

EXCELLENT!!
EXCELLENT BOOK TO KNOW THE AMERICAN HISTORY
FIRST HAND INFO ABOUT THE REAL APACHES IN NEW MEXICO, ARIZONA,TEXAS,ETC
YOU WON'T BE DISSAPOINTED

Walk the talk
An enlightening read about the nomadic Apaches of northern Mexico and the bordering states, primarily Arizona and New Mexico.The author, John C.Cremony, a military officer, stays focused on the Apache tribe admirably recording his observations without divergence. What I found fascinating is his description about their culture and the difference of it from other Indian tribes, his personal bias notwithstanding. Example, the Apache's "whole system of life and training is to plunder, murder and deceive, they cannot comprehend opposite attributes in others. He whom we would denounce as the greatest scoundrel they regard with special esteem and honor. With no people are they on amicable terms, and never hesitate to rob from each other when it can be done with impunity. There is no sympathy among them; the quality is unknown."

This and Cremony's other comments regarding dealing with the Apache, like: "...other devices were resorted to for the purpose of quietly infiltrating the Apache mind with a sense of our superiority, but always most carefully guarding against any appearance of seeking to contrast American attainment with savage ignorance." caused this reviewer to wonder about the current American exposure to cultures worldwide and how we relate with "those" people. Do we understand them or do we presuppose that our values are superior and so operate according to our personal biases? Hmmm, a labeling of "ugly American" comes to mind.

I continued to wonder, when dealing with another culture do we Americans comport ourselves with an impartiality and an open-mindedness; do we allow for a bilateral exchange of ideas and perhaps a better understanding of our differing stations? Would not that be beneficial to both cultures?

Captain Cremony explains how he learned to deal with the Apache and their "savage" ways by learning their language, then listening and observing. This book is such a lesson.

Obviously Biased
Cremony was known to gloat and fictionalize his stories. And as noted in the book description, Cremony's main intent was to further suppress those who were here in America before himself, in particular the Apaches. If you read this book, also read Cochise by Ed Sweeney and Mangas Coloradas to get a view from both sides of the fence. ... Read more

Product Description
This book provides an inventory of various records in the National Archives regarding Indian affairs of the US with a brief summary of each group of items - date and space which it occupies ... Read more

Product Description
This first-hand narrative of the life of Matthew Brayton, a seven-and-a-halfyear old white child of a settler who was kidnapped and sold many times by Native Americans in the beginning of the 19th century, probably doesn’t share all the gory details of his abuse when initially captured, but you can read between the lines. Still, this first-hand account does shed much light on what it was really like to come under the charge of many different Indian tribes. Although Brayton’s treatment was not entirely negative or positive, his frank and blunt story does much to dispel the romantic stories that have been perpetuated about young settlers’ children who became Indian chattel. It does much to tell true history and dispel any deliberate or accidental revisions.

In many cases the Indians treated Brayton well, but there can be no doubt that they stole from him and his family a life that would end up confused and stuck between two worlds. Although Brayton did finally unite with many of his natural family, he never stopped identifying with Native Americans, and he was forced to leave an Indian wife and child behind. In fact, when the War of Rebellion or Civil War broke out, Braytonenlisted and served in an American Indian brigade.

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Customer Reviews (1)

True, Non-PC History
This is a fascinating read of a first-hand account of what it was like to be kidnapped by Native Americans as a settler's child in the early 1800s.

The boy tells his story of being traded by various tribes for jugs of whiskey, his eventual though tentative acceptance by some of the tribes he live, fought and killed for and his eventual reuniting with his white family.

It is a blunt, action-filled story that is definitely not politicallycorrect. It is a slice of true history. A good read! ... Read more