Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I think that if you order this book, as I did, and expect something jam-packed with scholarship and edification you'll be very disappointed. It's not even jam-packed--the text is almost oversized, there are too many not-terribly-informative illustrations, and there's far too much blank space. The book feels padded. What should have tipped me off was the over-complex title and the use of the word "spirituality." That's a buzzword for a certain branch of Native-American fans, the types that speak of deeply held beliefs of another culture as if they lived in that culture. Often (and I'm not being disrespectful, just candid, and working from experience) they'll respond that they did--either through channeling or a past-life experience. Do you see where I'm going regarding this book?
What particularly irritated me was the attempt to portray the life of an average mound builder in the day-in-the-life manner that I personally always find questionable, regardless of good-intentions. This is not a culture we have much knowledge about. To presume to know what an average day was like for them is absurd. I'm aware it's the author's attempt to humanize these people (a cynical side says it was a way to puff the book up even more) but it does them a disservice and it's a bit presumptuous. I usually find this sort of speculative writing in New Age publications and books for kids--a day in the life of an Aztec boy or girl, that sort of thing. This just isn't recognizable scholarship and I never recommend "making up" culture to make it palatable for youngsters. That's what Disney does.
All forgivable if there was a wealth of books about mound building cultures but there isn't, and there isn't much information to work with anyway, as I've already noted, which makes this whole endeavor a little odd to say the least. Who is the intended audience? It's not billed as a youth book, although it certainly looks and reads like one (the very first thing I noticed when my copy arrived and source of my first wave of disappointment). It's unarguably not an academic book. So that leaves it as a pop science book, which it's a poor example of, or a Native-American faddist book, which I believe hits the mark squarely. If you simply want to feel warm and fuzzy about the complex and varied people who once inhabited this continent, and don't particularly care if the information conforms to any reality, then here you are.
I strongly recommend, instead, Roger G. Kennedy's "Hidden Cities--The Discovery and Loss of Ancient North American Civilization." or hard research into 100-year-old editions of Scientific American. I've found more material and more good scholarship that's over a century old about this remarkable civilization(s) than I have in recent times, despite our alleged curiosity about and sensitivity toward other cultures.
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The Mound Builders of Ancient North America: 4000 Years of American Indian Art, Science, Engineering, & Spirituality Reflected in Majestic Earthworks & ArtifactsAncient Mound Builders created thousands of sacred earthen structures all across America. These native Indian cultures flourished for 4000 years before the first settlers came, creating mysterious giant earthen shapes of birds, bears, snakes, and alligator mounds, along with great conical mounds that held the bones of their leaders and loved ones. Who were these sophisticated and spiritual ancient people? They were talented shamans, farmers, hunters, fishermen, artists, and midwives who held special reverence for Mother Earth. Learn more about them and see some of their amazing artistic achievements inside The Mound Builders of Ancient North America. Study a detailed TimeLine that helps to place everything in exact perspective. See what was also happening elsewhere in the world during the Mound Builders heydays. Surprising fetes of engineering and geographic earthworks remind us that these ancient cultures held impressive worldviews.
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