Shamanism in North America

by Norman Bancroft Hunt

Book Overview

Shamanism has ancient roots. It stems from the beliefs of ancient hunting cultures but was adapted to fit the needs of agricultural communities where the role of the shaman integrated with that of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1552976785
• ISBN13: 9781552976784
• Release Date: February 2003
• Publisher: Firefly Books
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 2.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 8.7" x 9.8"

Customer Reviews

Excellent intro

This is a good introduction to NA 'shamanic' cultures. The book is divided into 7 chapters, devoted to semi- geographic groups with similar social organizations and spiritual practices, including the Eskimo, Subarctic, Northwest Coast, Southwest, Californian and Plains Indians. There is a lot of information in each chapter yet the info is condensed in an interesting manner for the lay reader. Included are a number of cool stories and anecdotes. In my opinion, Hunt achieves a good balance between the illustrations and the text... the depicted photos of ritual paraphernalia, shamans, landscape tell the story almost by themselves. I recommend this book as a starting point for people who want to learn about the diversity of NA shamanic practices and beliefs practiced across different cultural, language, ethnic and geographical divisions. As expected from a book intended for a general audience, author presents his information as hard facts. I am sure experts might quibble about some of them; however, this does not detract from the usefullnes of the book.