Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions (Enriched Classics)

Book Description

Lame Deer

Storyteller, rebel, medicine man, Lame Deer was born almost a century ago on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. A full-blooded Sioux, he was many things in the white man's world -- rodeo clown, painter, prisioner. But, above all, he was a holy man of the Lakota tribe.

Seeker of Vision

The story he tells is one of harsh youth and reckless manhood, shotgun marriage and divorce, history and folklore as rich today as ever -- and of his fierce struggle to keep pride alive, though living as a stranger in his own ancestral land.

Customer Reviews:

Four reads, still excellent.......2007-09-10

I first read this book 20 years ago and have re-read it three more times. What better recommendation can I give?

visions, sought and found.......2007-05-03

The life and times of this Lakota holy man, contrarian (heyoka), and sometime outlaw are rendered for us through the collaboration of John (Fire) Lame Deer, and Richard Erdoes, an Austrian artist by way of New York. Lame Deer's reckless early days; his quest for vision and spirit; and the integrity of his personality throughout a very full life - this is the meat and potatoes of this book.

The autobiographical first part of the book fades into the ways of Lakota culture and rituals and all the concomitant symbolisms which inhabit them.
Lame Deer is opening up the inner world of the Lakota people, not just for the future generations of his own people, but for all of us interested in the Lakota ways.

What struck me most in this narration is Lame Deer's humor and Indian perspectives on the idiocies of the white people; without hatred or resentment - just an enormous sadness that has pervaded a very unique life. This book will open your eyes to the visions this seeker sought and found. Highly recommended.

Extracts: A Field Guide for Iconoclasts

Seeker of Visions.......2006-11-10

Truly wonderful book written in the words of John Lame Deer. Excellent preamble to Gift of Power written in the words of Archie Lame Deer. Father and son really have a lot in common.

Be Careful.......2006-02-26

This oft insightful, oft hilarious, oft irreverant book is a great read. I read it first over Christmas, and now I'm reading it with many of my Navajo students. They love it for his erudition and frankness.

Especially comical is his chapter "Getting Drunk, Going to Jail." For many of the students, they were taken aback at the Holy Man's indiscretions, but Lame Deer makes clear that an Indian holy man is no Christian - if Wakan Tanka is both good and bad, then so too should man, including holy men. There is no symptom of "bad conscience" here, thank God.

One caveat: a friend of mine read this 20 years ago, recommended it to me; but he credits his decision to go and live amongst the Indians to this book. Well, the short version is Lame Deer is a man apart: don't expect Lame Deer in every Indian you meet. The poisons of alcohol and Industrialism are still doing kicking the crap out of the Indians out here. It ain't pretty.

But Lame Deer is, so read this book.

hysterical and insightful.......2006-02-21

lame deer's take on the white man's world is so truthful, poignant, and hilarious, make sure you are at liberty to laugh out loud when you pick it up. every few pages will have you smiling, chuckling, if not uproariously laughing while you put the book down, only to pause and then re-read the section for the pure delight of his frank and funny portrayl of a life as a holy man that ranges from wild and wreckless, somber and lonely, to mild and mature. but it's always funny and insightful! i highly recommend!!

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Lame Deer Seeker of Visions

Manufacturer: Pocket Books New York
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0671455869

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Lame Deer Seeker of Vision
John (Fire) Lame Deer , and Richard Erdoes
Manufacturer: Washington Square Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OLJR1I

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Lame Deer Seeker of Visions
Lame Deer & Richard Erdos
Manufacturer: Pocket Books 1978 paperback American Indian good B-1
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000U2R8TY

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Lame Deer Seeker of Visions
John and Erdoes, Richard Lame Deer
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GRBCC2

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Lame Deer Seeker of Visions

Manufacturer: Washington Square press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0671423843

Product Description

The story he tells is one of harsh youth and reckless manhood, shotgun marriage and divorce, history and folklore as rich today as ever and of his fierce struggle to keep pride alive, though living as a stranger in his own ancestral land.

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Lame Deer Seeker of Visions
John, & Erdoes, Richard Lame Deer
Manufacturer: Pocket Books, Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K952FY

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Lame Deer Seeker of Visions
John Fire
Manufacturer: UNSPECIFIED VENDOR
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000SEA8YG

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Lame Deer Seeker of Visions
John (Fire) Lame Deer , and Richard Erdoes
Manufacturer: Washington Square Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000TF2T0U

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Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions
John (Fire) and ERDOES, Richard LAME DEER
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000SSW2OQ

Product Description

THE BOOK IS HARDCOVR WITH DUST JACKET, HAS 234 PAGES AND ILLUSTRATED.

Book Description

The extraordinary growth enjoyed over the last several decades by many East Asian countries has amounted to nothing less than an economic miracle. Employing unorthodox policies, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand have all produced dramatic results with far-reaching improvements in human welfare and income distribution, leading many to ask whether a similar achievement can be duplicated elsewhere. Written for the nonspecialist, this World Bank Policy Research Report--the first in an important new series--discusses in detail the means by which these high-performing Asian economies (HPAEs) realized their staggering success between 1965 and 1990. Examining how these countries stabilized their economies with sound development programs that led to fast growth, the book also shows how they shared the new prosperity by making income distribution more equitable. The book makes clear how the HPAEs promoted rapid capital accumulation by making banks more reliable and encouraging high levels of domestic savings, while universal primary schooling and better primary and secondary education quickly increased their skilled labor forces. Also included are illustrative examples of productive agricultural programs, modest tax policies, the modification of price distortions, foreign technology and investment, and the cooperation of government and private enterprise. Exposing to a broad audience the revolutionary process that transformed East Asia into the collection of economic juggernauts that it is today, this provocative World Bank report offers wisdom for today's up-and-coming markets, highlighting the policies that will make a difference as well as those that, despite their effectiveness in the Orient, could prove disastrous elsewhere.

Customer Reviews:

Good overview explaining why asia has been so successful.......2007-09-06

Good overview explaining the policies behind East Asia's phenominal economic success. Should be read by all students of economic development. However, the book is very weak when it comes to discussing the area's merchantalist policies. Reading this one would think they did not exist and have played no role (good or bad) in these nation's development.

Good pre1997 crisis book, interesting contradictions.......2003-02-17

This book explores the causes for the extraordinary growth experienced by a few Asian countries in the pre-1997 crisis era. It describes, in great detail, the policies adopted in each country that are believed to have spurred such development; to its credit (being a World Bank book), it even suggests that some unorthodox policies may have been beneficial, even though it does suggest that these benefits are not there to be reaped again by a country trying to emulate them. One of the main arguments is also that income distribution improvements have been a common experience across these countries, which is a topic not often discussed in development economics.

There are, however, some obvious fallacies in this book. Having been written pre-1997 crisis, it does highlight the strenght of the banking system in many of these countries; these banking systems were later to be blamed for much of the pain in the 1997 crisis.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Policy Studies Journal, published by Policy Studies Organization on June 22, 1997. The length of the article is 3631 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The East Asian Miracle: Economic Growth and Public Policy.
Author: Gambhir Bhatta
Publication: Policy Studies Journal (Refereed)
Date: June 22, 1997
Publisher: Policy Studies Organization
Volume: v25 Issue: n2 Page: p308(7)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

The East Asian Miracle: Economic Growth and Public Policy

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The East Asian Miracle: Economic Growth and Public Policy
Not Available (NA)
Manufacturer: A World Bank Policy Research Report
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OKVOWE

Amazon.com

Paul Ehrlich, author of The Population Bomb and a professor of biological studies at Stanford, and Anne Ehrlich, also at Stanford, are angered by what they perceive as deliberate efforts to subvert media interest in pressing environmental issues. They suggest that the planet is in real peril from overpopulation, depletion of the ozone layer, global warming, and loss of biodiversity, and that each of these threats is confirmed by solid scientific research. And yet, they suggest, these once-hot media issues have been diminished in the public imagination by a determined backlash from anti-environmental groups. What riles the Ehrlichs is that this discrediting of the work of serious biologists has been achieved through pseudoscientific counter evidence--often the output of some politically motivated foundation--examples of which the authors methodically examine and refute.

Customer Reviews:

Reason and Motives.......2002-05-30

Paul and Ann Ehrlich have devoted their lives to promoting environmental understanding and influencing government policy. They have endured the scrutiny of their detractors with respect to dire predictions concerning population growth and the environment. They have made mistakes-- the most famous being their ill-conceived wager against Julian Simon concerning resource depletion. Many dismissed them out of hand after that debacle-- a testament to the human tendency towards oversimplification with regard to environmental understanding (Dr. Simon, as well, made rather absurd conclusions about humanity and the planet, which the Ehrlichs address in the book).

Despite what some have concluded, Paul Ehrlich is still a highly respected professor at one of the most prestigious universities in the United States (Stanford University). He and his wife, a prominent researcher in her own rite, continue accepting invitations to lecture at colleges and conventions around the world.

The book Paul and Ann have written, expresses the passion with which they've espoused their cause. Indeed, it is a passion that should be equaled by all the planet's inhabitants, whether we agree with the Ehrlichs or not. Yet one need only to take a quick look at the Internet to find the antagonistic nature of many so-called "environmental" websites-- something the Ehrlichs refer to as "brown-lash." Many are portrayed as "green" or "earth-friendly," yet dismissive of any suggestion that humankind has desecrated the earth. Arguments, as noted by the Ehrlichs, range from dismissing the global warming phenomenon completely, to claims that such phenomenon is even beneficial to humankind (the current trend seems to be towards the latter, since arguing against global warming itself is becoming, less and less, a valid point). Statistics are presented out of context and often misrepresented as conclusive.

Indeed, even some scientists have been fooled by the seemingly authoritative nature of some "anti-environmentalist" literature (though it should be noted that the scientific community, by and large, agrees with both the theory of global warming, and its human related causes). As well, a few scientists operating outside the mainstream, such as Patrick Michaels and S. Fred Singer, seem motivated by the large salaries offered to them by multi-million dollars corporations with economic interests at stake regarding environmental regulation. Michaels is the primary authority on the CO2 and Climate Change website, superficially sponsored by the Greening Earth Society, which is, in turn, funded by the Western Fuels Association. The "laundering" of website sponsorship further adds to the confusion concerning ulterior motives.

Other "editorializers," such as Rush Limbaugh or Michael Fumento, routinely sway public opinion by incompetently interpreting scientific data and essentially indulging in name-calling. While their authority should be dismissed as sheer demagoguery at best, their influence over their radio listeners and column subscribers should not be ignored.

The Ehrlichs make a point that much has been done by way of regulating and improving the environment, but it will always be an uphill battle. In their words, "It's like trying to run up an escalator that's going down." The most easily perceived indicators of environmental health are air and water, yet few realize the other multifarious indicators which are just as important to humankind and the environment.

It is a truism that one should not judge a detractor by his or her affiliation alone, but rather address each particular argument in kind-- praising its merits or debunking its fallacies. One's ideology is best judged in the words and theories they express, not the labels they've been assigned. This applies to the Ehrlichs and their detractors as well. Betrayal of Science and Reason is a must read for anyone concerned about the effects of political spin upon the future of the environment. While "brown-lashing" attempts to succeed in confounding the truth contemporaneously, nature, in time, will offer irrefutable proof of its own-- how soon we heed the warnings will determine how adversely our world is affected.

A curious book, to say the least.......2002-04-05

I recommend this book, with reservations. My take on it is different than many of the reviews so far given.

The Ehrlichs' role as among the first, most persistent, and most dire of environmental Cassandras is well known and need not be revisited now. The presently-reviewed book adds little to what they have previously said in terms of areas of concern. Rather, it appears to be a valedictory of sorts, where the Ehrlichs return their critics' responses in kind.
To my view, their response, although perhaps understandable, is ineffective as being too filled with slanted prose, hyperbole, and, unfortunately, outright name-calling. A more reasoned sort of response would have been highly preferable. The form of the message so obscures and detracts from its substance as to render both rather incredible.

Also, the book is plagued with easily avoided errors. By way of a single chapter's example, the Ehrlichs contend, in their chapter on climate/global warming, that climate earlier than 1200AD is essentially unknowable because of a lack of record keeping. This is not so, as many methods, including varves, dendrochronology, ice-coring, etc., are available to do year-by-year studies. The Ehrlichs' statements and implications that warming is now more severe than at any time since the advent of the Holocene find no support. The xerothermic episode of the late 1200's that resulted in the demise of the Anasazi culture in the Southwest, and the desertification of much of Nebraska, occurred at this time. Of these, not a word. Likewise the Altithermal, or Climactic Optimum, of circa 4,000BC, or 6000BP, and not the present, has marked the warmest part of the Holocene.

The Ehrlichs'refusal to bring these facts into the equation shows either a lack of research or a refusal to change a previously-desired impression. Neither, ACCORDING TO THE EHRLICHS IN THE SAME CHAPTER, is the mark of good or effective science. Other examples abound elsewhere, but space limits their discussion here. From a factual viewpoint, I cannot recommend this book to the serious scientific reader.

However, the book is a prototypically good example of the causes of the troubles the Ehrlichs describe the environmental movement as facing. The skeptics decried by the Ehrlichs find their fuel in the Ehrlich style of crying wolf too often, and in the Ehrlichs' scientific inflexibility in the face of developing data that may be contrary to their earlier positions. Here, I need only cite the failure of their predictions in, "The Population Bomb."

The upshot is that if Green proponents want to find how to lose status and credibility with those who are undecided, this book is a must-read. Contrariwise, if skeptics wish to determine why their own claims are subject to a healthy case of doubt, the Ehrlichs show them in many instances. Note carefully that I do not say the Ehrlichs are always wrong. They aren't, and a good deal of what they say is buttressed by fact, just not enough of it to be fully persuasive. I suspect that a more reasoned approach by the Ehrlichs would have resulted in a far more important book. The best way to dispel the confusion the Ehrlichs claim their opponents create is by reasoned, honest presentation, not name-calling, slanted prose, hyperbole, and disingenuous simile and metaphor.

In closing, the book's only real value is to show each side of this important controversy the defects that plague their respective positions. Both sides should read the book with this goal in mind. Otherwise, a reading only serves the contrary purpose of reinforcing previously held biases.

I recommend the book, but subject to the foregoing substantial cautions. A pity, because so much more could have been accomplished by a disciplined writer.

Why read such tripe ?.......2002-01-02

I'll ignore for the moment that I've followed Mr.Ehrlich's writing for 3 decades and I find his arguments to have been poorly reasoned, based on doubtful information, to include vast overgeneralizations and to clearly be written for the purpose of sensationalizing potential disaster.

The title of this current work should send shivers down the spine of anyone with an investment in intellectual freedom. Disputing contrary opinion using legitimate forms of argument is admirable, but instead labelling an opponents view as "rhetoric [that] threatens our future" is antithetic to the purpose of an open society. If opposing views, mere ideas, threaten our future how far can we be from book burnings and pogroms ? The suggestion that ideas threaten us is a closed minded anti-social statement that only appeals to the inherently bigoted.

None of Mr. Ehrlich's numerous disaster scenarios for the planet is as probable as that people on each side of the environment issue will close their minds and cease to give respect and fair consideration to the views of the other. Without the concensus that can only come from open, respectful, thoughtful discussion of the issues there can be no action on the environmental problems of our day. In this way Paul Ehrlich as a polarizing dogmatist is much more part of the problem than part of any solution.

The very title is an insult. Ehrlich is THE modern day con........2001-07-08

While it is often humorous-if not the epitome of irony-to see titles like Betrayal of Science and Reason spring from an authors such as Paul Eurlich considering his professional career has essentially consisted of scare-mongering by claiming looming disaster is ahead, even when his "scientific" predictions never bear out. Eurlich is a modern day boy crying wolf, and should at long last be ignored. Statements like, "The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970s and 1980s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now. At this late date nothing can prevent a substantial increase in the world death rate...", should have buried Eurlich's cerdibility long ago, but, alas, there are plenty of individuals out there still ready to be further hoodwinked (Ehrlich 1971, p.xi).

Ehrlich obviously takes P.T. Barnum's statement that, "There's a sucker born every minute , but non of them ever die," to heart. He has fed from the sullied trough of fear for decades now, and with this latest installment he is further insulting our intelligence by stating that those peers who reviewed his "studies" were blinded by ideology at the same time that his cataclysmic predictions of world starvation and overpopulation evaporated. Come now Mr. Eurlich, let's get serious.

Outstanding rebuttal of corporate funded contrarian rhetoric.......2001-04-04

This book should be essential reading in the curriculum of all undergraduate biology classes. However, I should initially say that it is patently obvious that none of the readers below who have attacked the book or the authors have even bothered to read it, to digest its message, and to evaluate the significance of its content. At present, a largely uninformed society is being bombarded with more anti-environmental rhetoric than at any time in human history, in books, magazine articles, by right-wing radio show pundits, on television, and, more recently, over the internet, and we have to ask ourselves, why.

Like Paul and Anne, I am a senior scientist, an ecologist, whose research focuses on understanding the link between micro-evolutionary, largely 'stochastic' processes occurring over small scales, and emergent, homeostatic poperties, operating at much larger spatial and temporal scales. Consider that our species is simplifying natural systems worldwide with staggering and worrying efficiency, through the combined activities of paving, ploughing, damming, dredging, slashing and burning, logging, dousing in persistent organic pollutants, alteration the carbon and nitrogen cycles, co-opting much of primary production, and ultimately threatening the sustainability of systems upon which we are utterly dependent for our survival.

Whether we like to admit it or not, ecosystems and the species they contain generate the conditions which nurture life and humanity, though the services the freely provide us. But, in this world of wounds, we - the ecological community - have barely begun to understand the stupendous complexity underpinning the continuation and existence of these natural systems, and therefore we have no real idea how much they can be reduced in size before they begin to break down, and fail to generate the life-sustaining services which permit our existence.

Now, contrast our uncertainty as to the outcome of the planetary "experiment" humanity is conducting on its own life-support systems with the wholly anti-scientific rhetoric being generated from a number of generally right wing, corporate-funded think tanks, political idealogues and public relations firms. Employing a variety of tactics, they are attempting to manipulate public opinion, as well as that of policy makers, to deflect from the real need for societal and corporate reform, in essence to maintain a "business-as-usual" mentality while our planet slides gradually but inexorably towards ecological catastrophe. The aim is simple: to ensure corporate profit maximisation through the prevention of sensible regulations being implemented to protect public health and the environment. This tactic, of course, can only succeed if the public perceives environmental issues as being of secondary importance to other issues. In effect, they are "lobbying for lethargy", and sadly, this strategy is succeeding.

I haven't the time nor the space here to elucidate upon the myriad of ways in which the "brownlash", as the Ehrlich's aptly call it, are manipulating science to provide a pre-determined outcome, but this book does a better job than I ever could. However, let me point out that Paul and Anne make an outstanding point of expanding upon the areas in which the scientific community is in broad agreement. There is consensus over the effects of humanity in perturbing the biogeochemistry of carbon and nitrogen cycles, which operate over stupendously large scales. These effects are manifested through changes not only in global climate patterns, but also in eutrophication of the biosphere. There is also consensus amongst our peers over the effects that humanity is having on land cover, through some of the processes that I discussed earlier. I should again reiterate that none of these areas are in dispute amongst our colleagues around the world. None. What we cannot accurately predict with any certainty at present is the effects that these changes will have on natural ecosystems. There will be ecological consequences, but we cannot, with any degree of statitical certainty, say exactly what these will be. However, given our limited understanding of ecosystem functioning, they are likely to be severe, and will not only have direct effects upon human society but will exacerbate the current extinction episode currently underway. Although ecosystems undeniably exhibit some resilience to human-inflicted change, even at current rates, there is no guarantee that they will be so resilient in delivering to us the free flow of services upon which we depend.

For their part, the contrarians are not taking this consensus lying down, and have attempted, deviously in my view, to apply the principle of uncertainty over the outcome of processes that we know are occurring to describe the entire process itself, thereby rendering mute any public and political will to address these problems. Through greenwashing, aggressive mimicry, scapegoating and cynicism, the voices of a few dissident, bought-and-paid for scientists are being blown out of all proportion to create the image that issues such as species extinction rates, global warming and ozone depletion are broadly disputed amongst the scientific community, whereas they are not. As the authors correctly observe, there may not be many contrarians out there amongst our peers but their paymasters have bought them veritable megaphones.

Ignore the reviews of those who haven't actually read the book - their minds were made up long ago - and read the volumes of peer-reviewed scientific evidence the Ehrlichs use to counter the brownlash.

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