... Sales Manager Ru's favourite Osprey book

9781849084598

 

My choice for favourite Osprey book would have to be MAA 467: North American Indian Tribes of the Great Lakes. It's a period of history that has fascinated me for many years, and the richness of Native American culture has inspired me - featuring heavily in my poetry and weaving its way into my songs.

The book covers a grand historical narrative in broad strokes (a must given its 48 pages!!!), outlining the first contact between native American's and Western explorers and missionaries, to the final relocation of the tribes people following the expansion of the United States. This really is more than a military history (though it provides a simply marvelous outline of the 'Wars with the White Man', American Revolution and so on), engaging in the social organization and way of life of these intriguing peoples - the Huron, Ojibwa, Sauk, Ottawa, Winnebago, Ojibwa, Sauk, Kickapoo, Miami, Shawnee and others.

And the artwork! Truly stunning. The book is replete with contemporary paintings and the artwork of the tribes (including a rather shocking illustration of a scantily-clad Shawnee gentleman 'scalping' an unfortunate Redcoat) but what really grips me is the illustrations by Jonathan Smith - in my eyes one of Osprey's finest artistes. The expressions, faces lined with the effects of outdoor life, are captivating, and the traditional tribal clothing is meticulously rendered in wonderful colour, yet remaining all the times 'real' looking. 

A wonderful Osprey book.

9781849084598PC_th