Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans and the Myth of Scientific Fact

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Summary: an intellectual approach to the modern day indian experience
Review: the book marks the struggles of modern indians facing the millenium when science is considered diety. I read it with great criticism. my fears were unwarranted as i'd like to enter this entire book into the federal court record to show that science is based on theory and has no greater merit than the last theory. the title can turn some off, but its worth the read when driving through the geographical miracles cited by Deloria.Afraid some may think too boring at the the first chapter and doesn't intrige readers to continue. I 'd rearrange the chapters for the millenium. certainly frybread (food) for thought.

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Summary: Red earth----red lies
Review: Vine delora show his dishonesty and ignorance of science. Using arguements that christian creationists' like duane gish and henry morris have resorted to for years. He doesn't understand that these arguements don't look any better or more honest coming from the left than they did coming from the right. He talks about "western" science as though he thinks that term has any meaning. Wouldn't somethings that's true in the west, be true all over the world? Is that bouncing up and down the transendental meditation people do "Vedic aviation"? It's sad to see what postmodern subjectism is doing to the College campus and education of american youth today. The left can do better than this!

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Summary: Refreshing insight into an old theory
Review: Vine Deloria Jr. is a true scholar who characteristically approaches his subject with thorough research and disciplined reasoning. Applying geology and precise logic Deloria uncovers some major flaws in the Bering Strait theory. He also points to the fascinating fact that oral histories and legends of Indian nations carry pre-historic events such as major geologic upheavals. In this way, he makes the important point that oral histories should on no account be dismissed. On the other hand, he shows how flawed scientific theories are supported when powerful academics will shut out any new facts or alternate theories just to hold on to their pre-eminence. Even worse, Deloria cites cases where those who dared challenge the authorized theory, can have their careers destroyed. After finding medical pronouncements which contradict each other - ie. margarine is good for you; margarine is bad for you, etc. - it is clear that "science" is an exploratory discipline and that final pronouncements or theories should only be given qualified consideration until all the facts and information are in. This should be kept in mind with the recent speculations regarding the "caucasian" skeletons that have been found on this continent. The political dimensions of "science" are glaringly apparent where some, including scientists, leap to conclusions and use science as a tool for further dispossession of the indigenous nations of the western hemipshere.

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Summary: Uneven but essential
Review: Vine Deloria Jr.'s book is a very useful and merited challenge to a whole host of theories, especially the Bering Strait land bridge, magafauna extinction ("Overkill") and some other things in which U.S. racism, capitalist waste and ruthlessness towards the environment, and scientistic narrowness are shown to be the underlying roots of these theories. However, I can't help but feel that Deloria both throws the baby out with the bathwater based on a kind of "multicultural creationism". For example, his attacks on Stephen J. Gould are almost ridiculous at times (given his prominence, not as a mainstream Darwinian, but as a 'catastrophist' and anti-sociobiologist) and represent the fact that he never got past Gould's first collection of essays. Also, Gould and others have for years defended allopatric speciation, which would allow a species' 'gestation' in 5-10,000 years. This type of narrow, shotgun scholarship makes Deloria subject to exactly the type of criticism he so correctly levels at academia. Also, his knowledge of genetics and evolution seem to leave a lot to be desired, and he clearly does not expect the reader to be scientifically literate (otherwise, he would not be able to make some of the peculiar remarks he makes about speciation). Anyone familiar with modern biology cannot but be amazed at how his work is little more than a reworking of Christian Fundamentalist creationism (or vice versa). Having said that, Deloria's value as an anti-racist, as a defender of the worth and validity and richness of non-white, non-European sources of knowledge is more than worth the occaissional bad science and anti-intellectualism. All I can say is that this is essential reading for anyone learning about the material he covers, and for thinking about how racism and power can determine whose knowledge is 'myth and fantasy' as much as it determines who is the 'terrorist' and who is the 'freedom fighter'. A must read book.

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Summary: Science and Native Rights
Review: While I am all for science, I've always had a slight problem with the Berring Straight theory. How could a small band of hunter gatherers spread across all of the American supercontinent (Greenland, North America, the Carribean, Central America and South America) and whipe out all the megafauna within such a short time period? It seems that Vine Deloria jr. has given us his interpertation with this book. While not the best book in the world, it is a very well thought out arguement. Check it out.