Book Reviews Perceptions Magazine, September 2016
by: Brent Raynes
by Gregory L. Little
Eagle Wing Books, Inc.
P.O. Box 9972
Memphis, TN 38190
2016, 508 pages, 8.5 x 11” hardcover, US $49.96
ISBN: 978-0-940829-58-9
Reviewed by Brent Raynes
Believe it or not, here alas is the brand new second edition of this comprehensive and scholarly encyclopedia of American Indian Mounds and Earthworks that first appeared back in 2009. It still seems like it wasn't that long ago when the first one materialized. With even more sites, illustrations, photographs, and detailed information, this volume is also amazing and contains fascinating updated details on the Path of Souls and what the Mound Builders believed concerning the sacred death journey and more. In alphabetical order 41 states are covered. If you're one of those states listed, no doubt you'll discover there's a lot more of these sites in your own state than you knew about.
When my wife Joan and I first met Greg and his wife Lora back in 1985, they had already been traveling to, photographing, and gathering information on ancient Native American sites for about two years. For a good long time after that, Greg kept telling us that he was compiling his encyclopedia, and then 24 years later all of that painstaking research and field work he and Lora had done finally reached its stage of completion. Greg has always joked that in the beginning what he knew on the subject could be scribbled on the back of a postage stamp. Today that postage stamp has expanded into a very thick, informative, and downright comprehensive encyclopedia!
This is a wonderful addition to any library, be it one's own private collection, a public library, grade school, high school, or university. This is also a great guide book to use in planning your next vacation! Talk about exploring some of the little known back roads of American history (or in this case more specifically prehistory), this volume can guide you on numerous trips of high adventure that you and your loved ones will certainly never forget in this lifetime.
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More Encounters with Star People:
Urban American Indians tell their Stories
by Ardy Sixkiller Clarke
Anomalist Books
5150 Broadway #108
San Antonio, TX 78209
ISBN: 978-1-938398-62-9
Reviewed by Brent Raynes
Dr. Ardy Sixkiller Clarke, a Professor Emeritus at Montana State Univerity and former director of the Center for Bilingual/Multicultural Education, first wrote a unique bestselling book back in 2012 entitled, “Encounters with Star People: Untold Stories of American Indians,” based on personal interviews she had done with reservation Indians describing UFO and alien being experiences. Then her second book, “Sky People: Untold Stories of Alien Encounters in Mesoamerica” (2015), detailed stories shared with her from her extensive travels in Mexico, Belize, Honduras and Guatemala from 2003 to 2010. And now in her latest book, “More Encounters with Star People,” we hear from urban Indians who are living off the reservation (though many return to visit with friends and family and participate in ceremonies) who again shared with the author remarkable firsthand UFO and alien being encounters.
The very first chapter begins with a true humdinger. Dr. Clarke had been told by a Blackfeet graduate student about a place called Writing-on-the-Stone Park located near the border of Montana and Canada. This was a location with the highest concentration of rock art on the North American Great Plains, and Clarke's graduate student claimed there were frequent UFOs seen there, and that one person claimed that they had stepped through some sort of portal and ended up back in time where they saw an old Blackfeet Indian village. Thus the author decided to take a trip to this site and see what she might find. On her way, she stopped along the roadside nearby at one spot to take a picture. There she encountered a full-blood Indian she referred to simply as Tom, who happened to be camping nearby. He told her that the land was sacred, and took her quite by surprise when he, a perfect stranger, asked her if perhaps she believed in UFOs and had heard about the UFOs that came there, even adding that there is a portal that periodically opens up, and how it was part of what he called a universal highway that linked to other locations around the world. He had had some pretty extraordinary personal experiences that he shared, and a little later that night, during a skywatch with him, Dr. Clarke saw some UFOs herself!
This book is filled with many remarkable stories from beginning to end actually. Another personal favorite of mine is the doctor she met in Oklahoma, who happened to be Southern Cheyenne, who described how it was night and he was returning home from the hospital when a deer ran out in front of his car. He got out of the car and the deer suddenly stood up and then transformed into a man! At first, the doctor suggested the man should sit in his car, let him examine him, that he was a doctor. The stranger said on his world he was too. Turned out he was a friendly ET and had quickly healed himself! Soon they stood on the side of the road engaging in a private and civilized conversation, the Indian doctor said.
From friendly and frightening encounters, with all of the classic and perplexing elements found in reports worldwide, this book is a fascinating and thought-provoking reading experience. Especially so since the remarkable reports are from American Indians who the author interviewed personally and these stories have never been published before.
