Mandan and Hidatsa Music Book

This is an amazing, amazing book that deserves so much more recognition than it is likely getting. Anyone who rates it less than "five stars" doesn't understand its significance. It really isn't even something you can rate. It's an American classic, a historic document.

Imagine a young single white woman in the late 1800's taking to the road, by herself or sometimes with some company, to visit what remains of the major Native American tribes in the United States. Imagine creating enough of a relationship with the elders of each of these tribes to record some of their most sacred chants and songs (includes the actual music scores). Imagine capturing some of their images with cameras of that time. Natalie Curtis knew Native Americans as they might have been before European colonialism, were on the verge of extinction. As is said in other reviews, this is nothing less than a seminal work all the more tragic because she was killed just a few days after presenting it at the Sorbonne.

This book is an American treasure and classic that preserves and honors not only Native American tribes but the compassion and vision of Natalie Curtis herself.