Native American Moccasins: A Page-by-Page Journey is designed to provide insights into a world view of indigenous people that encompasses the culture, history, spirituality, and commonsense guidelines for living a happy productive life. It is a compelling collection of ideas and lessons that make up a world view with which most people were not raised. It is a world view of the knowledge, experience, and wisdom of Native Americans that can help impact the journey for achieving a better future, especially in these times of climate change and social upheaval.
All in all, historical context is an important part of life. Not only does learning about Native American history and thought processes enable us to better understand who we are as people, it also offers a roadmap of who we might become, if we can change how we think about essential matters. In that regard, the unique history, culture, and way of life of Native Americans have had a virtually incalculable impact on American life—much of it very good, some of it not so good.
In reality, Native Americans have often been treated in a despicable manner by the Caucasian intruders introduced by Christopher Columbus over 500 years ago. In the intervening years, the historical contributions of Native Americans who resided in the Americas 15,000 years (possibly much longer) before Columbus initially set foot on North American soil have been overlooked, misstated, and generally ignored. In an easy-to-read manner, Native American Moccasins: A Page-by-Page Journey is designed to help set the muddled record straight.
Thomas Jefferson once wrote that the dreams of the future are better than the history of the past. What better way to reshape those dreams in a relevant way than to better understand the past. In that regard, Native American Moccasins: A Page-by-Page Journey is an invaluable resource. Interesting, yes. Disturbing, sometimes. Life-enhancing, always.
Guidelines for Reading This Book:
- This book is not intended to be an academic work; it is a book of ideas. You won’t find a profusion of footnotes and commentaries. Tidbits of information will be provided, but the crux of the manuscript is the statement made by each Native author.
- The text is organized so that the reader reads only one page per day. Each month begins with a Navajo word designation for that month, followed by a prayer. It is a Native custom to begin each day and each important endeavor with prayer.
- Each day of the month begins with the Thought for the Day, which is a quote by a Native person. Following the daily quote is a segment on About the Author, which is information about the author’s life and career. Following this information, you will usually find something that is referred to as Native Tidbits. These are bits of information about significant Native American people, events, and/or interesting information about Native culture.
About the Author
Leo Hand is a retired teacher and football coach, who is married to a full-blood Navajo woman. He and his wife, Mary, have two homes—one in a little village in New Mexico, in the Chihuahua Desert, six miles from the border of Mexico; the other in the Navajo Nation, on top of a mesa. Since his retirement, in an effort to better understand Native American heritage and culture, Leo has dedicated a substantial portion of his time to studying the historical roots of Native Americans. Native American Moccasins: A Page-by-Page Journey is a by-product of those efforts.
