Review of "The Indians Knew," by Tillie S. Pine

Review of

The Indians Knew, by Tillie S. Pine


Five out of five stars

 I acquired a copy of this book at a garage sale when I was very young, and I read it over and over. It contains a series of basic survival tactics used by the Native Americans and in many cases taught to the encroaching people of European descent. There are three sections for each topic, a description of the subject under the heading, “The Indians knew,” what is done in modern times based on this knowledge and then a simple experiment/exercise that the reader can perform to illustrate and reinforce the topic. All of the exercises are easy to understand and safe to implement.

 The Native Americans survived and thrived on the North American continent for centuries before the arrival of the Europeans. Unlike in Europe and Asia, famine was unknown as the people lived in harmony with nature rather than doing all they could to exploit and “conquer” their new world. This book contains a small amount of their knowledge and is a worthy addition to any library where multicultural coverage is considered essential.