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Nebraska
Press Series 1
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The Four Hills of Life: Northern Arapaho
Knowledge and Life Movement
Jeffrey D. Anderson, Cloth:
2003, xiv, 358, CIP.LC 2002071466 ISBN : 0-8032-1061-2
Studies in the Anthropology of North American
Indians Series
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Sherman Sage (ca. 1844–1943)
was an unforgettable Arapaho man who witnessed profound
change in his community and was one of the last to see
the Plains black with buffalo. As a young warrior, Sage
defended his band many times, raided enemy camps, saw
the first houses go up in Denver, was present at Fort
Laramie for the signing of the 1868 treaty, and witnessed
Crazy Horse’s surrender. Later, he visited the
Ghost Dance prophet Wovoka and became a link in the
spread of the Ghost Dance religion to other Plains Indian
tribes. As an elder, Old Man Sage was a respected, vigorous
leader, walking miles to visit friends and family even
in his nineties. One of the most interviewed Native
Americans in the Old West, Sage was a wellspring of
information for both Arapahos and outsiders about older
tribal customs.
Anthropologist Jeffrey D. Anderson
gathered information about Sage’s long life from
archives, interviews, recollections, and published sources
and has here woven it into a compelling biography. We
see different sides of Sage—how he followed a
traditional Arapaho life path; what he learned about
the Rocky Mountains and Plains; what he saw and did
as outsiders invaded the Arapahos’ homeland in
the nineteenth century; how he adjusted, survived, and
guided other Arapahos during the early reservation years;
and how his legacy lives on today. The remembrances
of Old Man Sage’s relatives and descendants of
friends make apparent that his vision and guidance were
not limited to his lifetime but remain vital today in
the Northern Arapaho tribe.
Jeffrey D. Anderson is an associate
professor of anthropology at Colby College. He is the
author of The Four Hills of Life: Northern Arapaho Knowledge
and Life Movement (Nebraska 2001).
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