"Meadows combines extensive ethnographic fieldwork, archival
research, and analysis of symbols to reconstruct the history and
significance of the military societies of the Kiowa, Apache, and
Comanche tribes of southwestern Oklahoma. More important, he shows
how these groups adapted in the twentieth century to provide each
tribe with its own distinctive identity while serving as tools for
social integration and enculturation at the same time." -- Journal
of American History "Meadows produced a book that captures and
records for all time the specifics of military society ceremonies,
history and organization. In documenting and preserving these
aspects of Indian life, he created a work valuable not just to
anthropologists but to native preservationists as well." --
Whispering Wind "Because of the book's descriptive content, readers
interested in the clothing, songs, dances, recruitment strategies,
and symbols used by the various military societies recognized by
the Comanches, Apaches, and Kiowas will find this work incredibly
useful." -- Journal of Military History "This book deserves praise,
especially for the author's own fieldwork and thorough use of the
Native voice in depicting the multifaceted roles these sodalities
played in Southern Plains Indian cultures." -- Western Historical
Quarterly "This is a good book, detailed, scholarly, and clearly
presented. . . . The importance of [the author's] fieldwork cannot
be overemphasized. The research is solid. The author used
important, and some long-forgotten, archival manuscripts and the
best linguistic data available." -- Military History of the West "A
solid, important contribution to anthropology....
Meadowsdemonstrates that Plains Indian military societies were not
homogenous, and that they are central to an understanding of past
and present Plains social organization, politics, warfare, and
religion." -- Daniel J. Gelo, Associate Professor of Anthropology,
University of Texas at San Antonio
For many Plains Indians, being a warrior and veteran has long
been the traditional pathway to male honor and status. Men and boys
formed military societies to celebrate victories in war, to perform
community service, and to prepare young men for their role as
warriors and hunters. By preserving cultural forms contained in
song, dance, ritual, language, kinship, economics, naming, and
other semireligious ceremonies, these societies have played an
important role in maintaining Plains Indian culture from the
pre-reservation era until today.
In this book, Williams C. Meadows presents an in-depth
ethnohistorical survey of Kiowa, Apache, and Comanche military
societies, drawn from extensive interviews with tribal elders and
military society members, unpublished archival sources, and
linguistic data. He examines their structure, functions, rituals,
and martial symbols, showing how they fit within larger tribal
organizations. And he explores how military societies, like
powwows, have become a distinct public format for cultural and
ethnic continuity.
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