The first published record of Florida Seminole herbal medicine and ancient healing practices, Healing Plants is a colorfully illustrated compendium of knowledge and practices passed down orally to Alice Snow from generations of her Native American ancestors. The authors' overview of Seminole history, native medicine, and the life of Snow, a Seminole herbalist (illustrated with personal photographs) places the healing practices in their cultural context and describes actual treatments. Charts with plant names in Creek, Mikasuki, and English and lists of plant properties with their common and botanical names offer easy reference. Color photographs provide clear illustrations of many of the plants. Herbal treatments include those intended for babies, for people who have had a hysterectomy, a stroke, blackouts or shortness of breath, ""monkey sickness,"" alligator bites, or a speeding heart, people who have pain or have been ill for a long time, who like to sleep all the time or can't sleep because of worry or bad dreams, who are pregnant or ""on the wagon"" or have lost wives or husbands. Alice Snow is both a traditional Seminole and a cultural innovator who combines old and new methods of preserving and teaching ""Indian medicine."" Her record of medicinal plants and remedies is her contribution toward helping the Seminoles to hold onto their past while living in the present and moving toward the future. Though the book does not reveal the tribal doctors' secret healing songs, believed to empower the plants, it provides Seminoles with a reference handbook of plants; it also offers medical professionals, herbalists, and the general public an understanding of the world of Seminole medicine.

When adventurous New York retiree Doris Miller relocated to Florida in the 1980s, she took with her a lifetime of photography skills. Doris befriended members of the local Seminole Tribe of Florida. Naturally, she took pictures of her new friends. She left a legacy for the Seminole Indians. The resulting photo collection is an anthropological treasure trove, chronicling all aspects of contemporary Seminole life at Brighton Reservation, Okeechobee, Florida. The pictures cover daily life, church functions, traditional clothing, and even alligator wrestling. An enduring tribute to the tenacity and resilience of the Seminole culture in the face of outside pressures, Picture This is also a loving remembrance of Doris' life, from her World II adventures as a Red Cross worker to her role as the Seminoles' "unofficial photographer." With candid excerpts from her diaries and letters, Picture This offers insights into a Native American community and the life of an exceptional woman. The authors were presented with a unique challenge. Balancing the intended purpose of this book while incorporating the photographer's interesting life story. The photographic collection presented has historical value and yet is contemporary. Doris' close ties with Seminole tribal members provided her the opportunity to attend many functions on the reservation. Although she did photograph at special reservation events, her photos transmit colorful images of the everyday, old ways of dress of the elders. Many of the elders photographed are no longer alive, and the images of these individuals are especially valuable as a historical record.