Guest Author - Deborah Adams



Native American Flags starts with a beautifully written foreword by Carl Waldman in which he describes history, beliefs and uses of flags among the Native American peoples.

Each of the many tribal flags in this book contain illustrations of the flags and detailed descriptions of the various symbols, colors, shapes and words on each. The authors worked long and hard on this book in research and in conversations with various tribal leaders and members of the national and regional organizations.

The introduction is divided by subjects including Indians and North America, Sovereignty and/or Federal and State Recognition, Economic Changes Among Native Peoples, A Short History of Native Americans' Use of Flags, What Flags Tell Us About Native Americans and A Short Introduction To Vexillology (the study of flags, their history and their symbolism.)

The book is further divided into sections of flags by Tribes with Federal Recognition, Intertribal Organizations and Tribes Without Federal Recognition. Flags that are in color are also pictured in a color section in the center of the book and include historic and contemporary Native flags. The 183 flag descriptions are in alphabetical order and fully indexed.

Introduction of the authors:

Donald T. Healty is past president of the North American Vexillological Association. Healy's flag related writings have been publishes in the United States, Canada, Poland and Australia.
Peter J. Orenski is the author of A Flag for New Milford, a practical guide to creating a successful civic flag, and president of a company that supplies flags and flag products to Indian tribes, U.S. embassies, and corporate customers world-wide.
Carl Waldman is the author of many works on American Indian history and culture, including Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes.

This is a well written and knowledgeable work following twenty years of research on Native American flags and would be a wonderful book to own for any library!
If you are interested in a wonderfully done book on Native American flags please visit their site.