Excerpt from The Diocesan Times, Halifax, Canada:

Excerpt from The Diocesan Times, Halifax, Canada

Aamjiwnaang is indeed a territory named, as you might intuit, by aboriginal peoples, but the Plains are not a geographical feature of it. The Plains are a clan of the Ahnishenahbek Nation, named by European settlers as the Ojibwa or Chippewa. Yet even this little explanation opens up into more complexities, as David Plain explains: though Ahnishenahbek is the name of his nation, the term was also used by those who belonged to that nation to describe ‘any member of the [wider] Three Fires Confederacy and sometimes in an even wider sense to describe any aboriginal people. ’And this is one of the wonderful things about these two concise books. They speak about territory we know about, and might have lived in or visited (the area straddling both sides of the St. Clair River, extending into both present-day Michigan and Ontario). But they do it from a very different perspective than most of us comprehend. In fact we might say that these books are sorts of historical travel guides, telling the story of a place of which many of both its current inhabitants are unaware. David Plain writes not so much to make a point as to revive a long memory, and offer the unique perspective that comes with such an exercise. Plain uses a rich variety of sources: maps and treaties between Aboriginals and Europeans (some of which are reproduced in appendices), stories maintained in oral histories passed down for generations, and a variety of professional and amateur historical publications. And he does this to get the story straight, his key to reviving the memory of his ancestors.

The full review can be read at http://ojibwaylegacy.com/Reviews.html

The US Review of Books

Ways of Our Grandfathers
by David D. Plain
Trafford Publishing
reviewed by Michael Radon

"The spiritual realm and the physical realm were often connected through the practice of medicine."

Written as a complement to the author's other title The Plains of Aamjiwnaang, this title goes more into detail in regards to customs and cultural practices of the First Nation known more commonly as the Chippewa. Aspects of life among the Aamjiwnaang are separated and presented one at a time, from social gatherings and games to economic history and trading policies. Additional attention is given to the religious beliefs and traditions of the people, including death rituals and the respectful process of mourning a loved one. In-depth descriptions of how canoes, tepees, and wigwams go into great detail as to how things were prepared and for what purpose. At the end, readers are presented with a fascinating list of herbal medicines and treatments that were used by the Aamjiwnaang and for what purposes.

Read on its own, this book still provides a very interesting anthropologic examination of Aamjiwnaang culture and traditions. Paired with its complementary text, it tells a more complete story that gives further insight into the history of this storied First Nation and the reason behind the decisions and alliances it made during the expansion of Colonial America and beyond. There are a wealth of footnotes and citations for those looking for further readings, as well as multiple illustrations and appendices designed to help readers further comprehend the material. Combining the oral history of his people with his university background, the author provides a complete view of his predecessors and the ways of his people that is fascinating to any student or enthusiast of human history. ( )