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| Giants, Cannibals & Monsters - Book Review |
Anomaly Magazine
Review by Jeremy Wells
October 8, 2008
We here at Anomaly have received a review copy of Giants, Cannibals & Monsters, and while we haven't had the time to give it the proper, in-depth review it deserves, our initial impressions are positive. The book is gorgeously illustrated, and worth the price of purchase for the photographs alone. Nearly every page features amazing archival photography of the native peoples whose legends are discussed; including turn of the century candid shots of them going about their daily lives, participating in ceremonies and dances, and pausing to pose for gorgeous portraits.
The stories selected also seem to run the gamut, from clearly legendary tales with a tenuous connection to the subject of Bigfoot, to simple and straightforward accounts of hairy bipedal animals and their home ranges. Strain keeps the editorializing to a minimum, letting the stories stand on their own merits. While much has been made of the mythical aspects lent to hairy giants in some native tales, mainly by those attempting to discredit these stories as a legitimate source of pre-20th century bigfoot accounts, it's worth remembering that coyote, spider, and raven all feature prominently in various Native stories, and all are also real creatures (as are the fox, tortoise, hare, and other creatures employed to great effect in the fables of Aesop and others).
Even if you do not believe in the physical reality of hairy bipeds roaming the forested hills and secreted valleys of the modern landscape, Strain's book serves as a very nice catalogue of legends and I expect it to be invaluable to me in years to come as a reference for placing our modern bigfoot stories in a context of developing American mythos of the wild man legends and in comparing Native American stories to other wild man stories from around the globe.
Kathy Moskowitz Strain will be in Jefferson Texas the weekend of October 18 to discuss her work and book.
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Review by Craig Woolheater
December 13, 2008
www.cryptomundo.com
With the holidays coming, I thought it would be a good time to do a review of a book you may want under your tree - Giants, Cannibals & Monsters: Bigfoot in Native Culture by Kathy Moskowitz Strain. The book contains over 150 traditional bigfoot (or bigfoot-like) stories from 55 tribes throughout North America laying out a case that Native Americans had knowledge of this animal prior to our arrival. As compelling as the stories are, you are simply drawn in by the absolutely stunning way the book is laid out. Nearly every page of the book contains beautiful historic photographs of native people doing everyday activities, conducting ceremonies, dancing, or just posing for stunning portraits. All of the 357 photographs, like the stories themselves, are from the late 1800's to the early 1900's.
The stories are arranged by region, and all of North America (but not every state) is represented. Unlike many books where only small pieces of the legends are quoted, Kathy presents the stories in their entirety from the original source with little comment (except to clarify a native word here and there). Kathy mentions that she did this so the reader could make up their own mind on the content of the story.
A common story from many tribes is about a bigfoot with a basket on its back that steals kids to eat them (I'm glad no modern sighting report mentions baskets). If bigfoot isn't real, it would seem odd for so many tribes to describe the same thing. Several of the stories talk about physical locations that were created by or are the remains of bigfoot (such as Redding Rock and Columbia rocks in California). Kathy recently spoke about this topic at the 2008 Annual Texas Bigfoot Conference in Jefferson, Texas and the Bigfoot Discovery Day II in Felton, California.
Overall, Kathy's book is a nice collection of traditional native stories about bigfoot. |
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