Gladys Laubin – författare

Many thousands of persons here and abroad have been introduced to authentic Indian dancing through the Laubin's dance concerts, lectures, and seminars. Their admirers, as well as other dancers, anthropologists, historians, students of Indian culture, and Indians themselves, will welcome this informative and richly illustrated book.It is based upon a lifetime of study and research, including years the authors spent living with the Indians on or near their reservations (they are adopted Sioux). The authors have been told by the old chiefs, "You know exactly the real Indian ways." These survivors of the Buffalo Days appreciated the Laubins' interest and asked them to learn and preserve the rituals, since their own young people no longer knew all their traditions. This book is the result.In addition to descriptions of the dances, the costumes, the body decorations, and the musical accompaniment, the Laubins give the cultural background of Indian dancing and a wealth of related detail. They enrich their text with many personal experiences and observations. They may have been the first non-Indians to appreciate fully the integral role of dancing in the traditional life patterns of the Indians, a role only recently recognize by scholars in the field.Through their deep understanding of their adopted people the Laubins clear way through misinterpretation and prejudice to a new appreciation of the American Indian.

When the first edition of this book was published in 1957, the art of making a tipi was almost lost, even among American Indians. Since that time a tremendous resurgence of interest in the Indian way of life has occurred, resurgence due in part, at least, to the Laubins' life-long efforts at preservation and interpretation of Indian culture.As The Indian Tipi makes obvious, the American Indian is both a practical person and a natural artist. Indian inventions are commonly both serviceable and beautiful. Other tents are hard to pitch, hot in summer, cold in winter, poorly lighted, unventilated, easily blown down, and ugly to boot. The conical tipi of the Plains Indian has none of these faults. It can be pitched by one person. It is roomy, well ventilated at all times, cool in summer, well lighted, proof against high winds and heavy downpours, and, with its cheerful fire inside, snug in the severest winter weather. Moreover, its tilted cone, trim smoke flaps, and crown of poles, presenting a different silhouette from every angle, form a shapely, stately dwelling even without decoration.In this new edition the Laubins have retained all the invaluable aspects of the first edition, and have added a tremendous amount of new material on day-to-day living in the tipi: the section on Indian cooking has been expanded to include a large number and range of Indian foods and recipes, as well as methods of cooking over an open fire, with a reflector oven, and with a ground oven; there are new sections on making buckskin, making moccasins, and making cradle boards; there is a whole new section on child care and general household hints. Shoshoni, Cree, and Assiniboine designs have been added to the long list of tribal tipi types discussed.This new edition is richly illustrated with color and black and white photographs, and drawings to aid in constructing and living in the tipi. It is written primarily for the interested amateur, and will appeal to anyone who likes camping, the out-of-doors, and American Indian lore.