The Montana Cree
A Study in Religious Persistence

Verne Dusenberry (Author)

9780806130255

Paperback / softback, published 15 April 1998

288 pages, 9 black & white illustrations, 4 figures
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm, 0.498 kg

The Montana Cree is a study of religion as a sustaining force in American Indian life. On the small Rocky Boy reservation in northern Montana, the Cree Indians provide an example of how a people transplanted and persecuted throughout their history can maintain and develop a tribal identity and unity through the continuance of their religious values.

As the adopted son of Mose Michelle, a hereditary Pend O'Reille chief, Verne Dusenberry moved easily within Indian circles as an accepted participant-observer in many religious ceremonies. His ethnographic study provides detailed descriptions of ceremonies - the Shaking Tent, Ghost Dance, and Sun Dance - which are seldom accurately described elsewhere.