“Encyclopedic. . . . The Santa Fe materials take center stage but are also supplemented by previous and subsequent research by scholars like Mooney. The result is what could hardly be imagined as a more complete summary of a people’s beliefs and rituals at a particular moment in time—a moment that had just ended when the data were collected and that, despite all of the tribulations and losses faced by the Kiowa, continues not only to be remembered but to reverberate through their culture.”—Jack David Eller, Anthropology Review Database
"Benjamin R Kracht's new book Religious Revitalization Among the Kiowas: The Ghost Dance, Peyote, and Christianity explores the often-intertwined histories of the Kiowa Ghost Dance, the Native American Church, and indigenous Christianity through the lens of revitalization movements. . . . This is a strong work in the field of anthropology of religion."—Angela Tarango, Reading Religion
"This is a landmark contribution on Native American resistance to colonization, missionization, and domination by Euro-American settlers. . . . [Kracht's] masterful use of interviews and primary documents greatly contributes to original knowledge of life in the American Plains. . . . This book, recording individual, family, and community church histories, should benefit Kiowa for generations to come."—Great Plains Quarterly
“Demonstrates a remarkable knowledge and familiarity with Kiowa life, history, and traditions, both past and present. . . . This book is a model of excellence in anthropological historiography, offering a multitude of cogent insights and many remarkable, moving Kiowa testimonies—an engaging, informative book!”—Lee Irwin, professor of religious studies at the College of Charleston and author of Coming Down from Above: Prophecy, Resistance, and Renewal in Native American Religions
“Benjamin Kracht enlightens us about how indigenous groups, once called the vanishing race, survived and rebuilt their nations. Through religious syncretism and their unique understanding of the sacred, the Kiowa people established a new Kiowa Way—combining traditionalism with external religions. This extraordinary scholarship explores the resilience of indigenous peoples and the reinventing of culture.”—Donald L. Fixico, Distinguished Foundation Professor of History at Arizona State University and author of Call for Change: American Indian History, Reality, and Ethos
“An important book for students of Kiowa culture, for scholars of American Indian religion, and for anyone interested in how human communities adapt to changing environments and circumstances. A valuable contribution to anthropological literature.”—James Treat, author of Around the Sacred Fire: Native Religious Activism in the Red Power Era
