An Important purchase

It seems silly on a day where a kid died on an amusement park ride, the ban on "openly gay soldiers" is newsworthy, Wacko Jacko and his "adult alarm" are free to roam again, to think of anything I do as important. I still believe this is.
For a long time I have planned to investigate a cultural phenomenon and write about it. This blog is even named after it...basically my thesis is the view of Native Americans changed from people striving to avoid any connection with being a Native American to where people strive to emulate Native American culture.
I need to do a lot of research for this. Unfortunately, during the school year I have very little time. I am either at work, school, or doing homework for the most part. So I had to keep putting it off.
Now that school is done, I took the last three days to read a half dozen books I have been wanting to read for fun. It was very pleasant. I finished the last one tonight, so on my way home from work I purchased the first few books for my project.
They had some extremely important books there but I could not buy them all. I shied away from Ward Churchill...mostly because the strife over the genuineness of his heritage calls into question his credibility at the same time his struggle to be named Native American and the struggle of others to prevent it is the very struggle I intend to write about. I find that highly ironic. And, of course, way back here http://darthweasel.blogspot.com/2005/03/shared-memories.html
I discussed how I felt about Mr. Churchill.
There were numerous works by the Delorians, and by the time I finish I will no doubt have sampled from all of them. One book has a forward by Vine Jr while another discusses the influence his father had. It all ties together.
I am very excited to finally get this project off the ground. I have theories about what I will find...I just hope I can stay grounded enough to not let my expectations blind to to reality.
I guess it is a legitimate question who is more important...the Phillip and Vine Delorias of the world? The Helen Hunts or Wilma Mankillers? Is Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee more influential than Tonto? Is Tonto any influence at all?
Interestingly enough, I would hypothesize a man such as Jim Thorpe was just as influential as...say...Dee Brown. I compare that to a Jackie Robinson v Martin Luther King Jr. I know that is a bold statement, but hear me out.
Millions of people followed Robinson, thrilled to his exploits, and he became a hero to them on the baseball field. He captured the hearts and minds of people who knew nothing of sports and his influence allowed things like MLK Jr. to develop. In the same way, Thorpe's athletic accomplishments gave people an "Indian" to look at who was neither a savage, ruthless murderer such as "the Indians" were portrayed, nor yet the hopelessly outclassed yet valiant warrior struggling against overwhelming odds...think Chief Joseph. Here was a man not to be feared (Geronimo, Crazy Horse) or pitied (Cochise, the Cherokee) but admired, emulated, feted, and praised.
It is interesting to note the ideas of Native Americans held by the masses were grounded in lies, propulgated in public, and banished in secret. The "savage, murdering, scalping brutes of the wilderness" had no problems with internal crime, theft, or murder at a time when the civilized Europeans had some recreational maiming and people burning going on in the name of religion.
These "savage, wild fighters" were often woefully ineffective...go back and check out casualty statistics. They are overwhelmingly one sided. And that includes when the Native Americans "won", although even those sucesses were fleeting and phyrric victories at best.
THe idea and concept of Native Americans has changed continuously, wlthough seldom if ever accurately. After all, how can peoples as disparate as the Iriquios and Apache be considered the same any more than a Russian or Englishmen?
It is my hope this purchase will lead me on an entertaining and fruitful journey that ends with publication of a valuable work on why we have gone from hating and fearing the "savage indians" to hangin the mystical Dream Cathers of the honored Native Americans on our rearview mirrorms. Maybe I just unintentionally named the book: Dream Catchers on the Rearview Mirror; a look back at Native Americans as viewed by the pop culture.