an perspective, but we must also integrate it with those of the Spanish, French, Mexicans, and Anglo-Americans" (p. 81). A more balanced and multi-disciplinary approach to the Southern Plains is required to give readers a full appreciation of the importance of this region to the nation's history.
The history of Native American religion is an emerging area of study in Native American scholarship. Whereas numerous studies examine Indian ceremonies and systems of religion, few trace the evolution of Indian religious thought. Brightman (1987), however, presents an overview of recent writings on the subject as well as suggesting areas worthy of future study. Brightman's (1987) essay is categorized by Indian culture areas and explores the subject from an ethnohistorical point of view. In "American Indian Women: Reaching Beyond the Myth," Deborah Welch (1987) provides an invaluable service to the reader by suppyling a review of current scholarship and an overview of available books and articles in this field that has only recently gained the attention it deserves. Welch (1987) divides her research effort into six categories: biography and autobiography, American Indian women and the fur trade, women's cultural roles, Indian women's literature, American Indian women leaders, and overviews and suggested biographies. Despite the growth of interest in American Indian women in the past decade, many opportunities for research are available, particularly from the historical perspective.
Sylvia Van Kirk (1980) makes a significant contribution to women's history by examining the role of women in the fur-trade society during the period between 1670-1870. Her study rectifies the misguided impression that men who plied the fur trade through the British Hudson's Bay Company and the Canadian North West Company lived in bachelor societies. Although European women were banned from the West for many decades, the traders frequently married Na...