Tipi: Home of the Nomadic Buffalo Hunters

I've been doing plenty of research for the design of my lodge cover, since I want this to be both authentic and a durable costruction. I'm never happy blindly following a popularly-accept plan for anything. I want to know why something is such-and-such a way - should my lodge have narrow or large smoke flaps, gores or no gores, sewn stake loops or pebble wrap loops... the list of styles is varied if not endless.

Anyway, talented illustrator Paul Goble shares his years of research in this highly graphic book, and he explains many "why's" quite clearly.

Crazy Horse

What do you do in your sleeping bag at late at night when you can't get to sleep? The same thing you'd do at home. Bring along a book to read!

I like to read something about the place I may be travelling through. And whenever I travel up through the northwestern Nebraska - Wyoming - South Dakota region, I bring along this worn, dog-eared book by Nebraska author Mari Sandoz: Crazy Horse, The Strange Man of the Ogalalas, given to me long ago by my Grandma E.

Mari Sandoz didn't just pen her work, she researched this biographical novel thoroughly, interviewing the actual eye witnesses of the events. She never fell into the stiff confines of depicting a romantic West. And part of her writing process was to locate herself in the actual locations and reading the manuscripts to herself. She did not take the easy road to her writing.

Crazy Horse was written as from the Native perspective (even mimicing the Lakota style speech) and published in the 1940's, when such personal accounts were unheard of. I've read many of Mari's books such as Old Jules, These Were the Sioux, Cheyenne Autumn... This one without a doubt is the absolute best.

The Modern Tipi

Though I grew up devouring everything I could about Native culture and am fairly familiar with tipi construction, I still like seeing the various solutions that others have come up with for the construction of a modern canvas tipi.

• The Plains Indian Tipi from Mother Earth News
• Instructions for Setting Up a Sioux Tipi
• tipis.org/Articles and Books
• TIPI PAINTING & CONSTRUCTION

Teepee Days

Teepee Days, Tales of the Plains is a collection of Native American stories aimed at young readers but just as entertaining to the older set, composed of a wide mix of historical figures, hero stories and legends, and folklore published in 1941. I also especially like the graceful but bold illustrative style. I came across this copy on Ebay.