"Professor Meadows is one of only a few scholars conducting sustained fieldwork on the Plains anymore, and it is a good thing he is...He is precise in his science, but he is also a sensitive fieldworker who is able to capture the Indian connection to the physical landscape in a way that is moving. This work offers valuable factual and conceptual contributions."ùDaniel J. Gelo, Professor of Anthropology University of Texas at San Antonio<BR><BR>Examining the place names, geographical knowledge, and cultural associations of the Kiowa from the earliest recorded sources to the present, Kiowa Ethnogeography is the most in-depth study of its kind in the realm of Plains Indian tribal analysis. Linking geography to political and social changes, William Meadows applies a chronological approach that demonstrates a cultural evolution within the Kiowa community.<BR><BR>Preserved in both linguistic and cartographic forms, the concepts of place, homeland, intertribal sharing of land, religious practice, and other aspects of Kiowa life are clarified in detail. Native religious relationships to land (termed "geosacred" by the author) are carefully documented as well. Meadows also provides analysis of the only known extant Kiowa map of Black Goose, its unique pictographic place labels, and its relationship to reservation-era land policies. Additional coverage of rivers, lakes, and military forts makes this a remarkably comprehensive and illuminating guide.