Cherokee Medicine Man The Life and Work of a Modern day Healer
Cherokee Medicine Man The Life and Work of a Modern day Healer

Robert J. Conley did not set out to chronicle the life of Cherokee medicine man John Little Bear. Instead, the medicine man came to him. Little Bear asked Conley to write down his story, to reveal to the world “what Indian medicine is really about.” For Little Bear, as for the Cherokee ancestors who brought their traditions over the Trail of Tears to Indian Territory, the medicine is about helping people. Visitors from neighboring states and Mexico come to him, each one seeking help for a different kind of problem. Each seeker’s story is presented here exactly as it was told to Conley.
User Ratings and Reviews
3 Stars Book Review
If you like case studies of people treated with alternative medicine, this is an excellent book. I was looking for something more substantive, how-to instructions, and/or something about the personality of a medicine man. These individuals are some of history’s most influential people. They were priests, doctors, nurses, teachers, pharmacists, architects, designers, and therapists. Their lives embodied the most education and skills readily available with no other purpose than the care of their tribe.
5 Stars A Must Read
If you are interested in Native American Medicine, you need this book on your shelf! The first-hand accounts of the work of John Little Bear will give you great insight into this ancient practice. I highly, highly recommend this book for it’s depth, clarity, and poignancy.
5 Stars A wonderful look into the life of a Cherokee Medicine Man
Thank you so much for writing this book, Mr. Conley. I have just started getting back in touch with my Cherokee roots. This was a perfect starting point.
It is so heart-warming to read about a kind and loving spirit who dedicates his life to helping others. The lessons contained in the book should be learned by all. Thank you for being such a wonderful teacher and example, John Little Bear.
5 Stars An Important read.
This book is an important addition to all know want to learn about the Cherokee and their compelling history. I also highly recommend Walking the Trail, One Man’s Journey Along the Cherokee Trail of Tears. It chronicles the author’s 900 mile walk along the Trail and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
Medicine Shield White Indian Series Book XXVIII No 28
Medicine Shield White Indian Series Book XXVIII No 28

White Indian Renno’s happiness at the British defeat at New Orleans is short-lived when his younger son, Ta-na, suffers a crippling injury, an accident that threatens the fate of their entire tribe.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars It was breath taking, I couldn’t put it down once I started
I have read the whole series of the White Indian and would recomend it to everyone to read. It is a breath taking story and you feel like your right there with Renno and his tribe.
5 Stars Exciting and captivating.
Although this was one of the saddest of the series, I celebrated Renno’s life with him and grieved his passing. The whole series is a wonderful way to learn about the Seneca and some of the basics of Native Americans. This book and the series brought about a more personal glimpse of the first Americans.
5 Stars Very informative and exciting.
This entire series is great. I have been reading this series since book one in 1979. Even though it is out of print, if you can get copies of the books, do so. This series gives you great insight into the Seneca tribe. You feel as if you are there as the events unfold, the author is very detailed and at the same time keeps the stories interesting and fresh.
The Speckled Monster

Long before vaccination for smallpox was developed in Europe in the 1790s, people in the Middle East, the Caucasus and Africa knew that small amounts of live smallpox virus injected under the skin would induce a mild form of the disease that rendered a person immune from full-blown smallpox. In her intriguing book, Carrell, a writer for Smithsonian magazine, switches between the stories of two courageous people in early 18th-century England and America who believed passionately in this procedure, called variolation. While living in Turkey, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, herself disfigured by the disease, had her son inoculated. When she convinced her physician to inoculate her daughter during a smallpox epidemic in London in 1721, public opinion was vehemently against her but, after the procedure appeared to work, physicians persuaded King George I to let them experiment on prisoners who agreed to submit to variolation in return for pardons. In Boston, also ravaged by smallpox in 1721, Zabdiel Boylston, a physician who had survived the disease, learned of variolation from slaves and successfully inoculated his own children. The authorities ordered Boylston to stop the practice, and outraged citizens even tried to kill him, but he persisted, encouraged by a few believers, including the influential Puritan clergyman Cotton Mather. In Boston, as in London, most people who underwent the procedure didn’t get full-blown cases of smallpox, and variolation was finally accepted as the only way to protect against the disease before vaccination with cowpox, a benign virus, was developed in the 1790s. Carrell’s novelistic treatment of this story, which concludes with an account of the friendship that developed between Lady Mary and Boylston when he visited London in 1725, is engaging in spite of an overabundance of fabricated conversations and scenes that slow the action.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
User Ratings and Reviews
2 Stars Enjoyed what I could.
I downloaded the sample to my Kindle. The first quarter of the sample is the intro. etc. I found the rest of it very interesting and would have loved to finish the book, however I refuse to pay full price for a Kindle edition when the hard copy is a bargain book!
5 Stars Fascinating
I found this book to be informative and engaging from the beginning. I had to keep asking myself if it was fiction or not, and in many instances the writing just pulled me into the scenery. I enjoyed the archaic letters and the use of documentation to add verisimilitude to the story. Whether all the events occurred as written here is immaterial to enjoying the text, because we’ll never know and what remains is that they could have happened more or less along the lines of Dr. Carrell’s story.
Some scenes were particularly riveting - especially after Boylston is ordered to cease the innoculations and his family is endangered. Equally catching is the tense and tight prose that follows Lady Mary on her secret missions to fight smallpox.
This book seems to cross the boundaries between fiction and creative non-fiction, but to me it was very satisfying and difficult to put down.
5 Stars Top Notch History and Great Read
In The Speckled Monster, Carrell has written both an enlightening and entertaining account of the introduction of smallpox inoculation in both Europe and the United States. She conveys the profoundly devastating effect that this disease has had on world history. Through her delightful portrayal of the human actors in the struggle to bring inoculation to Western countries, Carrell delivers a fascinating and enjoyable read.
5 Stars Couldn’t put it down
Maybe it’s because I have a degree in both history and English, but this book suited my taste perfectly, and I was surprised at the negative reviews. I picked up the book and finished it in two days because I couldn’t put it down. Ms. Carrell has made the tale read like a historical whodunit. I read her chapter, then her endnotes. If you like historical fiction and you also like historical nonfiction, I think you would enjoy this book.
4 Stars medicine vs politics
Not since Laurie Garret’s THE COMING PLAGUE have I enjoyed a book more. The detail of the research is tremendous and the story it tells– of a medical breakthrough for the western world despite politics, racism and ignorance is fascinating. It is so easy to lose sight of the true terror caused by this disease. Carrell’s work brings it to life.
Ancient Roots Modern Medicine
For thousands of years, people have experimented with plants as a way to cure sickness, conquer infection, and increase longevity. Now, medical researchers are tapping into this vast, treasure trove of folk knowlege in their quest for modern drugs to fight cancer and other menacing diseases.
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Cherokee Medicine Man The Life and Work of a Modern day HealerCherokee Medicine Man The Life and Work of a Modern day Healer Robert J. Conley did not set out to chronicle the life of Cherokee...
