The Amazing Death of Calf Shirt and Other Blackfoot Stories: 300 Years of Blackfoot History

Anthony G. Gulig teaches history at the University of Saskatchewan.

These stories blend historical narrative with an effective use of oral
tradition. In them, Dempsey describes the importance of elders in the
Blackfoot Nation and other Native cultures across North America. While
billed as covering “300 years of Blackfoot history,” the book
recounts only the last 150 years of the Blackfoot experience, with an
emphasis on important events in the 19th century. In spite of this
shortcoming, the reader can still see the Blackfoot past through the
eyes and hearts of those who lived it, and, more important, through the
eyes and hearts of those who retain the ability to remind us of an
otherwise hidden Blackfoot past. No mere study of policy and government
involvement could ever parallel the depth and significance of Blackfoot
history recounted in these stories.