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Rating: 
Summary: This Book is a failure
Review: Government funded authors are making claims of other societies innovations to create false pride.
Porterfield: "Ancient American Indians were building pyramids before the Egyptians. They domesticated corn from a wild grass. They performed complicated surgeries. They also knew how to work with platinum and how to vulcanize rubber, two things Europeans could not do until the 1800s."
This reeks of falsity, and any truth of these accomplishments was not by American Indians, but specific Mesoamericans nationalities. This author is trying to use Mayan/Aztec accomplishment to boost "Native American" pride. This is similar to the attempts by afro-centrists in claiming they built pyramids, and Alexandria Library, even though it was Greeks/Egyptians.
Pyramids
Yes Mesoamericans had ziggurats, in pyramid form, though they were built thousands of years after others in Europe, and Mesopotamia had done. To state though that they were built before the Egyptian ones is a blatant attempt at revisionist history that has no basis on facts. Khufu built Pyramids in Egypt such as The Great Pyramid of Giza, around 2550 B.C., well before Mesoamericans constructed any structures.
In Mesoamerica, even most of the earliest pyramid-like mounds existed only around 1000 B.C. The Great Pyramid of Cholula for example, is a huge temple-pyramid complex built over many generations from the 2nd century BC to the early 16th century AD. It's a laugh to state ancient Indians or Mesoamericans invented them first. Pyramids from 5000 B.C are in Kashan Iran, and Pyramids from 2700 BC are in Greece. Their greatest pyramid Cholula took 1800 years to make; Giza was built in only 40 or so, and was created 4800 years before Cholula. Seems like Indian pride propaganda, though propaganda doesn't require facts, especially if government of U.S funds you.
Vulcanized Rubber
First of all, a British guy named Goodyear in 1800's(he has a tire named after him) invented vulcanized rubber, before that British innovation rubber was worthless for industry. Vulcanizing of rubber requires Sulfur. Vulcanization is a chemical process in which individual polymer molecules are linked to other polymer molecules by atomic bridges. Comparing Vulcanized rubber to latex rubber sap that was excreted from the rubber tree and used untreated by Mesoamericans is another lie that no half-witted person would recognize. Rubber sap from trees in South America was used as balls in games of sport, with the losing team getting their heart eaten afterward.
Vulcanizing changes the rubber into an almost inorganic state in which it doesn't rot. The Indians lived near latex rubber sap, though the British vulcanized it, not the Indians. I suppose according to these authors logic they would say the Indians "knew of" petroleum refinery too because oil was first discovered in America.
Agriculture/Corn
Domesticating the fruits of grasses occurred over 12 000 years ago in SW Asia, though it wasn't done by American Indians until 4000 years ago. There are over 10,000 grass types. Rice, and Wheat are also fruits of a grass that has been domesticated by the west for Thousands of years, nothing "innovative" there. Domestication of a grass after others have done it is not innovative or a discovery. Permanent Farming in Mesoamerica's started only around 1000 BC, this is not a contribution, or innovative since Europeans had been doing that 5000-8000 years ago.
Platinum
Porterfield claims Europeans did not work with platinum until 1800's, that's incorrect, Spaniards separated it while mining for silver in the 1500's. The Spaniards saw no use for it, partly because it has an extremely high melting point
Yes, a few Mesoamericans worked with platinum first, as it was found on surface in some areas and didn't require mining. The Mesoamericans though couldn't separate, melt, or identify it. The Spanish-British did melt it, identified, and separated it first; it was done in 1700's not 1800's.
I hope I have persuaded purchases away from this fictional book and of the authors. The author of this book is a history denier/revisionist. Sadly enough these history deniers/revisionists are government funded, just another load from the government to shove down peoples throat.
Rating: 
Summary: Resource facts for students and educators
Review: Published reliable information on Native Americans and their culutral contributions is hard to find. One of these authors is Lakota (Sioux) and has achieved his goal of collecting information to be used by all peoples about the First Americans. This book was first recommended to me by a friend who is an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and an acquaintance of Mr. Keoke. I develop and present presentations to both University and Elementary students and often have a dozen or more books piled up to pull together exact references for my presentations. This book accomplishes that same reference task for me plus more. The information and maps in the appendix are much better than many other sources.
Rating:
Summary: A highly recommended resource for students
Review: The collaborative effort of Emory Dean Keoke (multicultural relations and communications consultant and enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe) and Kay Marie Porterfield (journalist for the "Indian Country Today, the largest Native American owned weekly newspaper in America), Encyclopedia Of American Indian Contributions To The World: 15,000 Years Of Inventions And Innovations is an exciting resource covering the rich and varied histories of Native American tribes and their precontact discoveries and postcontact influences. From the anatomical knowledge of the Mesoamerican cultures at AD 1100; to Native American contributions to agriculture, medicine and pharmacology; to hammocks of forest cultures; to the American Indian influence on Tabasco sauce, and so much more, the Encyclopedia Of American Indian Contributions To The World is an absorbing, 384-page reference offering information and insights into the complexities of Native American cultural history, interaction and social evolution. A highly recommended resource for students of Native American history and culture, the Encyclopedia Of American Indian Contributions To The World is an essential and core addition to academic and community library Native American Studies collections.
Rating:
Summary: A great book on a largely ignored subject
Review: This is a very well researched and comprehensive book. It is quite monumental in its scope. To give you an example, I opened the book at random to page 139. One of the listings on this page is Ipecac. Many households know about this medication. It is
usually used to induce vomiting. Children often swallow things they should not. The books goes into some detail about where the plant was first found, how it is refined, and how it came to be used by Europeans. It then lists some sources for further reading. It also has a great Appendix section. It shows which tribes lived where, including many good maps. The Chronology section lists when different things were discovered or invented by the indigenous people. It also has an appendix which lists the book's
entries by area, by subject and by which tribal group is associated with that item. I know how long it took me to do the research associated with my book. I can only guess that the authors spent a very long time putting together the material in this book. EAICW has a plethora of listings and information. EAICW is 384 pages long and measures (in inches): 1.19 x 11.20 x 8.44. It is a BIG book. It would make an excellent addition to any well stocked library. I highly recommend it.
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