It is a wonderful thing that you are doing for Bill Baker . . . If anyone should know the most about the overall aspects of his life, you are the one.

—Gene Begay, Nee-gah-nee-gah-boh (Spiritual Leader) Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe


In this rare and insightful book, Thomas Vennum captures the essence of one Ojibwe life. Through memories and letters, Bill Baker comes alive and teaches us what we have almost forgotten: the meaning and practice of Ojibwe tradition. The story unfolds in the context of many of the events and movements relevant to Indians in the 20th century: the boarding school disasters, allotment, the World Wars, AIM, the takeover of the Winter dam, the spear-fishing controversy, the reality of tribal factions. Woven throughout are essential native practices: wild ricing, sharing the fruits of a hunt, a naming ceremony, powwows. Especially poignant is the portrayal of reservation life, the reality of which many Americans cannot or never will see.

—Theresa Schenck, Blackfeet Nation and Ojibwe
Associate Professor
American Indian Studies and Folklore Programs
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Biographer of Ojibwe historian William W. Warren

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Thomas Vennum is senior ethnomusicologist emeritus of the Office of Folklife Programs, Smithsonian Institution. His previous works include The Ojibwe Dance Drum, Wild Rice and the Ojibway People, American Indian Lacrosse, and Lacrosse Legends of the First Americans. He lives summers on Madeline Island, Wisconsin, and winters in Tucson, Arizona.

Please click here to download your copy of the introduction of
Just Too Much of an Indian.

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