A Good Cherokee, A Good Anthropologist: Papers in Honor of Robert K. Thomas, edited by Steve Pavlik, is a collection of writings by individuals whose lives have been touched in various ways by the man and his legacy. Together, they inform a vision of a man whose contribution to contemporary Native American thought and social action has been nothing short of monumental. This collection of writings traces his extensive contribution to the development of Native American political and cultural consciousness over the past four decades. It provides an insight through the various perspectives of its contributors to aspects of the relationship of indigenous people to the majority culture societies which have evolved in their midst. Bob Thomas' intellectual and spiritual influence is the universal binding force. That the writings should encompass such a broad sweep of human consciousness is indicative of the intellect of the man who inspired them.

Robert Thomas the man was every inch a Cherokee. His sense of self was shaped by the strong tribal identity that was the cornerstone of his upbringing in rural eastern Oklahoma. From an early age he honed his proclivity for acute inquisitiveness and analysis. This trait helped him to enjoy a childhood rich in cultural tradition, imagery, and purposefulness in the midst of what an outsider might easily view as abject poverty. These skills also served him well when he later immersed himself in the culture of academia. His quick and keen perception enabled him to deconstruct complex societal dynamics with the same finesse with which he had embraced the traditional wealth of Cherokee knowledge and lifeways.

Contributors include several authors who are themselves more widely known than Thomas himself, particularly outside the Native American political and academic spheres. Vine Deloria, Jr. and Jack Forbes, among them, are writers who have helped a nation rethink the relationship between its citizens descended from immigrants and those with roots in this continent. In their essays here, they pay homage to the crucial role Bob Thomas played in developing their ideas and perceptions.

Some of the contributors discuss the dichotomous Bob Thomas who in many ways personified diametric opposition in both his physical countenance and his personal locus of identity. Often throughout his life, people upon first meeting him would wonder whether he was actually an Indian himself. This was due partly to the European physical characteristics he inherited from his father, and partly to the rural folksy image he projected, indeed cultivated, in his manner and his speech. Professing a Cherokee identity, the historical "wannabee" affiliation of choice, also inevitably fueled the doubters. Yet those who knew him describe a man knowledgeable of his cultural legacy like few others, a man whose sense of place was profoundly shaped by his Cherokee family and community origins. His well developed sense of self was a trait that he was to share with others who like him were attempting to discover the meaning of straddling two widely disparate cultural realities. The personal recollections contained in the book reflect on his life long commitment to empowering Indian youth to use their traditional heritage as a experiential and spiritual resource for claiming their place in the multicultural national society, while bringing the resources of that society to the strengthening of their native communities. The role of tribalism in shaping the personal and group identity of Native Americans was a theme ever present in his work and his writings.

Thomas is lauded for his contribution of important anthropological fieldwork documenting the contemporary situation of both the status and non status tribes of North America. He is remembered as well as for his constructive and informed political activism. It is his insightfulness, however, regarding nature and the functioning of neo colonialism as it relates to indigenous people who are socially and economically marginalized in their traditional homelands for which he is best remembered. Thomas' pervasive legacy is all the more remarkable considering the relatively scant publication record that he left behind. This, indeed, is cited by the editor as one of the motivating factors for the compilation of this volume. The contributing authors draw reference to virtually all of his key written works, but more importantly bring together so much of the wisdom that was inexorably imparted thorough personal interaction with Bob Thomas the man.

Robert Thomas was a quintessential academic well grounded in theoretical and analytical thinking. He could espouse the teachings of Plato and traditional Cherokee lore with equal aplomb, if not in the same utterance. He was a master at using theoretical constructions for understanding the interaction of experience and relation to meaning. Formally trained as an anthropologist, he adeptly applied the rigors of scientific inquiry. Yet his implicit understanding of the social and psychological effects of the forces brought to bear on native communities as a result of their historical contact with European Americans was decidedly an "emic" Native Ameri centric one. Or, to use his own conceptual construction of E+R=M (experience and relation result in meaning), his grounding in rural Oklahoma Cherokee lifeways and conceptual universe provided the ingredients for his primary notions of the meaning of life. His acute awareness and power of observation that served him so well in the environment of his upbringing enabled him to immerse himself in the intellectual, academic culture so profoundly that his experience and relation in this realm rendered his perception equally "emic."

This book is a fitting memorial to Bob Thomas, a man who touched so many people's lives so deeply. It also is an important documentation of the evolution of Native American political and scholarly thought in the historical context of one of its primary proponents. To relegate this book, or even the life of Bob Thomas, to the narrower sphere of Native American subject matter is to miss its greatest potential contribution. While Bob Thomas' contributions to understanding the dynamics of cultural and social forces are usually thought of in the context of Native American communities, it is the universality of his vision that makes his contribution, and by extension this book, so significant.

Octaviana V Trujillo
Arizona State University