FOR MOST OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, A GREAT INTELLECTUAL BARRIER EXISTED IN THE LITERATURE ABOUT AMERICAN INDIANS. ALMOST EVERY BOOK ON THE SUBJECT RECOUNTED THE HISTORY, CULTURE, RELIGION, AND ART OF A TRIBE AS THEY WERE FROM FIRST CONTACT WITH EUROPEANS TO 1890. WHEN THE AMERICAN FRONTIER CLOSES, THE BOOKS ALSO CONCLUDED, WITH BARELY A FEW PARAGRAPH DESCRIBING WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO THE INDIANS THEREAFTER. PEOPLE"S KNOWLEDGE OF INDIANS, THEREFORE, WAS SEVERLY RESTRICTED TO THE CLASSICAL PERIOD WHEN NATIVE AMERICANS ROAMED, HUNTED, AND FISHED IN RELATIVE COMFORT AND FREEDOM. NO WONDER, THEN, THAT MANY OTHERWISE WELL-EDUCATED CITIZENS DEVOUTLY BELIEVED THAT WHEN YOU LEFT BUFFALO, NEW YORK, YOUR STAGECOACH WAS LIABLE TO BE ATTACKED BY APACHE WAR PARTIES ANYWHERE BETWEEN THERE AND CLEVELAND, OHIIO. TRUDY-GRIFFIN PIERE HAS MARCHED INTO THE FIELD WITH A NEW CONCEPT-THAT OF MATCHING HISTORICAL NATIVE AMERICAN TRADITIONS WITH THE MODERN EXPRESSIONS OF THOSE TRADITIONS AS PEOPLE LIVE THEM TODAY. COVERING THE TRADITIONAL CULTURE AREAS, SHE BRINGS A NEW DIMENSION TO THE OLD DATA BY SHOWING SYSTEMATICALLY HOW THE DIFFERENT TRIBES HAVE BROUGHT THEIR DANCES, CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS INTO THE MODERN WORLD WITH THEM.