Counting Coup: Becoming a Crow Chief on the Reservation and Beyond (review)

In this autobiography of a life that has spanned most of the twentieth century, Joseph Medicine Crow paints a vivid picture of growing up Crow. He describes the harsh training regime his grandfather subjected him to, the intricate web of family relationships that enveloped him, and the fun and hardships of boyhood on the Montana Crow reservation and at various schools, as well as how he became the last traditional chief of the Crow people. The titular "counting coup" refers to the four dangerous feats required of warriors to become a chief, each of which he accomplished during his service in World War II rather than in battle with the Sioux, the historical enemies of the Crow people. He matter-of-factly describes the contradictions of twentieth-century Native American life; he explains how, while the adults had a hard time adjusting to life on the reservation, the boys made their own fun, how the need for a school on the reservation led to an appeal to the Baptists, resulting in a fusion of religious traditions, and how he was determined to become a warrior in the Crow tradition, even though the United States Army didn't function according to tribal law. He devotes chapters to the Native accounts of the Battle of Little Bighorn and the spiritual traditions and beliefs of his people, offering accounts of personal experience with those stories and traditions, rather than anthropologically or historically thorough treatments. His unapologetically bellicose ambitions may give some readers anxious to diffuse stereotypes of Native American savagery pause, but his personable and action-oriented account of his life will especially appeal to boy readers pining for a carefree life marked by a warrior's glory. A forward by Herman J. Viola and color pictures of Joseph and his family are included.