This is an amazing book. The authors offer us the voices of the Coushatta basket makers telling of their art and their culture history. The Coushatta language sews the chapters together, like raffia sews the baskets. The political history of the Coushatta so entwines with these basket makers, their families and friends, that one learns it in the traditional way, like sitting in a group sewing baskets listening to the stories as people work and talk. It takes the Coushatta into the hearts of the reader. This is not another book on baskets, but it speaks with the Coushatta artisans and their culture in ways that are themselves exciting.--Hiram "Pete" Gregory, professor of Anthropology at Northwestern State University and co-author of "The Historic Indian Tribes of Louisiana: From 1542 to the Present" As my father, Ernest Sickey, advocated for and successfully ensured our Native American rights and Federal re-recognition throughout the 1960's, 70's, and 80's, he consistently arrived at various politicians' offices and negotiation tables with one of our handcrafted pine-needle Coushatta baskets. Like myself, his father persistently groomed him to know that the Coushatta were citizens deserving of the basic needs particular to public education, health care, and access to employment opportunities afforded to all American citizens.

More than that, the Coushatta, our culture, and legacy would survive the struggles we faced and make us stronger. Then and now, every Coushatta basket collected or given continues to represent our tribal member's social identity as well as our political strength. They were and are a role not only in the path to a better life and justice but are a beautiful illustration of how the Coushatta recognizes the many roles necessary within our community. We are an Us.--Chairman David Sickey, Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana The methodology and analysis that went into writing [Louisiana Coushatta Basket Makers] offer a marvelous example for future work in Native American Studies. This manuscript resulted from close collaboration with the Coushatta Tribe. Weavers tell their own stories, with tribal members collecting and translating interviews with them. By anchoring Coushatta history 'through the lens of basketry, ' this book adds significantly to our understanding of the dynamic and complex ways in which Indigenous communities have put their material culture to use.

Each chapter features a dimension of the Coushattas' production and marketing of baskets across time and space, demonstrating along the way their resourceful adaptation to environmental and economic circumstances.--Daniel H. Usner, Jr., Holland N. McTyeire Professor of History at Vanderbilt University and author of "Indian Work: Language and Livelihood in American History".