Reach for the Sky



Skywalkers: Mohawk Ironworkers Build the City by David Weitzman

Weitzman, D. (2010). Skywalkers: Mohawk ironworkers build the city . New York:

      Flash Point.

I motivated to read this book because I was born and raised in the same part of the country where the Mohawks have lived for centuries.  In retrospect, I think my New England schoolteachers were admirably multicultural, because they constantly used the Mohawk and other tribes as points of reference when teaching us about government, sociology, history, etc.  So many of our present-day governmental and cultural practices were inspired by these Native Americans.  I was very glad to see this explained so well in Weitzman’s book for others to read and learn about.

Many years after my high school graduation, I moved to Hawaii, where I found an ironic similarity between the Islanders and the Mohawks.  Both did not have a written language, so they relied on storytellers to orally perpetuate and teach their history to future generations.  But when outsiders arrived on their shores, they were forbidden to continue this practice; so much of their heritage is lost to us forever.  Hopefully books like Skywalkers will teach our youth to be sure this kind of cultural loss never happens again to any people.       

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