THE AMERICAN INDIAN (Facts On File, Inc., $149.95).
The dramatic history of North America’s indigenous people is explored in this CD-ROM for Macintosh and Windows. Divided into seven sections–tribes, history, folklore, religion, biographies, reference shelf, and multimedia gallery–the program details the historical backgrounds of more than 150 tribes, focusing on early civilizations, culture and customs, wars and rebellions, land disputes, and discovery and exploration.The more than one thousand biographies include Native Americans such as Opechancanough (c.1545-1644), chief of the Powhatan Confederacy and leader of revolts against Virginia colonists in 1622 and ’44; Geronimo (c.1825-1909),leader of the Apaches in the wars of the 1880s; and Dennis Wolf Bushyhead (1826-98), principal chief of the Western Cherokees, as well as whites with whom the Indians came in contact such as Pierre Esprit Radisson(1636-1710), a French explorer, trader, and interpreter; American writer James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851); and U.S. Army officer, artist, and surveyor Seth Eastman (1808-75). Also included are historical text from the National Archives; 250 color images; period photographs and portraits; maps; illustrations of crafts, tools, clothing, and weapons; authentic Indian songs and dances; a list of tribal locations; a reference shelf that details the people and documents involved in the making of treaties; a state by state listing of American-Indian museums; and a chronology of North American explorers and their contacts with Indians.