Where previous studies have focused primarily upon drinking styles among Indian populations, Beatrice Medicine develops an indigenous model for the analysis and control of alcohol abuse. This new ethnography of the Lakota (Standing Rock in North and South Dakota) examines patterns of alcohol consumption and strategies by individuals to attain a new life-style and achieve sobriety. Medicine describes the ineffectiveness of treatments when researchers, policy makers, and health professionals do not use a tribal-specific approach to addiction. She offers an indigenous perspective and understanding that should lead to improved approaches to treatment in mental health and alcohol abuse. Her book is essential for medical anthropologists, Native American studies researchers, and health professionals concerned with Native American health issues and alcohol abuse.

"Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries." - CHOICE, October 2007

"Using the Lakota Sioux as the focus of study, she presents a culturally rooted social-ecological analysis of alcohol use, as well as a compelling case for researchers, policy makers, and (mental) health practitioners to emphasize a culture-specific approach to the alcohol use issue." - PsycCRITIQUES

"Beatrice Medicine's book is an important addition to Native American and Great Plains studies....To support her claims, she presents studies she conducted on Standing Rock Reservation and convincingly links cultural attitudes to current patterns of alcohol use." - Great Plains Research