In 'The Life and Times of Estelle Walks Above', an intellectual feminist Spokane Indian woman saves the lives of dozens of white women all around her, to the bewilderment of her only child. In 'Do You Know Where I Am?' two college sweethearts rescue a lost cat - a simple act that has profound moral consequences for the rest of their lives together. In 'What You Pawn I Will Redeem', a homeless Indian man must raise $1,000 in twenty-four hours to buy back the fancy dance outfit stolen from his grandmother fifty years earlier.Even as they often make us laugh, Sherman Alexie's stories are driven by a haunting lyricism and naked candour that cut to the heart of the human experience.

    Determined, controversial, and visionary, she creatively worked to bridge the gap between her own culture and mainstream American society and advocated for Native rights on a national level. Susan Rose Dominguez provides a new introduction to this edition.

    Widely regarded as one of the country's most important Native American poets, Ortiz has led a thirty-year career marked by a fascination with language—and by a love of his people. This omnibus of three previous works offers old and new readers an appreciation of the fruits of his dedication.Going for the Rain (1976) expresses closeness to a specific Native American way of life and its philosophy and is structured in the narrative form of a journey on the road of life. A Good Journey (1977), an evocation of Ortiz's constant awareness of his heritage, draws on the oral tradition of his Pueblo culture. Fight Back: For the Sake of the People, For the Sake of the Land (1980)—revised for this volume—has its origins in his work as a laborer in the uranium industry and is intended as a political observation and statement about that industry's effects on Native American lands and lives. In an introduction written for this volume, Ortiz tells of his boyhood in Acoma Pueblo, his early love for language, his education, and his exposure to the wider world. He traces his development as a writer, recalling his attraction to the Beats and his growing political awareness, especially a consciousness of his and other people's social struggle. "Native American writers must have an individual and communally unified commitment to their art and its relationship to their indigenous culture and people," writes Ortiz. "Through our poetry, prose, and other written works that evoke love, respect, and responsibility, Native Americans may be able to help the United States of America to go beyond survival."

    Bold and impassioned, sharp and defiant, Leslie Marmon Silko's essays evoke the spirit and voice of Native Americans. Whether she is exploring the vital importance literature and language play in Native American heritage, illuminating the inseparability of the land and the Native American people, enlivening the ways and wisdom of the old-time people, or exploding in outrage over the government's long-standing, racist treatment of Native Americans, Silko does so with eloquence and power, born from her profound devotion to all that is Native American. Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit is written with the fire of necessity. Silko's call to be heard is unmistakable—there are stories to remember, injustices to redress, ways of life to preserve. It is a work of major importance, filled with indispensable truths—a work by an author with an original voice and a unique access to both worlds.

    Its illustrative and popular material promote a deeper appreciation of different themes and approaches. Complete works that have become classics in the field, combined with ones from the modern era, make this collection rich in historical and theoretical context. Selections of non-fiction, fiction, poetry, and drama, include works by Paula Gunn Allen, Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, Carter Revard, Leslie Marmon Silko, Sherman Alexie, Kimberly Blaeser, Peter Blue Cloud, Louise Erdrich, Scott N. Momaday, Simon Ortiz, and many more. An effective introduction to Native American Literature for readers interested in this area of writing.Contents:Nonfiction. Postmodernism, Native American literature, and the real : the Silko-Erdrich Controversy by Susan Pérez CastilloThe American Indian fiction writers : cosmopolitanism, nationalism, the third world, and First Nation sovereignty by Elizabeth Cook-LynnIndian humor by Vine Deloria, Jr.The Ghost Dance War by Charles Eastman OhiyesaThe sacred hoop : a contemporary perspective by Paula Gunn AllenThe man made of word by N. Scott MomadayDecolonializing criticism : reading dialectics and dialogics in Native American literatures by David L. MooreTowards a national Indian literature : cultural authenticity in nationalism by Simon J. OrtizHistory, myth, and identity among Osages and other peoples by Carter RevardThe woman who loved a snake : orality in Mabel McKay's stories by Greg SarrisLanguage and literature from a Pueblo perspective by Leslie Marmon SilkoAn old-time Indian attack conducted in two parts : Part one, imitation "Indian" poemsbyPart two, Gary Snyder's Turtle IslandIntroduction : only the beginning by Brian Swann. Fiction. The approximate size of my favorite tumor ; This is what it means to say Phoenix, Arizona by Sherman AlexieSwimming upstream by Beth BrantA good chance ; The power of horses by Elizabeth Cook-LynnThe red convertible by Louise ErdrichUnfinished business by Eric GansworthAunt Parnetta's electric blisters by Diane GlancyDeer woman by Paula Gunn AllenSleeping in rain by Gordon HenryAunt Moon's young man by Linda HoganAs it was in the beginning by Pauline E. JohnsonBorders ; A seat in the garden by Thomas KingThe hawk is hungry by D'Arcy McNickleVeteran's dance by Jim NorthrupThe killing of a state cop by Simon J. OrtizBlessed sunshine by Louis OwensReport to the nation : repossessing Europe by Carter RevardHow I got to be queen by Greg SarrisThe man to send rain clouds ; Tony's story ; Yellow woman by Leslie Marmon SilkoThe disposal of Mary Joe's children by Mary TallMountainAll the colors of sunset by Luci TapahonsoThe warriors by Anna Lee WaltersThe soft-hearted Sioux by Zitkala-Sa. Poetry. The business of fancydancing ; Capital punishment ; Defending Walt Whitman ; The exaggeration of despair ; How to write the great American Indian novel ; Crazy Horse speaks by Sherman AlexieDear world ; Kopis'taya, a gathering of spirits ; Soundings by Paula Gunn AllenLiving history ; Rewriting your life ; Rituals : yours, and mine ; Where was I that day by Kimberly BlaeserBear : a totem dance as seen by Raven ; The old man's lazy ; Rattle ; To-ta Ti-om ; Turtle ; Yellowjacket ; Drum ; Reflections on milkweed by Peter Blue CloudAbove the line ; Blessing the waters ; Copal, red blood : Chiapas, 1998 by Joseph BruchacToday was a bad day like TB by ChrystosSalmon egg puller, $2.15 an hour by Nora DauenhaurCaptivity ; Indian boarding school : the runaways ; Jacklight ; Old man Potchikoo ; Dear John Wayne ; Turtle Mountain Reservation by Louise ErdrichShe had some horses ; Transformations ; I give you back ; Call it fear ; Eagle poem ; The woman hanging from the thirteenth floor window ; Grace ; The woman who fell from the sky by Joy HarjoBlessing ; Song for my name ; Bamboo ; Celebration : birth of a colt ; Drought ; The new apartment, Minneapolis ; The truth is ; Elk song ; Geraniums ; Heritage ; It must be ; Map ; Morning : the world in the lake by Linda HoganAkwesasne ; Legacy ; Sweetgrass ; The tell me I am lost ; Wild strawberry ; Wolf "aunt" by Maurice KennyWho am I by Joyce carlEtta MandrakeAngle of geese ; The bear ; At risk ; December 29, 1980 : Wounded Knee Creek ; The colors of night ; The eagle-feather fan by N. Scott MomadayBend in the river ; The creation, according to coyote ; Dry root in a wash ; My father's song ; A story of how a wall stands ; The boy and coyote by Simon J. OrtizAnd don't be deaf to the singing beyond ; Driving in Oklahoma ; In Kansas ; An eagle nation ; What the eagle fan says ; Wazhazhe grandmother by Carter RevardI expected my skin and my blood to ripen ; If I am too brown or too white for you ; Three thousand dollar death song by Wendy RoseIndian song : survival ; Untitled ; Untitled, from Ceremony ; Storytelling ; Story from Bear County ; Toe'osh : a Laguna coyote story ; When sun came to Riverwoman by Leslie Marmon SilkoGood grease ; The last wolf ; There is no word for goodbye ; Matmiya by Mary TallMountainBlue horses rush in ; In praise of Texas ; Light a candle ; Raisin eyes by Luci TapahonsoChristmas comes to Moccasin Flat ; Surviving ; Thanksgiving at Snake Butte ; Snow country weavers ; Riding the earthboy 40 by James WelchDream of rebirth ; For Heather, entering Kindergarten ; In the longhouse, Oneida Museum ; Black eagle child quarterly by Roberta Hill WhitemanThe first dimensions of skunk ; Winter of the salamander ; The language of weather ; Morning talking mother ; The significance of a water animal ; Nothing could take away the bear-king's image by Ray Young BearDrama. Harold of Orange : a screenplay by Gerald Vizenor

    This novel of the Dakota Sioux written by Sioux ethnologist Deloria takes protagonist Waterlily through the everyday and the extraordinary events of a Sioux woman's life.

    Alberta is a university professor who would like to trade her two boyfriends for a baby but no husband; Lionel is forty and still sells televisions for a patronizing boss; Eli and his log cabin stand in the way of a profitable dam project. These three—and others—are coming to the Blackfoot reservation for the Sun Dance and there they will encounter four Indian elders and their companion, the trickster Coyote—and nothing in the small town of Blossom will be the same again…

    However over the past decade there has been a rising movement to accurately describe Native cultures and histories. In particular, people have begun to explore the experience of urban Indians—individuals who live in two worlds struggling to preserve traditional Native values within the context of an ever-changing modern society. In Genocide of the Mind, the experience and determination of these people is recorded in a revealing and compelling collection of essays that brings the Native American experience into the twenty-first century. Contributors include: Paula Gunn Allen, Simon Ortiz, Sherman Alexie, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Maurice Kenny, as well as emerging writers from different Indian nations.

    One was that of his father, wedding him to the rhythm of the seasons, the harsh beauty of the land, the ecstasy of the drug called peyote. The other was the world of the twentieth century, goading him into a compulsive cycle of sexual exploits, dissipation, and disgust. Home from a foreign war, he was a man being torn apart, a man descending into hell.

    The invasion of white society threatens to change their traditional way of life, and they must choose to fight or assimilate. The story is a powerful portrait of a fading way of life. The story culminates with the historic Marias Massacre of 1870, in which the U.S. Cavalry mistakenly killed a friendly band of Blackfeet, consisting mostly of non-combatants."A major contribution to Native American literature." -- Wallace Stegner.

    Hale's is a story of intense and resonant beauty. Breathtaking in its range and authority, Bloodlines is an important addition to the literature of women of color.

    Black humor mingles with magic, injustice bleeds into betrayal, and through it all, bonds of love and family marry the elements into a tightly woven whole that pulses with the drama of life.Filled with humor, magic, injustice and betrayal, Erdrich blends family love and loyalty in a stunning work of dramatic fiction.

    Heid E. Erdrich has selected twenty-one poets whose first books were published after the year 2000 to highlight the exciting works coming up after Joy Harjo and Sherman Alexie. Collected here are poems of great breadth―long narratives, political outcries, experimental works, and traditional lyrics―and the result is an essential anthology of some of the best poets writing now.Poets included are Tacey M. Atsitty, Trevino L. Brings Plenty, Julian Talamantez Brolaski, Laura Da’, Natalie Diaz, Jennifer Elise Foerster, Eric Gansworth, Gordon Henry, Jr., Sy Hoahwah, LeAnne Howe, Layli Long Soldier, Janet McAdams, Brandy Nalani McDougall, Margaret Noodin, dg okpik, Craig Santos Perez, Tommy Pico, Cedar Sigo, M. L. Smoker, Gwen Westerman, and Karenne Wood.

    A collection of Native American poetry.

    Known for its clear presentation of the formal elements of literature and literary analysis, this compact anthology effectively balances classic, modern, and contemporary works across the three major genres, blending well-known writers with a diverse gathering of newer, international figures. This literary breadth is supplemented by extensive coverage of writing about literature, making this book an excellent text for introduction to literature courses as well as literature-based composition courses.