Growing Up Native American
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Stories of oppression and survival, of heritage denied and reclaimed -- twenty-two American writers recall childhood in their native land.
This essential collection of Indigenous voices explores:
Coming of Age Stories: From the forced assimilation of boarding schools to the quiet strength of oral tradition, these personal narratives chronicle the turbulent passage into adulthood.Cultural Reclamation: Discover powerful accounts of heritage denied and reclaimed, and the resilient fight to preserve identity in the face of oppression.Tribal History and Survival: Journey through the 19th and 20th centuries, witnessing the struggles of individuals from nations including the Sioux, Cherokee, and Pawnee.Renowned Authors: Featuring unforgettable selections from literary giants like Louise Erdrich, N. Scott Momaday, and Leslie Marmon Silko alongside other vital writers.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Riley, a graduate student in ethnic studies at UC Berkeley, has gathered more than 20 pieces (most previously published) about coming of age as an Indian in North America by such well-known writers as Leslie Silko, N. Scott Momaday, Louise Erdrich and Michael Dorris. The material is diverse, ranging from a 19th-century account of a boy's first buffalo hunt to modern-day memoirs of childhoods scarred by poverty, racism and abuse. The collection contains fiction and nonfiction from the U.S. and Canada, reflecting the invisibility of these national borders to indigenous Americans. Cherokee critic Geary Hobson provides a Faulkneresque excerpt from an unpublished novel about intricate family ties among Indians in Arkansas, and Simon Ortiz writes movingly about making the difficult transition from his native Acoma language to English, but the best selection is from John Joseph Mathews's underrated novel Sundown , which shows an Osage boy grappling with Christianity in 1920s Oklahoma. Riley prefaces the selections with brief introductions. ( July )
