Modern American Indian Prose Texts

Sherman Alexie (Spokane-Coeur d'Alene, 1966-)

• Sherman on Himself
• "Defending Walt Whitman" From The Beloit Poetry Journal
• "I Hated Tonto (STill Do)"
• "The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me"
• "Love, hunger, money...and other not-so-facetious reasons why the Spokane Indians want to bet on casinos"
• "Spokane Words" Sherman Alexie is interviewed by Tomson Highway
• "A Train is an Order of Occurrence Designed to Lead to Some Result"
• "At the Trial of Hamlet" From The Beloit Poetry Journal

  Sherman Alexie

Gloria Bird (Spokane, 1951-)

• The Exaggeration of Despair in Sherman Alexie's Reservation Blues (1995)

Michael Dorris (Modoc, 1945-1997)

• "Mixed Blood" (1994)
• "Michael Dorris Remembered" From a 1996 interview

Charles Eastman (Santee Sioux, 1858-1939)

• Indian Boyhood (1902))
• Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains (1918)
• The Madness of Bald Eagle (1905)
• The Soul of an Indian (1911)
• The Soul of an Indian 2 (1911)
• Old Indian Days (1907)

Louise Erdrich (Anishinaabe, 1954-)

• The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse (2001) Chapter 1
• Love Medicine (1981) Chapter 1
• Louise Erdrich: Classroom Issues and Strategies Andrew Wiget
• Louise Erdrich Biography
• A Louise Erdrich Interview Robert Spillman interviews Erdrich about Love Medicine and Tales of Burning Love
• "More Love Medicine" (Erdich Article in The Minnesota Daily)

Diane Glancy (Cherokee, 1941-)

• "The West Pole" The Star Tribue (1997). Glancy read from her her poem on RealAudio
• "When the Boats Arrived" "What does whiteness look like viewed from the other, especially when that other is also within oneself? "
• "Mine" Sycamore Review 1997 (Purdue University)

Joy Harjo (Muscogee, 1951-)

• "Secrets from the Center of the World" with Stephen Strom (1989)

Thomas King (Cherokee, 1943-)

• "Shooting the Lone Ranger"

N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa, 1934-)

• "Forms of the Earth at Abiquiu" (From The Gourd Dancer, 1976)
• "The Landscape" (From "A Man Made of Words" in Indian Voices: The First Convocation of American Indian Scholars, 1970)
• "Memories" (From The Names, 1976)
• The Names, 1976 (Excerpt)

Irvin Morris (Anishinaabe, 1963-)

• "Squatters"
• "The Bloodstone" (1993)

Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo, 1948-)

• "In the Combat Zone"
• "Fences Against Freedom"

John Milton Oskison (Cherokee, 1874-1947)

• "Diverse Tongues-A Sketch" (1910)
• "Friends of the Indian" (1905)
• "Only the Master Shall Praise" (1900)
• "Remaining Causes of Indian Discontent" (1907)
• "The Man Who Interferred" (1915)
• "The Problems of Old Harjo" (1907)
• "The Quality of Mercy" (1904)
• "When the Grass Grew Long" (1901)
• "Young Henry and the Old Man" (1908)

Simon Pokagon (Potawatomi, 1830-1899)

• "The Future of the Redman" (1899)
• "An Indian on the Problems of His Race" (1895)
• "Indian Superstitions and Legends" (1898)
• "Naming the Indians" (1897)

Anna Lee Walters (Pawnee-Otoe/Missouria, 1947-)

• "Chapter 1" (1974)

Ofelia Zapeda (Tohono O'odham)

• "Thoughts by m Mother's Grave" From Ever's The South Corner of Time (1980)
• Modern American Indian Poetry Texts

  Sherman Alexie (Spokane-Coeur d'Alene, 1966-)

  • "At Monument Valley Tribal School" (1992)
  • "Big Lies, Small Lies" , "History as the Home Movie", Commonly Asked Questions", "The American Indian Holocaust Museum", "Songs for Those Who Love the Flames", "After We Are Free", "Defending Walt Whitman"

  Paula Gunn Allen (Laguna-Pueblo/Sioux, 1939-)

  • "Taking a Visitor to See the Ruins" (1988)

  Gloria Bird (Spokane, 1951-)

  • "Creation Story" 1998
  • "What We Owe" Excerpt from The River of History (1998)
  • "The Heart's Resilience" Excerpt from The River of History (1998)

  Anita Endrezze (Yaqui, 1952-)

  • Biography
  • "The Girl Who Loved the Sky" (1992)
  • "Song-Maker" (1992)

  Joy Harjo (Muskogee, 1951-)

  • "Deer Dancer"
  • "Autobiography" From In Mad Love and War (1990)
  • Joy Harjo Biography
  • "Beautiful Valley" From Secrets from the Center of the World(1989)
  • "Fire" (1987)
  • "Tuba City Mud Hills" From Secrets from the Center of the World(1989)
  • "Nazlini Overlook - Summer" From Secrets from the Center of the World(1989)
  • "She Had Some Horses" (1983)

  Linda Hogan (Chickasaw, 1947-)

  • "Crow Law" (1983) From The Book of Medicines
  • "Deer Dance" (1997)
  • "Oil" (1983)

  Adrian C. Louis (Lovelock Paiute)

  • >"Song of the Snake"
  • "Adios , My Blessed Angel"

  Tiffany Midge (Hunkpapa Lakota)

  • "The Arachnid Letters" (1997)
  • "First Snow" (1997)
  • "For the Lummi Who Found Her Magic in Horses" (1997)
  • "Grace Isn't Always a Woman" (1997)
  • "Identifying the Beast" (1997)
  • "Sweetheart" (1997)

  Jim Northrup (Anishinaabe, 1943-)

  • Barbed Thoughts
  • Rez Road Follies: Canoes, Casinos, Computers and Birch Bark Baskets (1997)
  • "Shrinking Away" from Walking the Rez Road (1995)

  Simon Ortiz (Acoma, 1941-)

  • "Canyon de Chelly" (1977)
  • "A Designated National Park" (1992)
  • "Final Solution: Jobs, Leaving" (1992)
  • "Indians Sure Come in Handy" (1992)
  • "It Was That Indian" (1992)
  • "My Mothers and My Sisters" (1992)
  • "To Change in a Good Way" (1992)
  • "What I Mean Is" (1992)

  Wendy Rose (Hopi-Miwok,1948-)

  • "Robert" (1985)
  • "To the Hopi Village in Richmond" (1985)

  Leslie Silko (Laguna Pueblo, 1948-)

  • "Love Poem"

  Luci Talaphonso (Navajo, 1953-)

  
  • Luci Talaphonoso Biography A Wealth of Information and Important Links
  • "A Discreet Conversation" from A Breeze Swept Through, 1987
  • "Hills Brothers Coffee" from Sa?anii Dahataal (The Women Are Singing), 1993
  • "Hills Brothers Coffee" An interview and reading in RealAudio format (1997)
  • "It Has Always Been This Way" from Sa?anii Dahataal (The Women Are Singing), 1993
  • "Light a Candle" from Sa?anii Dahataal (The Women Are Singing), 1993
  • "Remember the Things They Told Us" from Sa?anii Dahataal (The Women Are Singing), 1993
  • Saanii Dahataal (The Women are Singing),1993 (An excerpt)
  • "These Long Drives" from Sa?anii Dahataal (The Women Are Singing), 1993

  Ray Young Bear(Mesquakie, 1950-)

  • Black Eagle Child (1992), Afterword
  • "Our Bird Aegis" and Young Bear's discussion of the poem 1996
  • "The Mask of Four Indistinguishable Thunderstorms" from Witness, XI (2), 137-139, 1997

  Ofelia Zapeda (Tohono O'odham)

  • Conference Presentations and Publications
  • "We Are Papago" (From When It Rains: Papago and Pima Poetry, 1982)
  • Stabilizing Indigenous Languages: The O'odham Language and Culture "I have observed about speakers of the O'odham language that they are intensely taken by the aesthetics of their own language. "
  • Traditional American Indian Texts

    
    Molly Molasses (Penobscot)

    Oral Narratives: Oral Traditions, Oral Histories An Analysis

    • A Short Encyclopedia of Hochunk (Winnebago) Myth, Legend and Folklore
    • Chief Seattle's 1854 Speech The generally accepted version
    • Chief Seattle's 1854 Speech The alternate version

      The first of the documents above (published in the 1970s) is the accepted version of the 1854 speech given by Chief Seattle. It is in fact a greatly changed and embellished version of the second original version.

    BUFFALO STORIES

    • How the Buffalo Were Released on Earth (Apache)
    • Origin of the Buffalo (Cheyenne)
    • The Buffalo and the Field Mouse
    • Buffalo and Eagle Wing
    • Origin of the Buffalo Dance
    • The Origins of the Buffalo Dance (Blackfeet)
    • Origin of the Buffalo (Cheyenne)
    • Race with the Buffalo (Cheyenne)
    • How the Buffalo were Released on Earth
    • The Buffalo Rock
    • The Buffalo Dance (Mandan)
    • Porcupine Hunts Buffalo

    COYOTE STORIES

    • Coyote Obtains Fire Comparative Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache text with English translation. For more see Two-Way Frame Apache Language Texts with Linguistic Notes (Harry Hojier and Morris Opeler, 1937).
    • Coyote's Salmon (Sanpoils)
    • The Coyote vs. the Duck
    • Coyote's Adventures in Idaho
    • Coyote and the Monsters of the Bitterrot Valley
    • Coyote and the Other One As told by Phillip Whitedog
    • Coyote and the Monster of Kamiah (Nee-me-poo)
    • Coyote and Multnomah Falls
    • Coyote and the Rolling Rock
    • How Coyote Stole Fire
    • Coyote Kills a Giant
    • Skunk Outwits Coyote
    • Bluebird and the Coyote

    RABBIT STORIES

    • How Rabbit Brought Fire to the People
    • How Rabbit Fooled Alligator (Creek)
    • How Rabbit Fooled Wolf
    • How the Rabbit Lost His Tail
    • Rabbit Otter and the Bungling Host
    • Rabbit and the Moon Man (Micmac)
    • Rabbit Calls a Truce
    • Rabbit and the Coyote
    • Rabbit Shoots the Sun
    • Run, Rabbit, Run
    • Two Fawns and a Rabbit
    • Rabbit and Fox
    • Ableegumooch, The Lazy Rabbit (Micmac)

    ORIGIN/CREATION STORIES

    • The Apache Creation Story
    • Apache Creation Story
    • California Creation Lore (Yokut)
    • The Origin of the Earth (Tuskegee)
    • The Origin of the Medicine Man (Passamaquoddy)
    • The Origin of the Penobscot (Eastern Abenaki)
    • Migration, Origin and Creation Stories Texts from many Native Nations
    • Origin of Animals (Jicarilla Apache)
    • Origin of Fire (Jicarilla Apache)
    • Origin of Man (Pyramid Lake Paiute)
    • The Sun, Moon and Stars (Dine)
    • The Tohono O'odham Creation Story
    • How the First White Man Came to the Cheyenne (Cheyenne)
    • White Buffalo Calf Woman Brings First Pipe (Lakota)
    • Micmac Creation Story (Micmac)
    • Origin of the Lakota Peace Pipe (Lakota)
    • How the Old Man Made People (Blackfeet)
    • When the Animals and Birds were Created (Makah)
    • The First Moccasins
    • In the Beginning (Yuchi)
    • The Story of Creation (Disguenos)
    • Creation of the First Indians (Chelan)
    • Creation of the White and Red Races
    • The First Fire (Cherokee)
    • How the Buffalo Hunt Began (Cheyenne)

    MISCELLANEOUS

    • An Apache Medicine Dance
    • Falling Star (Northern Cheyenne)
    • "House Made of Dawn" (Dine)
    • An Index to Online Traditional Texts List of all online traditional texts
    • Iowa Indian Traditional Stories
    • Lenni-Lenape Stories and Storytelling
    • A Mashpee Ghost Story (Wampanoag)
    • Monster Slayer and Ye'iitsoh (Dine)
    • From the Tohono O'odham Ceremony for Bringing Rain
    • Yellow Jacket and Ant (Nee-me-poo)

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    American Indian Authors: Reviews

    Sherman Alexie (Spokane-Coeur d'Alene, 1966-)

    • First Indian on the Moon Scott Kalstrom Purdue University (1993)
    • Indian Killer (1997) A Steve Brock Review 11/96
    • Indian Killer A Robert Spillman Review
    • The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven(1993)
    • "Fistfight in Heaven" John LaRoe in the Atlantic Monthly
    • Old Shirts and New Skins (1993)

      

    • Reservation Blues (1995) A Steve Brock Review 8/95
    • Reservation Blues Native American reviews
    • Reservation Blues A Jesse Sublett Review
    • Reservation Blues A review in German for "Hinter-Net" (A pop-culture site)
    • "Alexie Reserves the Blues for Awhile" Marc Levy for The Boston Book Review
    • Reservation Blues Hungry Mind Review
    • Reservation Blues"Sherman Alexie Sings the Reservation Blues" A Julienne Gage Review 1996
    • "Sherman Alexie's Crazy Horse Poetry" A Kent Chadwick review of The Business of Fancy Dancing (1992) and Old Shirts, New Skins (1993)
    • Smoke Signals Alexie talks about bringing reservation life to the screen
    • Smoke Signals A review of screen writer Sherman Alexie's new film at the Sun Dance Film Festival 1998
    • The Summer of Black Widows (1996) A Mark Aamot Review for Hanging Loose Press

    Paula Gunn Allen (Laguna-Pueblo/Sioux,1939-)

    • Grandmothers of the Light: A Medicine Woman's Sourcebook (1991)
    • Spider Woman's Granddaughters (1989)
    • Spider Woman's Granddaughters (1989)
    • Voice of the Turtle: American Indian Literature (1995)

    Anita Endrezze (Yaqui, 1952-)

    • At the Helm of Twilight A Leslie Ullman review for the Kenyon Review, XV, #3, 1993

    Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki, 1942-)

    • Dawn Land (1996)

    Bull Lodge (Gros Ventre)

    • The Seven Visions of Bull Lodge (Ed. George Horse Capture (Gros Ventre), 1992)

    Janet Campbell Hale (Coeur d'Alene/Kootenai, 1947-)

    • The Jailing of Celia Capture (1985)

    Ella Deloria (Lakota)

    • The Buffalo People (1994)
    • Deer Women and Elk Men: The Lakota Narratives of Ella Deloria (1992)
    • Waterlily (1944, in print 1988)

    Vine Deloria, Jr. (Lakota, 1933-)

    • Red Earth, White Lies (1995)

    Michael Dorris (Modoc, 1945-97)

    • Yellow Raft in Blue Water (1987)
    • The Crown of Columbus (1992)
    • Cloud Chamber (1997) A Paula Friedman Review
    • Cloud Chamber An Elizabeth Judd Review

    Louise Erdrich (Anishinaabe, 1954-)

    • The Bingo Palace (1994)
    • Love Medicine (1984)
    • Tales of Burning Love (1996)
    • Tales of Burning Love A Kate Moses Review

    Diane Glancy (Cherokee, 1941)

    • Firesticks: A Collection of Stories (1994) A Review by Marianne Wright

    Gordon Henry, Jr. (Anishinaabe)

    Thomas King (Cherokee, 1943-)

    • All My Relations (1990) editor

    Adrian Louis (Lovelock Paiute, 19-)

    • Skins (1995)

    D'Arcy McKnickle (Salish/Kootenai, 1904-77)

    • The Surrounded (1935, reprint 1978)

    Tiffany Midge (Hunkpapa Lakota, 19-)

    • Outlaws, Renegades and Saints: Diary of a Mixed-up Halfbreed A Mark Newman Review 1997

    N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa, 1934-)

    • House Made of Dawn (1968, reprint 1969)

    Louis Owens (Choctow/Cherokee, 1948 )

    • Other Destinies: Understanding the American Indian Novel (1992) A Steve Brock Review

    Susan Power (Dakota, 1961-)

    • Susan Power: In Her Own Words
    • Susan Power: An Interview
    • Grass Dancer A review by Robert Allen Power

      

    • Grass Dancer (1996)
    • Grass Dancer Reviewed by Robert Allen Warrior (1996)

    Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo, 1948-)

    • Almanac of the Dead (1991) Reviewer: Steve Brock
    • Almanac of the Dead 1991 Reviewer: Sharon Steinberg (1995)
    • Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit (1996)

    Luci Tapahonso (Navajo, 1953-)

    • Saanii Dahataal: The Women are Singing (1993)

    Gerald Vizenor (Anishinaabe, 1934-)

    • Dead Voices: Natural Agonies in the New World
    • Recent Bookreviews Written by Gerald Vizenor
    • Shadow Distance: A Gerald Vizenor Reader (1994)

    Anna Lee Walters (Pawnee, Otoe/Missouria, 1946-)

    • Ghost Singer (1988)

    Robert Allen Warrior (Osage, 19 )

    • Like a Hurricane (1996) A Mark Trahant Review
    • Like a Hurricane A Bill Wallace Review (1997)

    James Welch (Blackfeet-Gros Ventre, 1940-)

    

    • James Welch on Native American Literature "Indian writers might come from different eras, from different geographies, from different tribes, but we all have one thing in common: We are storytellers from a long way back. "
    • Fools Crow (1986)
    • The Heartsong of Charging Elk (2000) New York Times Book Review
    • The Indian Lawyer (1990) A Review by Joseph Bourque
    • The Function of Landscape in Jim Loney (1979) by R. Nelson, University of Virginia
    • Killing Custer (1994) H-Net Reviews in the Humanities and Sciences (1997)
      

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