Available:*
Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... | 30000001811813 | E98.F6 E26 1989 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
On Order
Summary
Summary
This wonderfully colorful and appealing anthology gathers more than 130 Native American legends, many told to the authors by elder storytellers and tribal historians.
Reviews 2
Booklist Review
Most popularly written books on native American mythology tell and retell the same stories; every collection has at least two versions of the legend of Ataensic and dozens of Coyote stories. The best feature of this new work is that it collects less frequently anthologized tales from lesser-known religious traditions. From the Northwest come stories of the Salish, Okanagon, Sanpoil, and Aleuts; from the Southwest, Pima, Miwok, and Dieguenos; from the Southeast, Yuchi and Tuskegee; and from the Northeast, Passamaquoddy, Abnaki, and Penobscot. Many of the tales were collected by Clark, a prominent oral historian of native religions. Others are gleaned from scholarly texts and translated into more common speech. These multiple sources lead to the book's major weaknesses: uevenness of tone and a sometimes pedestrian style. But for its wide selection of materials, it deserves inclusion in any collection where there is interest in native American religious traditions. Bibliography. --Pat Monaghan
Library Journal Review
Traditional stories from 60 native cultures of North America are prefaced by brief headnotes. Sources include government documents, periodicals, histories, and field research (some conducted by Clark). Familiar (Iroquois, Abenaki, Cherokee, Cheyenne) and rarely anthologized (Wasco, Pomo, Yakut, Sanpoil) stories contain archetypical symbols of universal human experience but are arranged regionally instead of thematically, as in Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz's American Indian Myths and Legends ( LJ 11/15/84). Native American cultures value an end to isolation and the individuals's return to family and tribe, but there are some striking analogs to Western myths; one Pima story neatly parallels the Noah's ark tale. Curiosities include ``She-Who-Changeth'' for the more common ``Changing Woman,'' gender-exclusive language (`` . . . man first appeared . . . ''), and a claim that Navajos live today in prosperity.-- Rhoda Carroll, Vermont Coll., Montpelier (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
