Black Eagle Child

Black Eagle Child
Author: Ray Young Bear
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2015-10-27
Genre: Poetry
ISBN: 1504014162

Mixing prose and poetry, ancient traditions and modern sensibilities, this brilliant, profane, and poignant coming-of-age story is a masterpiece of Native American literature At a Thanksgiving party held in a Bureau of Indian Affairs gymnasium, the elders of the Meskwaki Settlement in central Iowa sip coffee while the teenagers plot their escape. Edgar Bearchild and Ted Facepaint, too broke to join their friends for a night of drinking in a nearby farm town, decide to attend a ceremonial gathering of the Well-Off Man Church, a tribal sect with hallucinogenic practices. After partaking of the congregation’s sacred star medicine, Edgar receives a prophetic vision and comes to a newfound understanding of his people’s past and present that will ultimately reshape the course of his life. Set against the backdrop of the tumultuous 1960s, Black Eagle Child is the story of Edgar’s passage from boyhood to manhood, from his youthful misadventures with Ted, to his year at prestigious liberal arts college in California, to his return to Iowa and success as a poet. Deftly crossing genre boundaries and weaving together a multitude of tones and images—from grief to humor, grape Jell-O to supernatural strobe lights—it is also an unforgettable portrait of what it means to be a Native American in the modern world.

Deep Waters

Deep Waters
Author: Christopher B. Teuton
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2018-11-01
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1496211111

Weaving connections between indigenous modes of oral storytelling, visual depiction, and contemporary American Indian literature, Deep Waters demonstrates the continuing relationship between traditional and contemporary Native American systems of creative representation and signification. Christopher B. Teuton begins with a study of Mesoamerican writings, Diné sand paintings, and Haudenosaunee wampum belts. He proposes a theory of how and why indigenous oral and graphic means of recording thought are interdependent, their functions and purposes determined by social, political, and cultural contexts. The center of this book examines four key works of contemporary American Indian literature by N. Scott Momaday, Gerald Vizenor, Ray A. Young Bear, and Robert J. Conley. Through a textually grounded exploration of what Teuton calls the oral impulse, the graphic impulse, and the critical impulse, we see how and why various types of contemporary Native literary production are interrelated and draw from long-standing indigenous methods of creative representation. Teuton breaks down the disabling binary of orality and literacy, offering readers a cogent, historically informed theory of indigenous textuality that allows for deeper readings of Native American cultural and literary expression.

Remnants of the First Earth

Remnants of the First Earth
Author: Ray Young Bear
Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic
Total Pages: 372
Release: 2007-12-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0802195881

The American Indian author of Black Eagle Child paints “a portrait of a writer struggling both to preserve his people’s heritage and to turn it into art” (The New York Times Book Review). Ray A. Young Bear’s work has been called “magnificent” by the New York Times and “a national treasure” by the Bloomsbury Review. Dazzlingly original, but with deep roots in his traditional Mesquakie culture, Young Bear is a master wordsmith poised with trickster-like aplomb between the ancient world of his forefathers and the ever-encroaching “blurred face of modernity.” Remnants of the First Earth continues the story of Edgar Bearchild—Young Bear’s fictionalized alter ego—which began with Black Eagle Child, a New York Times Notable Book for 1992. Young Bear revisits the Black Eagle Child Settlement and its residents, including Ted Facepaint, Rose Grassleggings, Junior Pipestar, Lorna Bearcap, and Luciano Bearchild. At the center of the novel is a murder investigation involving a powerful shaman holding court at the local Ramada Inn, negligent white cops from nearby Why Cheer, and corrupt tribal authorities. This lyrical narrative swirls through the present and into the mysteries of the age-old stories and myths that still haunt, inform, and enlighten this uniquely American community. “Young Bear’s prose pulses with lyrical ferocity, blending narrative, verse and tribal myth in a seamless web . . . Young Bear, an acclaimed poet, here emerges as a major Native novelist.” —Publishers Weekly

The Native American Renaissance

The Native American Renaissance
Author: Alan R. Velie
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Total Pages: 377
Release: 2013-11-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 0806151315

The outpouring of Native American literature that followed the publication of N. Scott Momaday’s Pulitzer Prize–winning House Made of Dawn in 1968 continues unabated. Fiction and poetry, autobiography and discursive writing from such writers as James Welch, Gerald Vizenor, and Leslie Marmon Silko constitute what critic Kenneth Lincoln in 1983 termed the Native American Renaissance. This collection of essays takes the measure of that efflorescence. The contributors scrutinize writers from Momaday to Sherman Alexie, analyzing works by Native women, First Nations Canadian writers, postmodernists, and such theorists as Robert Warrior, Jace Weaver, and Craig Womack. Weaver’s own examination of the development of Native literary criticism since 1968 focuses on Native American literary nationalism. Alan R. Velie turns to the achievement of Momaday to examine the ways Native novelists have influenced one another. Post-renaissance and postmodern writers are discussed in company with newer writers such as Gordon Henry, Jr., and D. L. Birchfield. Critical essays discuss the poetry of Simon Ortiz, Kimberly Blaeser, Diane Glancy, Luci Tapahonso, and Ray A. Young Bear, as well as the life writings of Janet Campbell Hale, Carter Revard, and Jim Barnes. An essay on Native drama examines the work of Hanay Geiogamah, the Native American Theater Ensemble, and Spider Woman Theatre. In the volume’s concluding essay, Kenneth Lincoln reflects on the history of the Native American Renaissance up to and beyond his seminal work, and discusses Native literature’s legacy and future. The essays collected here underscore the vitality of Native American literature and the need for debate on theory and ideology.

Encyclopedia of American Indian Literature

Encyclopedia of American Indian Literature
Author: Jennifer McClinton-Temple
Publisher: Infobase Publishing
Total Pages: 481
Release: 2010-05-12
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1438120877

American Indians have produced some of the most powerful and lyrical literature ever written in North America. Encyclopedia of American Indian Literature covers the field from the earliest recorded works to some of today's most exciting writers. Th

Black Eagle

Black Eagle
Author: James R. Mcgovern
Publisher: University Alabama Press
Total Pages: 214
Release: 2002-11-27
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0817313079

The success story of a much-decorated fighter pilot who overcame poverty and racism to become America's first African-American four-star general. Born in Pensacola, Florida, the youngest of seventeen children in a relatively poor family, "Chappie" James (1920-1978) rose to attain the rank of four-star general-the highest rank of the peacetime American military. His parents had early on imbued him with personal and national pride and a singular drive that motivated him his whole life. At Tuskegee Institute, James enrolled in the Army Air Corps unit formed to train black pilots. After combat service in World War II, James became the leader of a fighter group in the Korean War, during which he developed innovative tactics for providing close air support for advancing ground forces. He served with distinction in Vietnam and then became a public affairs officer in the Department of Defense. Between 1970 and 1974, James served as the Pentagon's chief spokesman to youth and civic organizations. General James's importance transcends his unprecedented achievements as an African American in the military and his role as a spokesman for the patriotic community. He was an early and important proponent of black self-improvement through education, training, and the tireless pursuit of excellence. He became the very embodiment of the American dream. First published in 1985 in hardcover, this reissue of Black Eagle in paperback makes the inspiring story of a notable Tuskegee airman available again.

Lost Lions of Judah

Lost Lions of Judah
Author: Christopher Othen
Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited
Total Pages: 413
Release: 2017-06-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1445659840

The strange, untold story of the Nazis and adventurers who fought for Ethiopia against Mussolini’s invaders.

A Child of Books

A Child of Books
Author: Oliver Jeffers
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Total Pages: 36
Release: 2016-09-06
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0763690775

A young reader introduces a boy to the many imaginative worlds that books bring to life.

Beauty and the Beak

Beauty and the Beak
Author: Deborah Lee Rose
Publisher:
Total Pages: 43
Release: 2017
Genre: JUVENILE NONFICTION
ISBN: 9781338584837

The true story of Beauty the eagle's rescue and rehabilitation. Beauty has been featured on Nat Geo WILD TV's Unlikely Animal Friends, in the National Wildlife Federation's Ranger Rick magazine, and on the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) EngineerGirl website.