Book Description
Charles Frazier’s
Thirteen Moons is the story of one man’s remarkable life, spanning a century of relentless change. At the age of twelve, an orphan named Will Cooper is given a horse, a key, and a map and is sent on a journey through the wilderness to the edge of the Cherokee Nation, the uncharted white space on the map. Will is a bound boy, obliged to run a remote Indian trading post. As he fulfills his lonesome duty, Will finds a father in Bear, a Cherokee chief, and is adopted by him and his people, developing relationships that ultimately forge Will’s character. All the while, his love of Claire, the enigmatic and captivating charge of volatile and powerful Featherstone, will forever rule Will’s heart.
In a distinct voice filled with both humor and yearning, Will tells of a lifelong search for home, the hunger for fortune and adventure, the rebuilding of a trampled culture, and above all an enduring pursuit of passion. As he comes to realize, “When all else is lost and gone forever, there is yearning. One of the few welcome lessons age teaches is that only desire trumps time."
Will Cooper, in the hands of Charles Frazier, becomes a classic American soul: a man devoted to a place and its people, a woman, and a way of life, all of which are forever just beyond his reach.
Thirteen Moons takes us from the uncharted wilderness of an unspoiled continent, across the South, up and down the Mississippi, and to the urban clamor of a raw Washington City. Throughout, Will is swept along as the wild beauty of the nineteenth century gives way to the telephones, automobiles, and encroaching railways of the twentieth. Steeped in history, rich in insight, and filled with moments of sudden beauty,
Thirteen Moons is an unforgettable work of fiction by an American master.
PRAISE FOR THIRTEEN MOONS
“Genius.”
–Time
“Gorgeous…Thirteen Moons calls Cold Mountain to mind in its wonder at the natural world; its pacificist undercurrents; its dismay at the dismantling of what matters, and its convication that one love, no matter how tortured and inexplicable, can be life-defining…fascinating…vivid and alive.”
–Newsweek
“Thirteen Moons is rare in many ways and occupies a literary plane of such height that reviewing it is not really salient….Thirteen Moons has the power to inspire great performances from succeeding generations of writers….For those who simply value the literary experience, Thirteen Moons will provide the immense satisfaction of taking a literary journey of magnitude. Whether on a plane, in an office or curled in a window seat, readers who absorb Will's story will find their own lives enriched….Thirteen Moons belongs to the ages.”
–Los Angeles Times
“Thirteen Moons brings this vanished world thrillingly to life…
One of the great Native American, and American stories, and a great gift to all of us, from one of our very best writers.”
« –Kirkus Reviews, starred review «
“There are things so masterful words can’t do them justice. Frazier’s writing falls in that category…With Thirteen Moons, he’s doing important work fillnig in the gaps, helping restore the roots, of our knowledge of our own history.”
–Asheville Citizen-Times
“Fascinating…Reading Thirteen Moons is an intoxicating experience…This is 21st-century literary fiction at its very best.”
–BookPage
“Thirteen Moons is rare in many ways and occupies a literary plane of such height that reviewing it is not really salient….Thirteen Moons has the power to inspire great performances from succeeding generations of writers….For those who simply value the literary experience, Thirteen Moons will provide the immense satisfaction of taking a literary journey of magnitude. Whether on a plane, in an office or curled in a window seat, readers who absorb Will's story will find their own lives enriched….Thirteen Moons belongs to the ages.”
–Los Angeles Times
“Once again, we are in the hands of an assured writer who knows how to bring history to life…Gorgeous.”
–New Orleans Times Picayune
“Magical…the history lesson in Thirteen Moons is fascinating and moving…You will find much to admire and savor in Thirteen Moons.”
–USA Today
“Incredibly powerful.”
–Melissa Block on NPR All Things Considered
“Verdict: A powerhouse second act….a brilliant success…Frazier's second act should convince everyone that he's here to stay. It is a powerful, dramatic, often surprising and memorable novel.”
–Atlanta Journal Constitution
“Thirteen Moons is a boisterous, confident novel that draws from the epic tradition... Frazier is a natural storyteller, and throughout his picaresque tale are grand themes and eulogies”
–Boston Globe
“Warm hearted…Frazier is a remarkably meticulous and tasteful writer… Thirteen Moons is a worthy successor to the first novel
and a highly readable book.”
–Seattle Times
“Fiction of the highest order…Another indelible character. Charles Frazier has a knack for them.”
–Charlotte Observer
“Splendidly written.”
–New York Daily News
“What a story!... Frazier's creation, Will Cooper, is utterly charismatic….Frazier's genius lies in his ability to convey emotions that feel pure and genuine…It was worth the wait.”
–Dayton Daily News
“To Charles Frazier, words are playthings. Like very few other contemporary American novelists, he puts them together in such a way that they can transform an otherwise mundane moment, scene or conversation into one that is transcendent….No sophomore jinx here. Reading a Frazier novel is like listening to a fine symphony. He's a maestro whose pen is his baton, beckoning the best that each sentence has to offer. And just as you wouldn't rush a conductor, you should take the time to savor Frazier’s work, to take in each thought, to relish the turn of phrase or the imagery of a craftsman.”
–Denver Post
“Two for two…Here is a book brimming with vivid, adventurous incident…Charles Frazier set himself a daunting challenge with this book. He set out to write a historical novel that was retrospective and meditative, yet still vibrant and immediate with life. Thirteen Moons succeeds in classy fashion.”
–Raleigh News & Observer
“If current fiction is anything to go by, it’s hard for a novelist to make Santayana's puzzle pieces - lyricism, comedy, tragedy - fit together, as they do in real life and real history. Frazier has done it…Thirteen Moons makes you feel that change that happened so long before our own time, and makes you mourn it.”
–Newsday
“[Thirteen Moons] is superbly entertaining, and it packs enough emotional heft to measure up to most readers’ high expectations.”
–Richmond Times-Dispatch
“Thirteen Moons is a fitting successor to Cold Mountain…fans of Frazier's debut will be cheered to discover that the new book is another compulsively readable work of historical fiction.”
–St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“If there is any doubt that Frazier is an incredibly gifted storyteller - and not just a lucky name or a one-hit wonder - it will be put to rest with the publication of Thirteen Moons. Within 10 pages, this long-awaited new novel bears the reader swiftly out of the waking world into its own imagined universe like nothing else published this year.”
–Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Achingly beautiful descriptions of nature…It’s rich, it’s beautiful.”
–Columbia State
“Forget the sophomore jinx. Frazier demonstrates that Cold Mountain was no one-hit wonder with this fully realized historical novel again set in the South….Again, Frazier shows himself a master of landscape and language, both often fresh and surprising in his telling.
–Seattle Post-Intelligencer
“Thirteen Moons contains achingly beautiful passages of snowfalls, fog-wrapped rivers and moonlit forests. There are ribald and hilarious events, too, including a description of the Cherokee Booger Dance that is a masterpiece of satire. The love affair between Cooper and Claire threads its way through this pseudo-historic epic like a brilliant, scarlet ribbon. There is also a melancholy refrain that celebrates a wondrous time and place that is gone and will never return.”
–Smoky Mountain News
“Once again, we are in the hands of an assured writer who knows how to bring history to life…Gorgeous.”
–New Orleans Times Picayune
“Magical…the history lesson in Thirteen Moons is fascinating and moving…You will find much to admire and savor in Thirteen Moons.”
–USA Today
“Verdict: A powerhouse second act….a brilliant success…Frazier's second act should convince everyone that he's here to stay. It is a powerful, dramatic, often surprising and memorable novel.”
–Atlanta Journal Constitution
“Thirteen Moons is a boisterous, confident novel that draws from the epic tradition... Frazier is a natural ...
Customer Reviews:
Starts off good, but..........2007-10-05
The first half of "Thirteen Moons" soars; the second half sinks. As I got into the story and its lovely language, I was prepared to give it a rating of 8.5 or higher. But it eventually fades into dissolution, ending with a whimper, not a bang. Rob's rating: 8.0 of 10.
See http://www.bluecorncomics.com/13moons.htm for a longer review.
Dull and flat characters.......2007-09-24
I started this book because our book group is reading it. The character is flat and self-absorbed. You get to the point that you don't care what happens to the character because he is so dull. I don't finish it because there was nothing of interest to keep me going.......You feel nothing for the characters... so why read?
The Abridged version is confusing.......2007-09-23
I bought this book as an audio book, abridged.
It was confusing. Stick to the unabridged.
Faulkner, McCarthy, Frazier.......2007-09-19
Thirteen Moons is a pure Masterpiece. I think it should be getting more credit for being one of the greatest American novels ever written. I cannot believe how rounded Will Cooper is as a character. I have never read a book that has a character as real as this. Everything about his life and times, reactions, words, feelings, inner thoughts are absolutely real and consistent. Bear, Featherstone, Claire all come to life so perfectly. I was amazed that anyone found reason to criticize this novel. The metaphors, details and knowledge of the region makes Frazier seem supernatural to me. He was there. It's just weird how well he knows this tale and how real it all is. Perfect writing.
I dunno, maybe it needs more moons..........2007-08-10
Remember when you first picked up Cold Mountain, how the first few pages were, well, boring? Yeah, yeah. Lying around the hospital bed, blind neighbor, looking out the window. It was only a few pages, but it made me put the book down for about 3 months and wonder what the heck everyone was so excited about. Then I picked up the book again, and at last, there was the magic. Inman was on his amazing journey. Ada was surviving, having located Ruby, and their various adventures were compelling and moving and the book flew away with me. Well, Thirteen Moons is that first part of Cold Mountain. The boring part. It never takes off, it never flies, it just stumps forward. One or two interesting passages are lost in a reptitive scenery, lesser journeys, and characters who are either cardboard or cliched. So if you loved this book, go hate me. I'd hate you if you didn't love Cold Mountain. (Gratuitous advice: Forget the Cold Mountain movie. Ada as played by Nicole Kidmann is inane to the point of disability; Ruby, that stalwart little plug of a woman, is played by Renee Zellwegger, who acts as though squinting her eyes is character development; Inman was morphed into a latter-day teenage superhero. Utter
+disappointment.
Average customer rating:
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A Colonial Complex: South Carolina's Frontiers in the Era of the Yamasee War, 1680-1730
Steven J. Oatis
Manufacturer: University of Nebraska Press
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ASIN: 0803235755 |
Book Description
In 1715 the upstart British colony of South Carolina was nearly destroyed in an unexpected conflict with many of its Indian neighbors, most notably the Yamasees, a group whose sovereignty had become increasingly threatened. The South Carolina militia retaliated repeatedly until, by 1717, the Yamasees were nearly annihilated, and their survivors fled to Spanish Florida. The war not only sent shock waves throughout South Carolina's government, economy, and society, but also had a profound impact on colonial and Indian cultures from the Atlantic Coast to the Mississippi River.
Drawing on a diverse range of colonial records, A Colonial Complex builds on recent developments in frontier history and depicts the Yamasee War as part of a colonial complex: a broad pattern of exchange that linked the Southeast’s Indian, African, and European cultures throughout the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. In the first detailed study of this crucial conflict, Steven J. Oatis shows the effects of South Carolina’s aggressive imperial expansion on the issues of frontier trade, combat, and diplomacy, viewing them not only from the perspective of English South Carolinians but also from that of the societies that dealt with the South Carolinians both directly and indirectly. Readers will find new information on the deerskin trade, the Indian slave trade, imperial rivalry, frontier military strategy, and the major transformations in the cultural landscape of the early colonial Southeast.
Customer Reviews:
The only professional work on Lumbee history.......2003-03-17
Evans is the only author ever to conduct historical research on the ancestors of the present-day Lumbee tribe at a professional level of ability and accomplishment. Other authors writing on the Lumbees have been either anthropologists (such as Sider and Blu) or else amateurs in either status and/or ability. Evans researched a plethora of primary sources, and his historical fact-finding will probably never be surpassed. Evans has written a competent and well-sourced narrative.
But there are serious flaws. By beginning the book with the murder of the Lowry relatives, Evans contextualizes the gang's story as a revenge tale. The book's organization thus obscures the fact that the Lowrys had already committed two murders themselves, prior to their enemies' murder of their father. Obviously there is more going on than a simple revenge motive. Evans fails to make clear that the Lowry gang episode is really about Radical political terrorism in opposition to the Conservative political terrorism of the KKK. While Evans does report elements of the Lowrys' political motivations (although he missed a number of sources that would have expanded this aspect), he emphasizes the revenge motivation. Ultimately, Evans has succumbed to and is reproducing stereotypes of "Indian" violence. Evans never acknowledges that there is little to no evidence that the Lowrys saw themselves as Indian warriors. In fact, the Lowry gang was a multiracial political coalition--not an outbreak of ethnic conflict.
Those caveats aside, this is the most professional work ever done on Lumbee history, and certainly the best researched. All the pieces of the story are here, and it is a fascinating story indeed.
Book Description
The Brutal Road West
It’s late summer 1838. President Martin Van Buren issues an order that the fifteen thousand Cherokee Indians living in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina are to be evicted from their homeland. Forced to migrate to Indian Territory, the Cherokees begin their tragic, one-thousand-mile journey westward. Most of the seven thousand soldiers escorting them along the way are brutally cruel. But Cherokee Rose, an eighteen-year-old Indian girl, finds one soldier, Lieutenant Britt Claiborne, willing to stand up for them. Both Christians, Cherokee Rose discovers that Britt is also a quarter Cherokee himself. It’s upon the Trail of Tears that they fall in love, dreaming of one day marrying and finding a place to call home together.
They found each other in the midst of tragedyâ¦
But is their love enough to keep them together?
Cherokee Rose has endured more than any eighteen-year-old girl should. Though accepted by her tribe, being both mixed blood and a Christian set her apart. Then fifteen thousand Cherokee Indians are evicted from their homes in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. Broken and angry, Cherokee Rose joins her people on the thousand-mile trek westward to Indian Territory. The journey holds many trialsânot the least of which is the cruelty of the soldiers escorting them. But Cherokee Rose is determined: these men will not break her.
Lieutenant Britt Claiborne is devoted to serving his country, but he detests the way his fellow soldiers treat the Indians. He not only refuses to join in, but does all he can to stop the abuse. To the soldiers, he is a traitor. To those he helps, a champion. But Britt knows he’s only doing what he must, not just because he’s a Christian, but for a reason he’s reluctant to reveal.
Thrown together in the face of brutality, these two find themselves falling in love. They dream of marrying and finding a place to call home. But can their love survive the Trail of Tears?
âCherokee Rose is a good story and a great way to learn about a historical event we would rather sweep under the rug.â --Lauraine Snelling, bestselling author of Amethyst
Story Behind the Book
Long captivated with the study of American history, Al and JoAnna Lacy eagerly researched the time in the 1800s when the five âcivilized tribesâ were forced by the U.S. government to make a one-thousand-mile journey to Indian Territory (now the state of Oklahoma). The tribes were the Cherokee, the Chickasaw, the Choctaw, the Creek, and the Seminole. Repeatedly forced to surrender their lands, the people of the Cherokee Nation, as well as those of the other four tribes, were hoping to find in Indian Territory a place to call home .
Customer Reviews:
A Strong Story Overall.......2007-06-14
I was first interested in reading this book because I am part Kansa and I have an appreciation for all stories that portray Native Americans in a positive light. For the most part this book does a good job of laying down the background setting for the Trail of Tears, but I think too much of the book is spent discussing the events leading up to this event. We do not even see a major elements of Cherokee Rose's character come into play until about page 180, and there are only 290 pages in the paper back edition that I have. I already had a good understanding of the background of the Cherokees leading up to the removal, so I found myself having a hard time getting into the first 180 pages of the book. However, the last hundred and ten pages of the book were great and I wish the authors had devoted more time to developing the events in this segment of the book.
Also this book tended to have too many repetitious statements, such as noting that John Ross was a quarter Cherokee over and over again. It is important for the reader to understand that John Ross looked like a white man, but considered himself to be all Cherokee even though he was only a quarter. However, this is such an example of how some of the statements in this book are brought up too many times in dialogs and discussions between the characters.
I would have enjoyed if the authors would have had the characters discussed something new once and awhile, such as how the Cherokees felt about giving up their traditional ceremonies in favor of the new Christian faith. For example, the book mentions that shamans Ridino and Hoyo give up being Cherokee shamans when they convert to Christianity. More background should have been given about shamanism because this might be confusing for readers who have never read about Native American religions. This is a Christian novel and it is understood that there is not much little mention of this aspect of Cherokee life, but I feel the reader can understand the tribe better by learning about the indigenous faith of this people.
Overall this was a very good book and enjoyable to read. I recommend it for anyone who has never read about the Cherokee people and would like to read a interesting fictional account. However, I also recommend reading historical texts about the Cherokees, which will help the reader learn more about this great tribe.
Good way to get one interested in Cherokee history.......2007-03-07
Osiyo!
After reading this book I was inspired to want to look up more stuff on Cherokee history.
It was nice to read a book on 2 of the things I love very much which is Jesus ( Christianity ) and the Cherokee ( my ancestry).
This site is under contruction and doing some changing but still has alot of good info about the Cherokee.( at one time this site would read itself outloud, perhaps it will in the future again so keep your speakers on)
[...]
I also say that this site is a good one---> http://cherokee.org/
Cherokee Rose.......2007-02-07
Awesome book - would definitely recommend!! Have since purchased many more books by Al Lacy and have not been disappointed.
A well written book, but a little lacking in accuracy........2006-08-15
Overall, I liked this book. It was beautifully written, and you could really envision what was happening. The characters are very well written, and you really feel them in their hardship. The story really keeps you going, and at times, I couldn't put it down. However, I think that the historical aspects were a bit lacking. For instance, Seqouyah went West to OK in 1829. The trail that Cherokee Rose takes in this book ("Trail of Tears") happened in 1838-1839. Seqouyah, therefore, could not have traveled with them, as it is protrayed in this book. Also, I felt that the story glossed over a lot of what happened during that time. It made people seem a litrle to happy at times. Yes, I realize it's fiction, and not a history book, but I feel that historical books should be as close to history as possible. Again, Cherokee Rose is a great book, with many good qualities, but if you want the real story of the Trail of Tears, check out www.cherokee.org.
A Great Book!.......2006-08-09
I cannot say enough good things about this book. Al & Joanna Lacy are excellent storytellers, and I found it hard to put their novel down, even for a few minutes.
I am about 1/10th Cherokee, so I was especially interested in the historical aspects of this story. I still am, but I was more impressed by the simple but interesting style the Lacys use to keep a story moving and detailed at the same time.
The characters in this fictional story are people who you genuinely fall in love with as you follow their plights and successes. There are no slow spots in this book. It's all good. It was so great to read about the 1800's with writers determined to not bog the story down with needless explanations about why this was happening, or why that was happening. The authors give the readers some credit by sticking to this formula of some history and a lot of story.
The only complaint I have about this book is that I am now a victim! I have the Al & Joanna Lacy BUG! And these two have a lot of books to read.
I offer a sincere thanks to the authors for working so hard to make reading fun for the reader.
See ya next review!
Book Description
The story of Roanoke is a tale marked by courage, miscalculation, exhilaration, intrigue, and enduring mystery. Now in its second edition, Roanoke: The Abandoned Colony tells the tragic and heroic story of the lost colony during the years between Columbus's voyages and the landing of the Mayflower. Award-winning historian Karen O. Kupperman brings to life the struggle of the settlers and the complex Native American cultures they encountered; and examines reasons for the colony's failure and what might have become of the first English settlers in the New World.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting and relevant history........2006-05-06
I'm not certain why, but books on the "lost" colony of Roanoke seemed to catch my eye, so I added several to my wish list. I selected Karen O. Kupperman's volume as the first to read and found it interesting and insightful.
Roanoke, the Abandoned Colony is a little old and reflects it's 1984 vintage. Settlement of the North and South American continents is described as having occurred by way of a "land bridge" during the glacial epic 10,000 to 40,000 years ago. Native people are depicted as having followed their game animals across the Bering Strait into the Americas. Today this is considered somewhat less likely than it was prior to the 1990s, and alternative possibilities are usually given in more recent works on the topic.
Once beyond the background history of the native population, however, the author is on firmer ground. The ample documentation of early English settlement provides her with evidence for a thorough discussion of the period. Much of her background information, however, is taken from secondary rather than primary sources. The notes to the edition contain references to works written in the 1960s, 70s, and 80's about Roanoke, Raleigh, the Southeastern Indians, and so on, rather than documents by early explorers, although she consults those doing original research with primary sources or with archaeological field data.
I had rather expected a more sensational approach to the topic; most of us who know anything at all about Roanoke simply know of the mysterious disappearance of its colonists and the name Virginia Dare. Neglected beyond that introduction by most high school American history courses-in fact many college courses-the average reader is left with a lacuna in his/her understanding of the colonial era.
Ms Kupperman ably fills that breach. Her discussion of Indian culture and politics during the age is very insightful. When I studied American colonial history years ago, the Indian people were hardly considered at all, and then mostly as "background noise," sort of part of the flora and fauna of the continent. That they had political acumen, let alone a political agenda, was not even considered, a lapse that made the history of the period lopsided and confusing. The academic perspective at the time-prior to the establishment of American Indian Studies programs in colleges and universities-was no doubt an outgrowth of the European point of view. Historians and like minded individuals in US society saw the expression of expansionism and the displacement and even extermination of native peoples as part of its "manifest destiny." So integral is this perspective to society's concept of itself even now, that it requires works like Roanoke to remove the cultural blinders. Through it all, though, the author neither blames nor excuses. Like a good journalist, she describes and explains what occurred, giving cultural background information on all parties that helps clarify interactions. Her discussion of 16th century English policy with respect to Ireland is especially relevant.
One of the most interesting facets of the book, but definitely one that took me a while to appreciate, was the degree to which it involved the history of Elizabethan England and the life of Sir Walter Raliegh and other English explorers. In fact this period of North American history from the perspective of its European heritage is pretty much about England and its relations with others: its international fortune, its social structure and social outlook, and so on.
While the story of Roanoke is part of US history, understanding its experience and demise only makes sense when placed in the context of what was going on world wide at the time. In fact, it's possible that the history of no specific place on the globe ever makes complete sense without referring to world context.
Overall the book gives a very detailed and informative account of early English experience in North America. With the above caveats, it would make an excellent source book for high school history and a good addition to a school library.
Quite dull.......2004-06-18
The prose is dry, and the book didn't provide any insights you couldn't get from just asking someone on the street -- no new material, no interesting conclusions.
This is THE book to read on Roanoke.......2004-03-25
Well written, researched and documented. A fascinating mystery told in a great way.
Surprisingly interesting!.......2001-11-10
I bought this book because I needed to write a book review for my American History review course. I was expecting to trudge through a hundred and some odd boring pages, but was pleasantly surprised.
It was very well written, and read more like a short novel than a history book. While providing information on the many people involved in the Roanoke adventures, it also reviewed the general socio-economic factors influencing American colonization in general. It really contained a ton of information on American colonization and the European factors behind it, and it presented it in such a way that it told a story, rather than simply jumping from time-period and event to time-period and event! (like many of those so called "textbooks")
The author is a noted authority on the early contacts between Europeans and Native Americans.
Read it, you'll like it.
Book Description
Based on extensive fieldwork in the community of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in western North Carolina, this book uses a semiotic approach to investigate the historic and contemporary role of the Sequoyan syllabary--the written system for representing the sounds of the Cherokee language--in Eastern Cherokee life.
The Cherokee syllabary was invented in the 1820s by the respected Cherokee Sequoyah. The syllabary quickly replaced alternative writing systems for Cherokee and was reportedly in widespread use by the mid-nineteenth century. After that, literacy in Cherokee declined, except in specialized religious contexts. But as Bender shows, recent interest in cultural revitalization among the Cherokees has increased the use of the syllabary in education, publications, and even signage.
Bender also explores the role played by the syllabary within the ever more important context of tourism. (The Eastern Cherokee Band hosts millions of visitors each year in the Great Smoky Mountains.) English is the predominant language used in the Cherokee community, but Bender shows how the syllabary is used in special and subtle ways that help to shape a shared cultural and linguistic identity among the Cherokees. Signs of Cherokee Culture thus makes an important contribution to the ethnographic literature on culturally specific literacies.
Customer Reviews:
Truly disappointing.......2006-12-22
Let me start by saying I find the subject matter of this book fascinating -- contemporary use of the Cherokee syllabary among Eastern Cherokees -- but I had to force myself to finish this book. With the research Bender performed, she could have given us a vivid account of how the language is used today. But only limited quotes or paraphrases of actual Cherokees make their way into the book, along with very few specific examples of the syllabary in use. Rather the book is an endless series of repetitions of her personal conclusions. Her dichotomy of "Christian" and "pagan" (spelled plainly on p. 37) is not only errant but also insulting.
A must-read on modern Native cultures and language attitudes.......2002-07-23
This is a fascinating book that everyone interested in Native American cultures should read, regardless of whether they have a particular interest in the Cherokees, or their language, or their writing system, which is the oldest living writing system native to the New World.
What makes this book fascinating is that not only does this book show how literacy (in its many functions) was invented by and is adapted to the perspectives of a living Native culture, but it also reveals many insightful things about that culture -- everything from ideas about modern tourism in the area, to the very very complex community attitudes toward what the "real Cherokee" language is -- whether it's the Cherokee of the Bible (and there's lots of religious attitudes involved in how the community thinks about the syllabary), or the Cherokee of spelling pronunciations, or of the faraway (from the Eastern Cherokee of this boo) Oklahoma Cherokee dialect.
My only real criticisms of the book are that it felt short (I liked it so much that I wanted more), and also that it occasionally descended pointlessly into overwrought prose and unrevealing semiotics jargon. For example: "In Cherokee tourism in the mid-1990s, semiotic potency, use-value, and exchange-value intersected in compelling ways. Syllabic objects were differentiated in terms of their semiotic use potential. The distinction had to do with whether syllabic objects were considered to possess symbolic use-value, which, in the case of texts, meant that they were considered to have significant and specific meanings or performative powers." So the bad news is that now and then, the book pops up with a few irritating sentences like that. But the good news is that the rest of the book is nice and clear.
Besides being great for reading on your own, this book is great reading for any university-level class involving sociolinguistics, Native fieldwork and Native community relations and literacy teaching, and maybe even modern Native cultures in general.
Product Description
For those who visit and those who make the region their home, there is something captivating about the mountains of Western North Carolina. These ancient hills have cradled a culture that encompasses Cherokee heritage, pioneer legacies and urban visions. With a warm, accessible style, longtime Asheville Citizen-Times writer Rob Neufeld offers an exploration of Western North Carolina's history through the stories of its people. We meet Lillian Exum Clement, the first female legislator in the South; and Nina Simone, the African American prodigy from Tryon. We get to view controversial elements of the Civil War in Western North Carolina from multiple points of view and draw our own conclusions. We comprehend the variety of people who have created the region as it exists now alive with traditions, contradictions and promise. Instead of merely reciting historical fact, Neufeld helps readers understand the history of the mountains by allowing us to walk in the shoes of the Native Americans, farmers, soldiers and others who preceded us. More than an enlightening read, this book illuminates the progression of frontier life that we have come to know as Western North Carolina history. By linking the lives and experiences of the land s various inhabitants, Neufeld captures the spirit of Appalachia within this volume.
Customer Reviews:
A Book of People.......2007-07-21
Neufeld's Popular History of WNC is a true marvel and the sort of history I like best. It's people.
Neufeld's research is detailed and accurate, as it should be, but he takes a giant step closer to his research than most -- he talks with people. His section on WNC women by itself is to be applauded and cheered. The personal histories of everyday life among railroad and lumber camp women, trainmen's wives, members of the 1920s High School Girls' Championship Basektball team, and others, sets a high goal for other historians.
You don't just read about history in this wonderful book. You meet the people who are history. What a rare treat it is being introduced to Inez Virginia Daughtery. Neufeld lets her tell you what it was like growing up black in Black Mountain in the 1920s. Bee Fraizer's life as a black nanny in WWII Asheville is told both through her original letters from the 1940s and through Neufeld's conversations with Jordan Maynard, who grew up under the care and attention of his nanny Bee. Written history doesn't get any better than this.
Neufeld's "peoples' history" moves from the original Cherokee of the area, the settlers and pioneer families, the War of Separation... to the lives (and death) of the people behind a roadside memorial of a simple white cross with the name Festus prainted on it --- and to a delightful contemporary profile of Maria and Juan Carballo, who migrated to Arden, North Carolina, from the mountains of El Salvador. I'm proud to call them neighbors.
The music of the mountains is always in the background (and sometimes the foreground) of Neufeld's insightful work. Still, it is the voices of the people you will remember best.
A handsome book, Neufeld's "Mountains, Heroes, & Hootnoggers" includes numerous historical photographs. Like all good books, though, the best pictures here are drawn by words. The book concludes with a very useful bibliography. But don't be fooled; the real bibliography of this volume is the author himself -- and the people he has met. You need to meet them, too.
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The Indians' New World: Catawbas and Their Neighbors From European Contact Through the Era of Removal
James H. Merrell
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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The Catawbas (Indians of North America)
ASIN: 0807818321 |
Book Description
This book is an eloquent account of the native peoples of the Carolina piedmont who became known as the Catawba Nation. James Merrell brings the Catawbas more fully into American history by tracing how they underwent that most fundamental of American experiences: adapting to a new world. Arguing that European colonists and African slaves created a society that was as alien—as new—to Indians as American itself was to the newcomers, Merrell follows the Catawbas from their first contact with Europeans in the sixteenth century until their accommodation to a changing America was largely complete some three centuries later.
Heretofore, scholarship has mostly ignored that adaptation of native Americans to the new American cultural and physical milieu and has instead dwelt on warfare, expropriation, suppression, and annihilation. Attempts to incorporate native peoples into the mainstream of American history have usually taken the form of lists of Indian "contributions" to American culture or, conversely, a solemn paean to Indian respect for nature.
This chronicle of the Catawbas takes note of all of the above. But its center is the Catwabas' encounter with the colonists and their entourage: unfamiliar diseases, crown diplomats, trade goods, and Christian missionaries. Each of those required creative responses, which transformed Catawba life rather than destroyed it. Natives constructed new societies in the aftermath of epidemics, assimilated both traders and their enticing goods into established cultural forms, came to terms with settlers, and fended off missionaries. Through it all, the Catawbas endured—as soldiers in the Revolution, as landlords and landladies on their reservation, as potters and farmers—retaining their Indian identity, remaining in their piedmont home, and becoming a part of the American mosaic.
Absorbing archeology, anthropology, and folklore into his vast historical research, Merrell provides what will be the definitive history of the Catawbas. The book also signals a new direction for the study of native Americans and will serve as a model for their reintegration into American history.
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Town Creek Indian Mound: A Native American Legacy
Joffre Lanning Coe , and
Thomas D. Burke
Manufacturer: University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 080784490X |
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