A Circle of Nations: Voices and Visions of American Indians

From the Jacket:

The publishers of Wisdomkeepers are pleased to present A Circle of Nations, a collection of photographs and writings by Native American artists and authors reflecting contemporary Indian life viewed, from the Native perspective.

In the pages of this book Indian people speak their own words and create their own images. “These are words and pictures with personality,” Michael Dorris writes in the introduction. “They resonate with the tension of individual response and record the eye and the ear of their, creators like bold artistic fingerprints.”

In every phrase and photograph we glimpse a piece of the Native American experience—and a crack in age-old stereotypes. These images and words draw us toward common bonds of humanity, but they do so without stripping away the essential differences that make Indian people who they are. There is a mystery in these pages—the mystery of things that only the initiated understand; the mystery that separates one culture and one person from another and that enriches us all.

An intimate look at the thoughts, feelings, and realities of present-day Native Americans,A Circle of Nations covers complex issues such as identity, family, community, faith, and the continued existence of the People. It challenges the notion that Native cultures are things of the past, as if the only real Indians are “traditional” ones. These words and pictures are evidence that the tradition also dwells in the present, that it changes as conditions change. And it is this universal power to improvise, to reinvent oneself and one’s people, that keeps Native cultures strong and vital. Mindful of the past and filled with the promise of creative change, A Circle of Nations is the fabric of this new tradition.