Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: American Indian Myths and Legends by RICHARD ERDOES, ALFONSO ORTIZ ISBN: 0-394-74018-1 Publisher: Pantheon Books Pub. Date: 12 August, 1985 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.73 (11 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Good storyteller
Comment: Adult storybook....
I ordered this book to glimpse into the Native American mythology, and I have to say, I am very impressed. This book comprises of ten parts, each consisting of intelligent, sometimes even funny tales and facinating stories of Human Creation, World Creation, Sun-Moon-Stars, Monsters, Love and Sex, Animals and Birds, and Ghosts-to mention a few. It's filled with analogies taken from nature. All these stories come from the tribes once spread across all over the North American continent. The editors claim that some of the stories are completely "untouched" by white people and that they still convey the original folklores started some thousands of years ago.
If you are interested in idiosyncratic facts than forget about it, if you like good stories and folk-tales, this book is for you.
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent presentation of Indian philosophy
Comment: This excellent collection of myths and legends in the "oral history" style - either from the mouths of storytellers, or from documents where their words were first captured - presents a wonderful insight into the American Indian spiritual philosophy. The book is neatly organized into chapters from the genesis of the planet and people, through myths and legends emphasizing the social structure, to love stories, warrior myths and on to the final death and afterlife stories. Stories from tribes across the North American continent show both the divergent philsophies, as well as the common ground. The editors have wonderfully resisted any urge to edit these stories. Each chapter opens with an overview provided by Erdoes and Ortiz. There are occasional editorial explanations at the ends of stories. They should expecially be applauded for including stories with humor. As someone with Indian ancestry, but not a traditional Indian upbringing, I enjoyed the experience of spiritual concordance with the basic philosophies, no matter which tribe or region of the country was being presented. The book is easily readable by most age groups; parents of younger children could read these as entertainment and even bed-tiime stories. I consider this akin to a Bible of American Indian spirituality.
Rating: 5
Summary: Fantastic Collection of Stories from the First Nations
Comment: Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz really did a wonderful job putting together this compilation. Taking various stories from North America, the duo covers traditional tales of everyone from the Aleut to the Toltecs and pretty much everything in between. Every region and culture group is represented, and tales from well known Nations such as the Cherokee, Lakota, Dine (Navajo), Apache and Iroquois appear beside those of less well known (but no less vibrant and culturally active) Nations such as the Miwok, Caddo, Metis and Shasta. Hopefully this will help expand people's views of Native American culture. After all, stereotypical views of "Indians" rarely include the Nations of California or the Pacific Northwest, or even the Southern Woodlands (the original homeland of the Cherokee and their neighbors). Obviously not every Nation could be represented, but this is still an excellent survey of the continent. It does a wonderful job showing how common cultural themes have woven their way across this entire continent, helping to reinforce the culture and customs of the First Nations. And at the same time, it also shows how each culture was different, having its own beliefs, customs and practices unique to themselves.
Each chapter was divided into a different theme, so the book covers the Creation of People, the Creation of the World, Stories about Celestial Bodies, Monsters, War Heroes, Love, Tricksters, Animal People, Ghosts and the End of the World. Hence the book goes full circle in exploring major themes in North American belief. Each chapter includes the stories of numerous Nations from different regions, linguistic families or "cultural groupings", allowing the reader to see them in a much broader light. All of the stories are short, and they range in mood from hilarious (Intome's description of his nightmare in "Inktome Has a Bad Dream") to being deeply moving (the sun's sacrifice in "The Scabby One Lights Up the Sky"). At the end of each story, the source is given and they come from quite a number of sources. Many are recorded in this book for the first time as far as I am aware, so it is certainly worth looking at even if you are very familar with Native American traditions.
To those familar with Native American culture, some things in this book should be familar, particularly the antics of Coyote, Inktome the spider, Raven and other tricksters, but also the tales of Glooskap, giants, floods, disembodied cannibal heads, the place of emergence, Hiawatha and so forth. One thing I should point out before going further is that some of these tales deal with adult themes (in the Inuit tale "Moon Rapes His Sister Sun" the moon commits the sins of rape and incest and forever chases his sister across the sky) and can be downright raunchy (as is the case with several of the Coyote and Inktome stories). There is nothing wrong with these stories, as they either are meant to teach a moral lesson (as is the case with the former) or because they are meant to amuse (in the case of the trickster stories). But it can come as something of a shock to those who are expecting "mere children's stories". Still, if you or someone you know has an interest in Native American culture, this book is certainly worth getting.
 |
Title: American Indian Trickster Tales by Richard Erdoes, Alfonso Ortiz ISBN: 0140277714 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: March, 1999 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
 |
Title: Dictionary of Native American Mythology (Oxford Paperback Reference) by Sam D. Gill, Irene F. Sullivan ISBN: 0195086023 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: July, 1994 List Price(USD): $21.50 |
 |
Title: The Mythology of Native North America by Jake Page, David Adams Leeming ISBN: 0806132396 Publisher: Univ of Oklahoma Pr (Trd) Pub. Date: March, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
 |
Title: Celtic Myths and Legends by T. W. Rolleston ISBN: 0486265072 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 01 November, 1990 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
 |
Title: Navaho Indian Myths by Aileen OÂBryan ISBN: 0486275922 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 14 June, 1993 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
