Riding The Earthboy 40

Now with an introduction from celebrated poet James Tate, Riding the Earthboy 40 is the only volume of poetry written by acclaimed Native American novelist James Welch. The title of the book refers to the forty acres of Montana land Welch's father once leased from a Blackfeet family called Earthboy. This land and its surroundings shaped the writer's worldview as a youth, its rawness resonates in the vitality of his elegant poetry, and his verse shows a great awareness of a moment in time, of a place in nature, and of the human being in context. Deeply evoking the specific Native American experience in Montana, Welch's poems nonetheless speak profoundly to all readers. With its new introduction, this vital work that has influenced so many American writers is certain to capture a new generation of readers.

Speak Like Singing honors talk-song visions for all relatives and seeks to plumb, if not to reconcile, Native and American poetics, tribal chorus, and solitary vision.

Celebrates Pacific Northwest literature through interviews in which 22 authors discuss their work and the region's influence on it. Authors include Ursula Le Guin, Raymond Carver, Tess Gallagher, Tom Robbins, Gary Snyder, and Denise Levertov. Two interviews have been added since the publication of

In the Two Medicine territory of Montana, the Pikuni Indians are forced to choose between fighting a futile war or accepting a humiliating surrender, as the encroaching numbers of whites threaten their very existence

A valuable companion to the works of an acclaimed Native American writer In Understanding James Welch, Ron McFarland offers analysis and critical commentary on the works of the renowned Blackfeet-Gros Ventre writer whose first novel, Winter in the Blood, has become a classic in Native American fiction and whose book of poems, Riding the Earthboy 40, has remained in print since its initial publication in 1971. McFarland offers close readings of Welch's poems and five novels, as well as his volume of nonfiction, Killing Custer, which tells the story of the Battle of the Little Bighorn from a Native American perspective. Demonstrating how Welch wrote each of the novels from a different angle, McFarland finds the writer's focus to be on the picaresque in Winter in the Blood, on tragic inevitability in The Death of Jim Loney, on epic qualities in Fools Crow, and on the element of intrigue in The Indian Lawyer. McFarland draws on interviews with Welch, book reviews, and a growing body of secondary scholarly commentary to reflect on Welch's evolution as a writer, his interest in the landscape and the psychological life of his characters, his use of Native American lore and regionalist elements, and his thematic concerns--particularly the identity motif.

An informative and wide-ranging overview of Native American literature from the 1770s to present day.