Synopses & Reviews
Modern Blackfeet sheds light on the politics, economics, society, and especially the acculturation of the Blackfeet Indians of Montana. The Blackfeet Reservation has an established government and an active and diverse population that has long supported itself through ranching, industry, and oil and natural gas exploration. Malcolm McFee shows why, as a result, policies and programs based on simplistic assumptions of assimilation are doomed to failure.
The results of McFeeand#8217;s long-term research among the Blackfeet in the 1950s and 1960s make it clear that acculturation is not simply a linear process of assimilation or a one-way cultural adaptation to the impact of Euro-American culture. He reviews the changing policies of the U.S. government, which were directed initially at the destruction of all native customs and values, then at the promotion of Blackfeet self-government, and eventually at the threatened termination of their status. Finally and most important, McFee notes that racial identity on the reservation today is explained more by values and behavior than by biology and thus divides the community into a white-oriented majority and a smaller, Indian-oriented group dedicated to preserving the tribeand#8217;s traditional lifeways.
Review
"A story about the triumph of love and the spirit of a people.... The Wolf at Twilight will be permanently etched in your consciousness." Dan Agent, former editor of the Cherokee Phoenix and screenwriter for Our Spirits Don’t Speak English: Indian Boarding School
Review
"Elegant, yet powerful.... The emotional truth that resides in the rich storytelling is a testament to the strength and endurance of Lakota culture and...removes barriers to understanding our common humanity."
Winona LaDuke, founder and executive director of the White Earth Land Recovery Project
Review
"Kent Nerburn’s creative and compassionate book [is] humorous, hilarious, and at times very sad. Thank you, Kent, for a good book to read." Leonard Peltier, author, artist, and activist
Review
"Nerburn relates his search for Dan's sister, Yellowbird.... Parts of the book are fictionalized to maintain the privacy of Dan and his family." Library Journal
Synopsis
A note left on a car windshield, the death of an old dog, and the author finds himself back on the Lakota reservation where he traveled more than a decade before with the elder, Dan. The touching, funny, and unforgettable journey that ensues takes the reader deep into reservation boarding school mysteries, the dark confines of sweat lodges, and lonely Native homesteads far back in the Dakota hills. With characters including Dan's warrior-hearted friend, Grover, an odd little dog named Charles Bronson, and Big Orv, an elder who went to prison to protect his son, Nerburn's engrossing narrative evokes the Native American way of teaching and learning with a depth that few outsiders ever experience. "The Wolf at Twilight" offers a touching story that forever changes the way readers look at our country, our history, and the people who first inhabited this land.
Synopsis
A note is left on a car windshield, an old dog dies, and Kent Nerburn finds himself back on the Lakota reservation where he traveled more than a decade before with a tribal elder named Dan. The touching, funny, and haunting journey that ensues goes deep into reservation boarding-school mysteries, the dark confines of sweat lodges, and isolated Native homesteads far back in the Dakota hills in search of ghosts that have haunted Dan since childhood.
In this fictionalized account of actual events, Nerburn brings the land of the northern High Plains alive and reveals the Native American way of teaching and learning with a depth that few outsiders have ever captured.
Synopsis
Nerburn's engrossing narrative evokes the Native American way of teaching and learning with a depth that few outsiders ever experience. This is a touching story that forever changes the way readers look at our country, our history, and the people who first inhabited this land.
About the Author
Kent Nerburn is the author of twelve books on spirituality and Native themes, including Chief Joseph and the Flight of the Nez Perce (featured on the History Channel), and Simple Truths. He has been widely praised as one of the few writers who can respectfully bridge the gap between native and nonnative cultures. His book Neither Wolf nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder won the 1995 Minnesota Book Award.