Giving Birth to Thunder, Sleeping with His Daughter: Coyote Builds North America [Paperback]

Barry H. Lopez (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0380711117 | ISBN-13: 978-0380711116 | Publication Date: December 1, 1990

Prankster, warrior, seducer, fool -- Old Man Coyote is the most enduring legend in Native American culture. Crafty and cagey -- often the victim of his own magical intrigues and lusty appetites -- he created the earth and man, scrambled the stars and first brought fire . . . and death. Barry Lopez -- National Book Award-winning author of Arctic Dreams and recipient of the John Burroughs Medal for his bestselling masterwork Of Wolves and Men -- has collected sixty-eight tales from forty-two tribes, and brings to life a timeless myth that abounds with sly wit, erotic adventure, and rueful wisdom.

Product Details

• Paperback: 169 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (December 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380711117
• ISBN-13: 978-0380711116
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #627,603 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book full of adventures by coyote trickster, April 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Giving Birth to Thunder, Sleeping With His Daughter: Coyote Builds North America (Hardcover)

I know this book is out of print and hard to find, but if you can let Amazon.com search it out for you, it is worth the effort. Lopez is at his best form in telling these stories of the coyote trickster. Some of the stories can best be described as ribald versions of the Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit stories. However, these are fresh stories that will engage your imagination and tickle your funny bone. I once entertained a group of young men with these stories one evening around a campfire...young men who thought they were too old to be read to. They laughed and wouldn't let me stop reading until my throat was hoarse. Find a copy if you can!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent Design, Coyote-style, September 10, 2005

By 

E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Giving Birth to Thunder, Sleeping with His Daughter: Coyote Builds North America (Paperback)

For those people who are still trying to decide between evolution and intelligent design, here is yet another creation story to ponder (or add to the curriculum), this one involving Coyote, who "was not necessarily a coyote, nor even a creature of strict physical dimensions." The subtitle of this book is "Coyote Builds North America."

"Giving Birth to Thunder, Sleeping with his Daughter" is a magical read, like all of this author's books. It is mythology without the density of "The Golden Bough," but still with the serious purpose of teaching world views that may seem strange to non-Amerinds.

I needed to ponder the implications of these stories. I wondered if coyote creation myths were any more unbelievable than the invention of a CNN 'faith and values' correspondent, or the news of a televangelist encouraging his fellow Christians to assassinate a foreign head-of-state. Are they stranger to the human experience than mullahs issuing death fatwas against authors or encouraging followers to gang-rape young women?

Coyote steals, rapes and murders in these sixty-eight stories from forty-two different First Nation tribes. He is a Creator, dupe, loving husband, and lusty rogue; a sorcerous Rhett Butler with a brushy tail and extreme bipolar disorder. My favorite stories involve other clever creatures who dupe the Trickster into eating his own anus or tossing his eyeballs into a tree. It's always good to see a powerful bully with an uncertain temper taken down a notch or two.

Luckily Coyote is able to laugh at himself, unlike certain gods on the other side of the Atlantic.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Coyote Mythology Book Ever, August 9, 2001

By 

Andrew J. Porwitzky (Havre de Grace, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Giving Birth to Thunder, Sleeping with His Daughter: Coyote Builds North America (Paperback)

Of all the Coyote mythology collections I've read, this is the best. It features an assortment of styles from over 30 tribes, giving a broad sense of what the Coyote is. The author takes great pleasure in the introduction when he states that the greatest mistake is to generalize the Coyote, even to say he is a trickster is sometimes wrong. This book is just as if someone took all their favorite Coyote stories and put them in order (he starts the book at the creation of the Earth, and Man. Ending when "Coyote finishes his work.")

I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn about the Coyote.