Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology [Paperback]

Will Roscoe (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Joining a reclaimed past to a vibrant present, this work provides a broad view of male and female homosexuality in Native American cultural history through anthropological reports, biography, mission records, photographs, oral literature, diaries, interviews, essays, autobiographical excerpts, poems, and selections from novels. In the past, individuals whose behavior varied from tribal norms could adopt a variety of honorable roles: healer, artist, mediator, shaman. But homophobia saturates the modern Indian world. Contemporary voices (notably Roscoe, Beth Brant, Paula Gunn Allen, Maurice Kenny, and Chrystos) explain and dramatize survival despite chronic and ritualized oppression. Includes contacts, resources, a list of tribes, and a detailed bibliography. Recommended for subject collections. Rhoda Carroll, Vermont Coll., Montpelier
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Some Like Indians Endure by Paula Gunn Allen
My Rug Maker Fine by Ben The Dancer
Her Name Is Helen by Beth Brant
Savage Eloquence by Chrystos [pseud.]
Today Was A Bad Day Like Tb by Chrystos [pseud.]
Your Body by Nola M. Hadley
Pima by Maurice Kenny
United by Maurice Kenny
Winkte by Maurice Kenny
I Have Picked A Bouquet For You by Richard La Fortune
Stepping Softly Among Memories by Carole Lafavor
Horseshoes by Joe Dale Tate Nevaquaya
O Mother Earth by Lawrence William O'connor
Children Of Grandmother Moon by M. Owlfeather
A Freedom Song by Tala Sanning
Coyote And Tehoma by Daniel-harry Steward
Charleen Just Never Came Back by Mary Tallmountain
Midnight Sun by Anonymous
Homelands And Family by Anne Waters
Journeys Of The Mind by Anne Waters
Wewoka Oklahoma-summer '85 by Anne Waters
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

Product Details

• Paperback: 235 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031203475X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312034757
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,036,342 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing look at how we robbed America of its queerness., April 15, 2005

By 

Daniel W. Kelly (NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology (Paperback)

This incredible book is a compilation of essays, stories, poems, and biographical accounts of living as a gay, bisexual, transsexual, or hermaphrodite American-Indian (all which have been lumped under the term 'berdache'). This book not only deals with the history of American Indians, and how they embraced the non-heterosexual members of their society as healers, but shows how, with the creation of the New World, the English made American-Indians turn against their own, converting their religion, and, in turn, converting them into a homophobic subculture. Finally, there are wonderful accounts of living in modern society as a gay American-Indian, and the scorn these people receive. This is an eye-opening and disturbing book that really gives us a better understanding of all the things we took from American-Indians.