Old Shirts & New Skins (Native American, No 9) [Paperback]

Sherman Alexie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1993

Sherman Alexie's poetic power renders an honest and painful perception of contemporary Native American life. In this collection, Alexie, a poet of the Coeur d'Alene people, speaks for the spirit of Native American resistance, determination, and sovereignty, compelling readers to confront reality with his honest and inspiring vision. Remarkable in its candor and gracefully constructed, this collection of poems binds us to the present and, at the same time, connects us to the voices of the past.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Alexie ( The Business of Fancydancing ) here emerges as a Native poet of the first order. He captures the full range of modern Native experience, writing both with anger and with great affection and humor. Detailing the continuing deprivation and colonialism, the poet pointedly asks, "Am I the garbageman of your dreams?" and defines Native "economics": "risk" is playing poker with cash and then passing out at powwow. Focusing on the Leonard Peltier case, Alexie exposes the ineffectualness of both white Indian-lovers and some Native leaders in "The Marlon Brando Memorial Swimming Pool": "Peltier goes blind in Leavenworth . . . / and Brando sits, fat and naked, by the Pacific ocean. There was never / any water in the damn thing. " General Custer is allowed to give an accounting of himself, as Alexie links genocide of America's indigenous peoples with Vietnam, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and other acts of warfare and destruction. Alexie writes comfortably in a variety of styles. Many of the poems turn on grim irony, putting the author himself in the traditional role of the trickster. Adrian Louis provides a powerful foreword, and Elizabeth Woody's moody illustrations add to the volume's impact.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Like the woman who pours her life into a stew of survival, Sherman Alexie has created a meal, not for a reader to consume but for a reader to be changed by. These are poems, raw and lean, that tell another side of history, the real names of the meanness sometimes called "America." History is here, now. Survival is being documented, changes measured. --Linda Hogan

In the best tradition of confronting American reality and exacting vision and meaning from it, Sherman Alexie chooses to use poetic power. His vision is an amazing celebration of endurance, intimacy, love, and creative insight; finally, it is a victory that can be known only by a people who refuse to submit to the thieves, liars, and killers that have made them suffer tremendous loss and pain. Old Shirts & New Skins is an honest and painful perception of contemporary Native American life. In it, Sherman Alexie, a poet of the Coeur d'Alene people, speaks for the spirit of Native American resistance, determination, and sovereignty, compelling us to realize our own need to confront reality with an honest and inspiring vision. --Simon J. Ortiz

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Product Details

• Paperback: 94 pages
• Publisher: American Indian Studies; 1st edition (January 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0935626360
• ISBN-13: 978-0935626360
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #543,381 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good book, November 27, 2000

By 

Schwanda (Shoreline, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Old Shirts & New Skins (Native American, No 9) (Paperback)

This book seems simpler than Alexie's later works, though by no means do I mean that in a literal way. Later works reveal a deep and complex style and voice. This book, an early piece, shows what is to come. Alexie's voice is strong and powerful, with very pointed pieces arranged in creative and innovative ways. This is a stepping-stone book into his heavier works, such as Summer of Black Widows and One Stick Song. You can definitly see where Alexie is going in this book...up.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny and true, May 5, 2000

By 

Paulette Ballou "Polly" (Connecticut) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Old Shirts & New Skins (Native American, No 9) (Paperback)

This book of poetry has a real quality, a sort of grittiness so you know it's true.

The poems tie together present miseries with the history of Indian wars. But of course it's not the version of Indian wars we got through the movies; rather it is the untold part, of suffering of native people defending their way of life.

I am new to Sherman Alexie and new to American Indian literature; I came upon him through his movie "Smoke Signals." It's very good reading!

His writing contains heavy themes, but is light and graceful and has a healing quality. "Shirts" and "Skins" are the team names in pickup baasketball games; "'skins" is how Indians call themselves. I dont know what a "shirt" is - a white guy, probably -- that would fit. There is humor, word play and joy here holding up a world of sadness.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of his first., January 17, 2011

By 

Kenso - See all my reviews

This review is from: Old Shirts & New Skins (Native American, No 9) (Paperback)

For die hard fans, reading this will provides some insights to the early Alexie. He was 27 when this came out, it contains rare references to his own drinking, also much of his cynicism has been directed elsewhere in later volumes. This collection illustrates his earliest voice.