Sweet Medicine (Library of the American Indian) [Paperback]

Herman J. Viola (Author)

Book Description

Series: Library of the American Indian | Publication Date: August 23, 1994

Sweet Medicine recounts the exploits of three modern-day American Indians in quest of their own heritage . . . and on the lam from the law. "An antic chase story in the tradition of The Milagro Beanfield War and The Monkey Wrench Gang."--Los Angeles Times Book Review.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This sequel begins where Seals's popular The Powwow Highway left off, with Bonnie Red Bird, sprung from the Santa Fe city jail by her brother Buddy and her lover Philbert Bono, in hiding at a nearby pueblo. The Native American trio begin a tragicomic winter trek to the Black Hills, picking up other Indians as they go and declaring their group a new nation, journeying deep inside themselves as they ride into Indian Country. Readers unfamiliar with the previous novel will get little from this volume, written in a smugly puerile style abounding with scatological language and self-serving references to Powwow Highway 's reception and how Hollywood ruined the movie version. The narrator, Storyteller--at once self-deprecating and self-aggrandizing--serves as a surrogate for the author. Seals writes convincingly of the current state of Native American life and the peoples' tragic history, but his studied attitude often comes off as mimetic rather than heartfelt. Such historical inaccuracies as an incorrect reference to Cheyenne chief Black Kettle's being killed at the Sand Creek Massacre also detract from the book's impact. The voyage of Philbert and friends aspires to be part Don Quixote , part On the Road , but the destination isn't worth the fare.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Two fine novels on contemporary Native Americans give readers a peek into the still largely unknown lives of these resilient peoples. Native American Seals continues the rollicking saga of Philbert and Buddy's rescue from jail of Buddy's sister, begun in The Powwow Highway (Dutton, 1990), which was made into an excellent movie highly popular in Indian country. This sequel recounts the trio's adventures as they make their way from New Mexico back to their Northern Cheyenne reservation in Montana, accidentally gaining more and more supporters and a greater police following as they go. Equally satirical of both Native Americans and whites, Seals gives readers a rare glimpse of some genuine Indian humor while presenting issues important to Indian America today. Non-Indian folklorist and commentator Welsch tells a similar story of the "Nehawka" people (read: Omaha) and their struggle to get back the sacred Sky Bundle (read: Sacred Pole) currently in the possession of an eastern museum. He recounts the history of the people through vignettes that are sometimes poignant, sometimes gently humorous, beginning with plans to repossess the Sky Bundle and moving back to its creation. By his own account, Welsch has maintained a close relationship to the Nehawka/Omaha people for 20 years. While he admits that this doesn't automatically give him any special insights into Indian spirituality and culture, he has absorbed enough to let this story cycle hit quite a few sound notes, often exhibiting the same humorous view of the world as Sweet Medicine --a view so typical of Indian people and yet so invisible to most non-Indians. Both books are valuable for the insights they give into contemporary Indian people. Equally important, however, is that these novels--and Seals's in particular--are just lots of fun to read. Highly recommended for all libraries, especially where there are Native American peoples.
- Lisa A. Mitten, Univ. of Pittsburgh Lib.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press (August 23, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517881888
• ISBN-13: 978-0517881880
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,827,301 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

DAVID SEALS - A Writer in many genres, for 45 years, with a dozen of his published novels listed on Amazon & Kindle (from Penguin, Random House, CreateSpace, and anthologies of essays and excerpts of stage plays and screenplays from Thunder's Mouth Press, Nation Books, & others), film and TV scripts from Handmade Films {'Powwow Highway' produced by George Harrison and winner of numerous awards for feature-length comedy-drama at Sundance Film Festival, San Francisco, Montreal, Milan, etc.} and HBO, PBS, and on new computer-streaming sites. His newest works, to be published soon, on Science and Poetry, are 'Martians: The Flagstaff Observations of Percival Lowell', and 'Four Plays' which are theatre/feature film-video adaptations of his novel/film 'The Powwow Highway', 'The Prince of Libya' from his novel (on Amazon in paperback & kindle) 'The Libyad', 'The First Folio' about Christopher Marlowe as the author of Shakespeare, and 'Abduction at Flagstaff' about his own family's comedy-tragedy living in the Arizona town over 6 generations and set in 1940.
Much of the blank-verse poetry of the Epic 'The Creation Myth', in the ten volume series 'Herodeia Decalogue',is excerpted throughout the plays and science essays, and particularly in the paperback 'The Herodeia Decalogue' in paperback on Amazon.
Websites and blogs with more information on all the works, include:
www.nazauthassoc.webs.com, www.blacktheatreonline.webs.com,www.witchvox.com/books/dt_bk.html?a=usaz&id=2128,www.bran-paganpoet.blogspot.com/2011_03_11_archive.html,www.dionoia.wordpress.com