Customer Reviews

The Wolf at Twilight: An Indian Elder's Journey through a Land of Ghosts and Shadows

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Dan, the Lakota Elder who we met in Kent Nerburn's nationally acclaimed book "Neither Wolf Nor Dog", reconnects with Kent via a mysterious note attached to a tobacco pouch that says, simply, "Fatback's dead."
"The Wolf at Twilight", a "novelized non-fiction" account of Kent's second encounter with Dan, unmasks the dynamically complicated relationship between a white American and a Dakota Indian. Nerburn creates this remarkable partnership through humor, gentle understanding, wisdom, historical revelation, suspense, full embodiment of real people, and his personal journey through the colorful lives of the Lakota people. The Lakota Elder, Dan, has an abiding trust for Nerburn, not because he can pay for the gas, motel rooms and meals, but because Kent has proven his genuine understanding of the Native people through an earlier book project with the children and elders of the Red Lake Indian Reservation, "To Walk the Red Road: Memories of the Red Lake Ojibwe."
It's been many years since Kent and Dan shared an adventure together on the sprawling plains of the Dakotas in "Neither Wolf Nor Dog". But, a cryptic note and a strong sense of duty (and some remorse) again send Nerburn on the road with Dan and Grover through the sprawling plains of the Dakotas. There is a colorful collection of Native characters embedded in this excursion including Fatback, Dan's dead dog who Dan has preserved in a freezer for Nerburn to bury; Grover, Dan's crusty, intrepid friend and protector; Wenonah, Dan's granddaughter who makes it clear to Nerburn that he better not disappoint her grandfather; young Native relatives and friends practicing the traditional ways of the Lakota; and small town Americans responding to the confusing juxtaposition of the modern world and an ancient way of life.
Nerburn is the student (and sometimes the stooge); Dan is the teacher. Throughout the book, Dan the Elder practices the traditional indigenous pedagogy passed on to him by the many teachers before him. We are reminded constantly, at the expense of Kent's pride, to stop talking and just listen. He asks Nerburn to engage not only his ears in the listening process, but all his senses. Many scenes in the book are masterfully descriptive in their sensory sensitivity. But, Kent also accesses the deep sensing of the forces of nature and brings us into the world of the unseen.
Dan is the ever patient but desperate pedagogue. He must get the message to Nerburn. Dan trusts Kent with the responsibility to pass on the information and experiences of his life. It is a life that is fading quickly and Dan needs Nerburn to just do what he's told. We can learn from Dan many of the traditional teaching techniques that worked just fine for thousands of years before the arrival of the Black Book. If Dan can bring Kerburn to understand that the sacred is in everything, they can travel through the unseen world of the spirit guides who will lead them to Dan's long-lost sister, Yellow Bird, and ultimately, to resolution.
There are many times when the student, Nerburn, tries to settle for "contempt prior to investigation", but Dan refuses to accept anything but full cooperation. When Dan explains that his newfound, mange riddled mutt, Charles Bronson, was revealed to him by the spirit of his former (and once frozen) dog, Fatback, Kent is incredulous. But Dan persists, and we find much later that Charles Bronson takes on an important role in solving the mystery of Dan's lost sister. Nerburn learns along the way that the seen world is only a fraction of what Dan accesses to guide him through life. It's more often the vast unseen world that directs Dan, and Nerburn's not always reading the same script. It's this spiritual tension that gives us so many vibrant exchanges between the dying Lakota Elder and the Stanford and Berkeley educated Ph.d.
At the end of this book, there is a realization that Nerburn, the word sculptor, has carved a beautiful piece of art from the dirty, dark historical secrets of the Indian boarding school experience. He has taken this huge, gnarled chunk of wood and allowed us to observe him carve through rotten pieces of historical and intergenerational trauma. This is not a wandering travel-log we are on. We are the observer, watching a master craftsman follow the grain and knots of a twisted past. We see him in dialog, and in process, with a form that was there before the work began. The shavings on the floor of the studio are the remnants of an ugly episode in American history that cannot be swept under the rug of denial and propaganda. We realize that what we have today is the result of what was created in the past. Nerburn is here to bring it to life.
There is a very complicated dynamic between the Native American people and the predominant White culture. It is a twisted web of superiority braided with submission; shame carefully disguised as hegemonic religiosity; genocide justified by hubristic government policies that declared that we must "Kill the Indian to Save the Man"; federally issued educational edicts that ignored the constitutional separation of church and State and bankrolled church sponsored schools of torture and cultural homicide; and the portrayal of the "Noble Savage" on Saturday morning TV shows with big lips, hook noses, buckskin loincloths, and an intuitive sense of humility (a la Tonto). The White culture has always attempted to justify their superiority over indigenous peoples by using the smoke screens of charity, righteousness and pity. The result has been an entire indigenous culture that has lived their lives with the realization that, "I am no longer myself. I am someone else." Dan's search for his sister also becomes a search for his own sense of self. It is a search led by a resilient survivor and not a broken down victim.
It is unfair to assume that this book is going to be a "downer" or another swing of the White guilt stick. "The Wolf at Twilight" is, above all, a great story. It takes you through the lives of real people who experience the full range of emotional dynamics and complex human relationships. Kent gives us breathing, crying, dying, laughing, Mountain Dew swilling people who are very much a part of the ethnosphere, and not just anachronistic remnants of Manifest Destiny.

Tom Kanthak
Perpich Center for Arts Education
Liaison for Indigenous Arts Education
Teacher on Special Assignment

Fifteen years ago I discovered a little book called Neither Wolf Nor Dog, written by a guy called Kent Nerburn. This was long before Amazon even existed; I found it in a real old fashioned place called a bookstore. Something about the title of the book, something about its cover. Yes, I bought a book because of its cover! That book turned out to be one of the most profound discoveries of my adult life. The story touched me deeply, made me laugh, made me cry, made me feel alive. Passionately alive. It revealed worlds and bridged them, somehow leaving me feeling whole and even a little bit holy. It became and remains one of my favorite books of all time. I have read it many, many times and cannot recommend it enough.
When I learned that Kent would be publishing a sequel, of sorts, to Neither Wolf Nor Dog, I was excited but also a little apprehensive. How many times have sequels lived up to the reputation established by the original? Neither Wolf Nor Dog is a very rich and "complete" book in and of itself. So it was a big moment when Wolf At Twilight arrived in my mailbox last week. And now I have read it and I can honestly and happily say that Kent has written another masterpiece equal in every way to its predecessor. It's just as engaging, just as emotionally involving, just as good as Neither Wolf Nor Dog. I read it way too fast because I couldn't put it down, but I didn't want it to end either. It's as profound an account of the tragic clashing of worlds as I've read anywhere. It's a telling of the story of "America" from yet another point of view that both enlightens and humbles. There is a lot to cry about in this story. And there is a lot to laugh about ( I did both while reading it.). In the end it is a cry of the heart, a very human heart, translated into (mere) words, into story, into literature that makes me, yet again, glad to be alive.

"Wolf At Twilight" is as much a gift as an emotionally exhausting journey that finds you smiling through your tears. For those who learned from the road trip of "Neither Wolf Nor Dog", "Twilight" continues the story with a mystery that Nerburn is drawn through his sense of duty and inability to say no to help solve. Through Nerburn we are allowed a privileged rare glimpse further into the life and teachings of Dan, a Lakota elder, as the seemingly futile search for his sister Yellow Bird gains intensity. The trust between Nerburn, a white man, and Dan and friends is rare and palpable.

A true story that has as much mystery, humor, history, suspense, disbelief, chaos and calm as any I've ever read. I couldn't put it down - embarrassed and saddened at the attempted genocide, bolstered by the knowledge of survival and triumph, frustrated by lack of knowledge, entertained by Charles Bronson and the rich colorful characters, and humbled to rediscover I should talk less and listen more, I emerged with profound send of warmth and renewed faith and a strong desire for more.

You won't find a better read for wisdom, ethnic and cultural diversity, spirituality, and colorful complex human behavior in it's simplest form interwoven with mystery and humor. "Wolf At Twilight" should be required reading for parents and teens alike - a true gift to be shared. Thank you Dan and friends and thank you Kent Nerburn.

Read Neither Wolf Nor Dog first and follow with this. Both move wonderfully. Great storylines that draw you right in .... you will laugh, cry, hurt and most of all learn and hopefully grow. I finished this in a couple of days and handed it on to my husband who is almost finished. Makes me sad to finish, but both you can pick up and reread.

This book came to me at a time when I had wanted to know what it was like for Native Americans in the boarding schools and in present day life. It really opened my eyes! I thank the elder and the author for their work on this project. The story was sad, funny, appalling, hopeful. It certainly makes a white person more aware of how we keep old prejudices alive. It was awesome.

What else can I offer over and above what the other reviews have covered? Nothing, but to reiterate just how moving this story is and how accurate the other reviews are. A remarkable read, all the more so due to the truthfulness and depth of emotion contained on each page. Kent Nerburn is definitely a modern-day storyteller extraordinaire, passing on truths and knowledge the way they were meant to be shared. The Wolf at Twilight touches the heart, speaks to the soul, and plays in your mind. Thank you, Kent, on so many levels. A truly gifted author conveying a truly great story and revealing, or more accurately, reminding us of, a truth many of us "two-leggeds" have long forgotten.

I'm biased as I am huge fan of Kent's work but this sequel to "Neither Wolf Nor Dog" is superb. Haunting, sad and yet celebratory, this book takes a look at the land that shapes us and the haunted history of Native Peoples and the sin the white people still carry.
It opened my eyes to depth of depravity of what the settlers did but also to the grace of forgiveness and the beauty of finding peace. It contains all the elements I love in Kent's other books. Listening to the land, questioning the spirit,Challenging preconceived notions and celebrating the little things.

All of these themes weave themselves into a narrative that explores the dark underbelly of what we have done in the name of self-righteousness and warped holiness to a people that clearly did not deserve it. We MUST take these lessons and learn from them and heal those we have hurt and ourselves.
Please get this book and tell everyone you know about it. It needsto be in our souls and hearts.

Over this last Christmas vacation, I found Nerburn's book, Neither Dog nor Wolf in a used bookstore. My friend recommended the companion book, A Wolf at Twilight and I was just as moved as I was from the first book.
I found myself squirming in my chair as I read page after page of the abuse our First People suffered at the hands of the Catholic Church in the name of Christianity. At first I was uncomfortable, but as my friend and I discussed the book together, I have become angry at the hierarchy of the Church, the US Government and our educational system. I am a teacher in a local juvenile hall, and I know that the young men I deal with on a daily basis do not have this information in the curriculum they read to graduate from high school.
I think that Kent Nerburn has started me on a journey of which I will walk for a long time. I intend to pass his books on to others and speak up about what he has written to everyone I meet. My life has been changed through his work...

I have never been disappointed in one of Kent Nerburn's books, they are fiction but very factual concerning points of history. I recommend this book very highly. They make you feel as tho you are right there listening to an elder Indian as he talks about what he has seen and experienced in his life. We're never to old to learn and its entertaining as well.

I picked up this book on a whim not really knowing anything about the author or the content. The synopsis sounded interesting so I decided to buy it. I'm so glad I did! Once I started reading the first chapter, I couldn't put it down until it was finished! The characters are extremely intriguing and I became fully invested in their quest. It's hard to read about the horrible abuses perpetrated against Native children at Indian boarding schools, but the truth needs to come into the light if we are ever to learn from our mistakes. People can't heal when there continues to be secrets.

I was touched by the way Kent described Lakota culture in general. I have a much better understanding of how Lakota people view nature, children and their obligations to each other. These people had/have an amazing philosephy of living that has special relevance today when our world is in such crisis! I think it's time we started listening to Native elders before our planet and mankind all go down the tubes.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a great read! I've purchased Neither Wolf Nor Dog and plan to start reading it this week. I also plan to purchase additional copies of both books to give as gifts to friends and family.