Teachings from the American Earth: Indian Religion and Philosophy [Paperback]

This collection of writings is from authors who are either Indians who have tried to make themselves heard, or whites who have tried to hear Indians. The first part of the book emphasizes the practical and includes Isaac Tens's Career of the Medicine Man . The second section concentrates on the theoretical and contains Benjamin Lee Whorf's American Indian Model of the Universe and chapters on Indian metaphysics, among other things. In addition to an introductory essay on the Indian's stance towards reality, the editors have contributed chapters entitled The Clown's Way and An American Indian View of Death . A much needed book. It not only provides the proper orientation to its material, but its humanistic approach is more perceptive and illuminating than technical scholarship. Theodore H. Gaster, Columbia University