BOOKSHELF
NEW
CHEROKEE ROSE. (Al and JoAnna Lacy, Multnomah Fiction, 304 pp., paperback - $12.99)
The brutal road west - late summer 1838. President Martin Van Buren issues an order that the 15,000 Cherokees living in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina will be evicted from their homeland. Forced to migrate to Indian Territory, the Cherokees begin their tragic 1,000-mile journey westward. Most of the 7,000 soldiers escorting them along the way are brutally cruel. But CHEROKEE ROSE, an 18-year-old Cherokee girl, finds one soldier, Lt. Britt Claiborne, willing to stand up for them. She discovers that Britt is one-quarter Cherokee. It's upon the Trail of Tears that they fall in love, dreaming of one day marrying and finding a home together.
Al Lacy has written more than 100 historical and western novels. He and his wife JoAnna are co-authors of several books. (May)
Recent
A SCAR UPON OUR VOICE. (Robin Coffee, University of New Mexico Press, 130 pp., hardcover - $23.95)
"You can take from me what you will but you cannot touch the words of my heart," declares author Robin Coffee in the introduction. In this autobiographical poetry collection, Coffee explores the aftershocks of growing up as an American Indian in a country that has marginalized his cultural identity. Coffee relinquishes his alienation, anger and his desire to heal wounds inflicted through centuries of betrayal by a self-interested government.
Coffee adeptly speaks to the injustices he has known but is quick to find hope and solace in sharing his work: "A simple gesture born out of kindness can stitch hope into a torn heart and turn a dying spirit into a gift to the world. A simple gesture born out of kindness may be the only coin that the lost and lonely soul has left to give to another in need. A SCAR UPON OUR VOICE is my simple gesture."
Mary Burritt Christiansen's (1923-1998) desire to perpetuate poetry as a literary form inspired her to sponsor a series of poetry books through a generous endowment to UNM Press. A SCAR UPON OUR VOICE is the 13th title in the Mary Burritt Christiansen Poetry Series.
Coffee, born in Lawrence, Kan., is Cherokee/Creek/Yankton Sioux. He began writing poetry in high school and joined the Tahlequah Indian Writers Group in 1982. He currently lives in Tahlequah, Okla. (2005)
SON OF SONG BIRD. (Dale Denney, Publish America, 248 pp., paperback - $16.95)
Love, sex and a murder mystery take place in the pioneer life in Indian Territory, now known as Oklahoma.
A young, impetuous half-blood Cherokee named Tahchee, called Dutch by the U.S. Army pursuing him, rides into enemy territory to find the Osage Indian who brutally murdered his mother.
Among Tahchee's adventures is saving an Osage chief's son from drowning during a flood. The Osage chief, in gratitude, makes Tahchee an honorary member of the tribe, providing him with a perfect cover to travel through Osage country in search of his mother's killer.
But when he learns that the man is the Osage chief's brother, things get complicated.
Dale Denney of Jay, Okla., was raised in the oil fields of Creek County (Okla.) and served in the military from 1943-1946. He married a Cherokee woman, Juanita Graham, in 1944 and completed his literature degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1948. (2005)
PARTLY CLOUDY PATRIOT. (Sarah Vowell, Simon & Schuster, 224 pp., paperback - $13)
Vowell travels through the American past and investigates the dusty, bumpy roads of her own life. In this collection of personal stories Vowell - known for her stories on public radio's "This American Life" - ponders a number of questions: Why is she happiest when visiting the sites of bloody struggles like Salem or Gettysburg? Why do people always inappropriately compare themselves to Rosa Parks? Why is a bad life in sunny California so much worse than a bad life anywhere else? What is it about the Zen of foul shots? And, in the title piece, why must doubt and internal arguments haunt the sleepless nights of the true patriot?
Her essays confront a wide range of subjects, themes, icons and historical moments. The result is an engrossing book capturing Vowell's wit and social commentary.
Vowell is a contributing editor for public radio's "This American Life" and is the author of RADIO ON, TAKE THE CANNOLI and ASSASSINATION VACATION. (2003)
- Travis Snell