Bookshelf
UPCOMING
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| TRAIL OF TEARS AND INDIAN REMOVAL. |
TRAIL OF TEARS AND INDIAN REMOVAL. (Amy H. Sturgis, Greenwood Publishing Group, 184 pp., Hardcover - $45)
In 1838, the U.S. government began to forcibly relocate thousands of Cherokees from their homelands in Georgia to the Western territories. The event the Cherokees called "The Trail Where They Cried" meant their own loss of life, sovereignty and property. Moreover, it allowed visions of Manifest Destiny to contradict the government's previous "civilization campaign" policy toward American Indians. The journey west was one of the final blows causing a division within the Cherokee Nation itself, over civilization and identity, tradition and progress, east and west. The Trail of Tears also introduced an era of Indian removal that reshaped the face of Native America geographically, politically, economically and socially.
Thematic chapters explore the events surrounding the Trail of Tears and the era of Indian removal, including the invention of the Cherokee syllabary, the conflict between the preservation of Cherokee culture and the call to assimilate, Andrew Jackson's "imperial presidency" and the negotiation of legislation and land treaties.
Sturgis is an assistant professor of interdisciplinary studies at Belmont University. She is the author of numerous books and articles in both Native American and science fiction/fantasy studies. (November)
RECENT
RACHEL'S STORY: A Southern Girl in Pre-Civil War Boston. (Marian Coe, Ingall's Publishing Group, 268 pp., paperback - $18.95)
It's August 1849, and Rachel struggles to care for her dying mother. The cabin on the South Carolina plantation where her half-blooded Cherokee father cares for the horses has been home all her life.
It isn't until after her mother's death that Rachel discovers the truth in her delirious raging about a disapproving family and a house on Pearl Street. A visit from her Cherokee grandmother promises an ominous gift. The parson's wife who has been Rachel's childhood teacher becomes her friend and champion in the turmoil of adjusting to a new life with her mother's family in Boston in the 1950s. Rachel's hunger for knowledge leads her into the world of the literary greats of the time such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Elizabeth Peabody and the Transcendentalist authors. (2006)
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| HOW MEDICINE CAME TO THE PEOPLE: A Tale of the Ancient Cherokees. |
HOW MEDICINE CAME TO THE PEOPLE: A Tale of the Ancient Cherokees. (Deborah L. Duvall with illustrations by Murv Jacob, University of New Mexico Press, 32 pp., hardcover - $14.95)
"A long time ago, all the animals and people lived happily together" begins the story of the origins of Cherokee herbal medicine. As the people begin to outnumber the animals and then to hunt them for their hides and meat, the days of peaceful coexistence are over. The animals take their revenge on the people by making them sick, creating rheumatism, coughs, colds, aches, fevers, swellings, rashes and allergies. The people are saved by their only remaining allies - the plants and trees they have cultivated - who show them how to use herbal medicine to survive.
This story is suitable for children but resonant for adults at a time of awareness of the threat of disease and the usefulness of herbal remedies. The book includes an appendix with pictures of medicinal plants and information on their uses.
Deborah L. Duvall is an author of books and short stories on Cherokee history and tradition. Murv Jacob is an artist whose illustrations appear in more than 70 book and video projects. (2003)
- Travis Snell
Staff Writer