Reinventing the Enemy's Language: Contemporary Native Women's Writings of North America »

Gloria Bird lives in Nespelem, Washington.

Joy Harjo lives in Honolulu, Hawaii, and travels the United States playing saxophone with her band.

"A collection of important, eloquent, and often mesmerizing writings by American Indian Women. . . . A profoundly moving statement of resilience and renewal."—San Francisco Chronicle

Library Journal

Coeditors Harjo (The Woman Who Fell from the Sky, LJ 11/15/94) and Bird (Full Moon on the Reservation, Greenfield Review, 1994) have put together a one-of-a-kind anthology of fiction, poetry, and memoir from over 80 Native women writers representing over 50 nations. Although nationally known writers such as Louise Erdrich, Linda Hogan, and Leslie Silko are included, many others are being published here for the first time. More than a collection of literature, this work is divided into four sectionsgenesis, struggle, transformation, and returningto illuminate the writing process. Each writer introduces herself and her philosophical perspective about writing, and the willingness to share personal stories makes this a work of rare beauty, truth, and power. In addition, the anthology also highlights the writers' views on universal concerns such as violence against women, poverty, alcoholism, depression, government/Native American relations, and, especially, identity and place. Recommended for all libraries.Vicki Leslie Toy Smith, Univ. of Nevada, Reno