ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 29, 1996 TAG: 9612310063
SECTION: BOOKS PAGE: 4 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: BOOK REVIEW
BOOKMARKS
Author continues series
Reviewed by MARGARET GRAYSON
THE LONG WALK. By Amanda Cockrell. Avon. $5.99.
"The Long Walk," the third book in the series of "The Deer Dancers" by Amanda Cockrell, director of Hollins College's children's literature program and managing editor of The Hollins Critic, centers on the life of Others' Child, who is the oldest of Wind Caller's Children, from book two, by his wife, Dear Shadow, who is introduced in book one.
The time of "The Deer Dancers" is 5,000 years ago; the place is what is now New Mexico and the Southern California coast; the characters are America's earliest people. Cockrell draws on the mythology of the American Indians and weaves her storyline around its legends. It is a story of a people's daily struggle for survival against violent death, disease and starvation in a land of harsh winters, drought, earthquakes, floods and forest fires. It is the story of power plays and jealousy within tribes and wars between tribes.
In "The Long Walk," Others' Child, a woman of "powerful magic," abandons her husband, Night Hawk, and settles with their son among the coastal dwellers, a tribe living on the shore of "the endless water," where she finds not only a second husband but also acceptance and respect.
To begin in mid-series is to struggle with names as in a Russian novel. To read the whole series is to find out too much about one woman's view of primitive people in America's great Southwest. To read just "The Long Walk" is to come face to face with ill-fitting feminism among prehistory natives, a '90s-style sexual triangle and a made-for-the-movies forest fire disaster, but, also, with a good story and a strong and sympathetically drawn main character.
Bottom line: Read book one. Margaret Grayson teaches Latin at North Cross School.
Photographic history of the West
Reviewed by LENI ASHMORE SORENSEN
THE WEST: An Illustrated History for Children. By Dayton Duncan. Little, Brown and Co. $10.95.
PEOPLE OF THE WEST. By Dayton Duncan. Little, Brown and Co. $10.95.
THE GOLD RUSH. By Liza Ketchum. Little, Brown and Co. $10.95.
As we approach the end of the 20th century, we are still attempting to make sense of the 19th. Luckily for us, the photograph provides us a wonderful way to see, really see, the people who were our ancestors in the West: American Indians, whites, blacks, Asians and Hispanics. These three volumes make extensive use of archives of photographs, with more than 100 in each. For the young reader, these images are important, showing as they do the houses, tepees, towns and landscape that surrounded the people.
The text is a welcome relief from the vapid and sentimental renditions of our westward movement often presented to children. Television's "Little House" series or "Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman," with their sappy and thoroughly anti-historical view of the American past, cry out for an accurate and well-written rebuttal. These three books answer the need with strong text and wonderful illustrations. Solid bibliographies will send learners out to the wider world of historic sources.
Parents and their children will find much to fascinate them as they share a unique view of a time long gone.
Leni Ashmore Sorensen is in the graduate program in American Studies at the College of William and Mary.
Max Brand's classics of the West collection
Reviewed by PAUL E. FITZGERALD
THE LEGEND OF THUNDER MOON. By Max Brand. University of Nebraska Press. $25.
This delightful little book is the inaugural volume in a tetralogy planned by the University of Nebraska Press to resurrect and restore to intended form the impressive and ground-breaking 1927-28 series of Thunder Moon stories that flowed from the pen of Max Brand (born Frederick Shiller Faust, 1892-1944). The set should become a collector's item.
Thunder Moon is a kidnapped white baby reared by a band of Cheyenne who have agreed collectively to keep from him, forever, any information or awareness regarding his non-Indian origins. He matures into a warrior of skill and leadership. The series focuses on the conflicts - both internal and external - thrust upon him by his two contradictory heritages.
These tales first appeared as interrelated novellas and as book-length magazine serials. An earlier compilation began in 1969, 25 years after Faust's death, with both subsequent volumes following in 1982. The editing has been described as harsh, awkward and basically market-driven.
This new approach restores the stories to the author's original text, and places them in a more suitable four volumes following their intended sequence. If the next volumes match the standards and style of this opener offering, they will be crisply designed, well produced and a pleasure to hold - as well as read.
Faust's work has been translated into every major language and adapted to film. He perhaps was among the first rebels at the University of California in Berkeley (c.1916), and for his pains was denied his degree. In his pulp-print career he supported an aristocratic lifestyle in New York, adding a villa in Italy in 1925. In his Hollywood years, he wrote primarily for the Dr. Kildare movies. It has been estimated that his output, under a variety of pen names, would have filled more than 500 books.
There is every indication, however, that his Max Brand persona was his favorite. At least 50 years before the revisionism movement in Western history, he was presenting the customs, conduct, rituals, beliefs and societal structures of American Indians in a non-pejorative, reportorial manner. Devotees of Louis L'Amour and his softer, easier style, may find Max Brand somewhat stilted but still a man to ride the river with. It is just that Brand's style and structure are more formal. In any event, his characters are well-formed and understandable, and his flowing tales are filled with unexpected turns and true action. Further renewing my acquaintance with him will be a treat.
* * *
OUTLAWS ALL: Three Western Stories. By Max Brand. Read by James Bond. Audio. Brilliance Corp. $19.95.
For a look at another of the multiple literary personalities associated with the prolific mind of Frederick Shiller Faust (Brand), treat yourself to the seven hours of Jim Bond's reading three frontier adventure tales.
In the title story, "Outlaws All," and in "Alec the Great," a dog is a major character. "Riding Into Peril" features false charges, a hunted man, an enchanting woman, and a mysterious culprit known only as The Phantom.
Paul E. Fitzgerald is a recovering journalist who lives on a farm overlooking Fincastle.
Two Times staff writers publish books
By MARY ANN JOHNSON BOOK PAGE EDITOR
MERCHANTS OF MISERY: How Corporate America Profits from Poverty. Edited by Michael Hudson. Common Courage Press. $14.95.
A collection of writings that examines pawn shops, finance companies and other high-cost lending institutions.
THE CHESAPEAKE BAY BOOK. A Complete Guide. By Allison Blake. Berkshire House Publishers. $17.95.
One of the Great Destinations guidebook series, this revised edition includes a chapter for visitors to Baltimore as well as updated information about the entire Chesapeake Bay area.
A retired business writer for The Roanoke Times, George Kegley is editor of THE JOURNAL OF THE ROANOKE VALLEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: Vol. 13, No.2. Articles in this publication focus on subjects of historical interest to Roanoke and the surrounding area. Books in Brief
Mountain man's journey
BUFFALO PALACE.
By Terry C. Johnston. Bantam. $22.95.
Coming into the middle of a series of books and not wondering what went on in previous volumes is a testament to how well the author packages the individual offering. Without liner notes, the reader does not know that "Buffalo Palace" is fifth in a series about mountain man Titus Bass.
In this book, author Terry C. Johnston takes the reader on a journey from 19th-century St. Louis up the Missouri River to the Platte and westward to the beaver trapping country of the Rockies. Bass encounters buffalo, wolves, coyotes, Indians and other trappers in a richly contoured novel reminiscent of the classic story of the Platte river, James Michener's "Centennial."
Notes imply that earlier volumes in the Titus Bass saga include exposition of river life, a facet of American history long ignored. Read this book as a simple story in itself, or as an invitation to learn about frontier life as it might have been lived.
- LARRY SHIELD
LET THE DRUM SPEAK.
By Linda Lay Shuler. William Morrow & Co. $25.
"Let the Drum Speak" is the third of the planned Time Circle Quartet, a saga of early life in the great American Southwest. It's the story of Antelope, the daughter of Kwani, another in the line of beautiful, spirited women with mystic powers. Antelope follows her mate, the seductive Chomoc, from New Mexico to Oklahoma where he succumbs to a seduction by a queen from another city and abandons Antelope and their infant daughter, Skyfeather.
Antelope must save herself and her mysterious blue-eyed daughter while finding a life for herself.
I'm not a great fan of Early American furniture or sagas. In fact, I may have been one of the few semi-literate women who didn't get involved with Auel's "Clan of the Cave Bear" series some years ago. I'm also suspicious of female authors with three names. So, I wasn't too excited about this novel.
Having read it, I'm still not.
If you're into this pre-Columbian saga stuff, you'll probably find this one as good as any of the genre. I found it tedious and uninspiring.
- JUDY KWELLER
Larry Shield trains dogs and horses in Franklin County.
Judy Kweller is a special events coordinator.
Iroquois legend retold for children
Reviewed by MARY SUTTON SKUTT
BROTHER WOLF: A Seneca Tale. Retold and Illustrated by Harriet Peck Taylor. Farrar Straus Giroux. $15.
For those who enjoy sitting around the campfire telling folk tales, this legend from the Seneca tribe of the Iroquois is easy to remember. It is the story of how birds became different colors.
Harriet Peck Taylor retells "Brother Wolf" without wasting words, and she adds life to the retelling with vivid batiks. The pictures are large and expressive.
Mary Sutton Skutt is a children's writer living in Rockbridge County.
LENGTH: Long : 200 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: photographby CNB