Lasting Echoes: An Oral History of Native American People

by Joseph Bruchac

Discusses the history of Native Americans, with a sampling of excerpts from their own accounts of their experiences

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Native Americans, Native American

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Joseph Bruchac lives with his wife, Carol, in the Adirondack mountain foothills town of Greenfield Center, New York, in the same house where his maternal grandparents raised him. Much of his writing draws on that land and his Abenaki ancestry. Although his American Indian heritage is only one part of an ethnic background that includes Slovak and English blood, those Native roots are the ones by which he has been most nourished. He, his younger sister Margaret, and his two grown sons, James and Jesse, continue to work extensively in projects involving the preservation of Abenaki culture, language and traditional Native skills, including performing traditional and contemporary Abenaki music with the Dawnland Singers.

He holds a B.A. from Cornell University, an M.A. in Literature and Creative Writing from Syracuse and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the Union Institute of Ohio. His work as a educator includes eight years of directing a college program for Skidmore College inside a maximum security prison. With his wife, Carol, he is the founder and Co-Director of the Greenfield Review Literary Center and The Greenfield Review Press. He has edited a number of highly praised anthologies of contemporary poetry and fiction, including Songs from this Earth on Turtle's Back, Breaking Silence (winner of an American Book Award) and Returning the Gift. His poems, articles and stories have appeared in over 500 publications, from American Poetry Review, Cricket and Aboriginal Voices to National Geographic, Parabola and Smithsonian Magazine. He has authored more than 70 books for adults and children, including The First Strawberries, Keepers of the Earth (co-authored with Michael Caduto), Tell Me a Tale, When the Chenoo Howls (co-authored with his son, James), his autobiography Bowman's Store and such novels as Dawn Land, The Waters Between, Arrow Over the Door and The Heart of a Chief. Forthcoming titles include Squanto's Journey (Harcourt), a picture book, Sacajawea (Harcourt), an historical novel, Crazy Horse's Vision (Lee & Low), a picture book, and Pushing Up The Sky (Dial), a collection of plays for children. His honors include a Rockefeller Humanities fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Writing Fellowship for Poetry, the Cherokee Nation Prose Award, the Knickerbocker Award, the Hope S. Dean Award for Notable Achievement in Children's Literature and both the 1998 Writer of the Year Award and the 1998 Storyteller of the Year Award from the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers. In 1999, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas.

As a professional teller of the traditional tales of the Adirondacks and the Native peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Joe Bruchac has performed widely in Europe and throughout the United States from Florida to Hawaii and has been featured at such events as the British Storytelling Festival and the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesboro, Tennessee. He has been a storyteller-in-residence for Native American organizations and schools throughout the continent, including the Institute of Alaska Native Arts and the Onondaga Nation School. He discusses Native culture and his books and does storytelling programs at dozens of elementary and secondary schools each year as a visiting author.

Reviews

[Julie Barrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lasting echoes, an oral history of Native American people by Joseph Bruchac
Loved learning about the customs of the Indians and what 13 marks on turtle stood for.
Familiar with Lake George and it's fascinating to learn more about the Indians there.
All tribes are discussed as the stories are from their side and how the white people intervened into their world.
Enjoyed hearing about all the harm done by the white people as I've read just a bit about that in other books.
Like the references and sources listed at the end.
Received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was visiting a new library when I saw this book on display. I soon learned that I was eligible for a library card there so I got one. This is one of the books I checked out as I broke in my newest library card.

I had to stop several times because some of the stories were heartbreaking. This isn't fiction. It's history. To realize our history can cause heartache.

I wish the book were longer but I guess it's on me to find more stories like this. Bruchac left a wonderful bibliography to begin my search.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was really interesting to read a history of native american people written by a native american author which included a great deal of quotes from native peoples throughout the last 400+ years. It was eye opening at a few points to read their perspective and certainly heart breaking in many places. These are voices that need to be heard.

[Noah Letner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read from a different angle!