Trails of Tears, Paths of Beauty

by Joseph Bruchac

Book by Bruchac, Joseph

Genres: Nonfiction, History

199 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1999

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

[Lisa M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

My boyfriend took me on a surprise date. He drove me over an hour away to my favorite used bookstore, one I have visited since I was a child, and gave me $20 to spend however I wanted. I took a long time moving through the stacks, and he finally had enough. As we went toward the checkout line, I kept an eye out for what to spend my last dollar on. This was it. I didn't get a chance to look at it, and didn't take it very seriously. I figured it couldn't be that bad, but didn't have high hopes.

It's been a long time since that date and I am finally reading this book! I really underestimated it. First, the book is beautiful. In true National Geographic style, there are tons of glossy, colorful, well-composed photographs. We get to see the landscape, historical characters, and modern Native Americans. The text is equally as satisfying, opening with information that details the Cherokee and Navajo people's beliefs. I really liked that this book respected the fact that these beliefs are still alive. Many texts treat Native Americans as a thing of the past. But, this section of the book talks about foundational beliefs, myths, and lifestyles, in the present tense, respecting that they live on in current times. I was fascinated. This portion is a great opener and I would love to learn more. This provides a solid background on the portions about the Trail of Tears and Long Walk, and what came afterwards. I felt the author's depiction was well rounded. He honored the suffering of the people of the time, but also noted the complexity of the situation. For example, he noted Native Americans who were considered traitors when they began assisting the whites in kidnapping their own to sell for slavery. He also noted when certain whites abandoned their posts or stood up against others because of the inhumanity they were witnessing. For such a short book I think the author provided a successful, complex depiction of what happened.

My only minor complaint would be that the language in the title/chapters seems to recognize the Cherokee Trail of Tears. Although the actual text is balanced and delves into the Navajo Long Walk deeply, it isn't mentioned in any of the titles. I wish it was recognized in some way like the Trail of Tears was.

I am happy I got this book! I will keep it as a reference for years to come.

[Erik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was initially surprised at how informative and thoughtful this book is. I don't know why I went in expecting little, maybe because it's a glossy-looking National Geographic book that seemed more destined to be a bunch of photos and blurbs. But Joseph Bruchac never disappoints—for decades he has educated me and my family with his wisdom storytelling. This book is fascinating, sublimely balanced yet unafraid to land some serious punches, overwhelmingly heartbreaking and somehow inspirational, too. The twin stories of the Cherokee and Navajo Trails of Tears and Long Walk is masterfully woven together. Each tribe's origin stories, histories and modern-day status are also included. The writing and images are superb. I highly recommend this book to any who are interested.

[Brittany]

Reference book-beautiful PICTs and info on Cherokee nation