Kenney recounts a journey that led him to build a log cabin on the small, inaccessible Lake of Old Uncles and shares a personal philosophy inspired by Henry David Thoreau.
In 1883 a Smithsonian Institution ethnologist traveled to western New York State to record the traditional tales of the Iroquois tribe known as the Seneca. These myths -- picturesque, archaic, even grotesque -- appear here in their original form, exactly as spoken. Many focus on seasons or weather; others creation myths and animals.
First published in 1980 by the Canadian Museum of Civilization, this study presents narratives from different genres of Rock Cree oral literature in northwestern Manitoba together with interpretive and comparative commentary. The collection comprises narratives of the trickster-transformer Wisahkicahk, animal-human characters, spirit guardians, the wihtikow or cannibal monster, humorous experiences, sorcery, and early encounters with Catholicism.
First published in 1932 and never reprinted since, this historical drama re-creates the life and adventures of Joaquin Murrieta, a Hispanic social rebel in California during the tumultuous Gold Rush. Published during the Great Depression, at a time of mass deportations of Hispanos to Mexico, this sympathetic portrait of Murrieta and Mexican Americans was a unique voice of social protest. The author romanticizes the pastoral society of Mexican California into which Murrieta was born and introduces the protagonist as a quiet, honest, unpretentious, and reserved resident of Saw Mill Flat, California. But the rape and murder of his wife, Rosita, by racist Anglo miners unleashes his vengeful rage. Picking up his pistols, Murrieta tracks and kills Rosita's murderers and defends Hispanos against violence and dispossession by rampaging gold rush miners. Richard Griswold del Castillo discusses the significance of Murrieta to twentieth-century Mexican Americans and Chicanos and of Burns's history to contemporary understanding of the mysterious social bandit.