This work makes available for the first time in a single volume a representative collection of the major spiritual texts from the Native American Indian peoples of the East Coast. Elisabeth Tooker, professor of anthropology at Temple University and an editor of The Handbook of North American Indians, presents the sacred traditions of the Iroquois, Winnibego, Fox, Menominee, Delaware, Cherokee and others. What makes this volume so unique is that it gives the reader direct access to the original works (in the words of the Indians themselves) rather than having them filtered through some interpreter. Included here are cosmological myths, thanksgiving addresses, dreams and visions, speeches of the shamans, teachings of parents, puberty fasts, blessings, healing rites, stories, songs, ceremonials for fires, hunting, wars, feasts and the rituals of various spiritual societies.
The Preface to this volume is by William C. Sturtevant of the Smithsonian Institution, who is General Editor of The Handbook of North American Indians.