Michael Klaas

A really solid historical narrative that intertwines closely with Maddow’s work on her podcast Ultra (which I highly recommend).

This is a more challenging read than one might expect. The way the author structures his chapters with stories and asides that weave multiple times and personal tales together with unclear structure is often confounding. It does, however, bring the personal stories of the characters into their own place in history and culture in a way that emphasizes the depth of Indigenous American experience and tradition. Momaday's description of place is also unfailingly beautiful and rich. The story is inescapably a part of the land and the land shapes it.

I'll need to sit with this one for at least one other read before I can truly comprehend what it's saying to me personally. Mercifully, it's a rather short book, so it's an inviting proposition to sit with the author's textured prose again to sort out the story.

For audiobook listeners, I recommend staying away from the Darrell Dennis narration. He's not up to the task of vocalizing Momaday's work. His cadence and emphasis are off, so I just recommend the print version of this book instead.