"Jane Katz, author of We Rode the Wind: Recollections of 19th Century Plains Tribal Life and Let Me Be a Free Man: A Documentary History of Indian Resistance, has now given us a unique anthology, the first collection of writings by Native American women. I Am the Fire of Time contains almost 90 examples of their songs, poetry, prose, prayer, narrative, and oral history, which describe their everyday environment: the earth's past beauty and harmony, marriages and children, their roots and tribal history. Indian oral literature - the poetry as well as the prose - belies the popular stereotype of the native woman as a beast of burden. In fact, the Native American woman fulfilled a multitude of functions essential to the life of the tribe, such as in agriculture and the education of the children. Part I of this collection focuses on the songs, prayers, and rituals that were a part of the life cycle of the various tribes. Part II represents the women poets and prose writers of the twentieth century who have had to come to terms with the white man's desecration of their land and culture. This anthology, illustrated with 24 photographs, is a tribute to the Native American literary tradition, both the old and the new; and to the Native American woman, who, like the corn songs of the Pueblos, endures." --