Aniyunwiya/Real Human Beings — Joseph Bruchac

Fiction. "Few Native peoples have had more written about them and in the long run, been less understood than the people most Americans call 'Cherokee.' Their own name for themselves, however , is Ani-yun-wiya, 'real human beings,' and it is as human beings, not noble savages, regally distant ancestors or pathetic figures on that Trail of Tears which shamed America, that contemporary Cherokee people continue to see themselves. In this collection, 23 contemporary writers, all of whom claim Cherokee ancestry as a defining point in their artistic vision, speak their own words. Some, like Cherokee chief Wilma Mankiller, have chosen to tell the stories of their lives; some, like Robert Conley, have mastered the genre of historical fiction. Others craft stories taking place within the world o f America in the 20th century, while still others , such as newcomer Eddie Webb, retell the ancient tales which have always given their people not only delight, but also a moral framework for their lives. The variety and complexity of their voices are, though they stem from one particular Native people - only one out of the more than 300 still surviving Native nations within the borders of the United States -emblematic of the vitality and the range of experiences which characterize contemporary American Indian lives" -from the introduction by Joseph Bruchac.