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Rating: 
Summary: Touched by this book
Review: Ellis is a strange mix of an adventurer, a lover, and a holy man. He takes the mundane ennui of walking along a dirty highway to an ethereal plane, ever loyal to his ancestry. His sensual nature touches, shocks, and comforts. He is able to make us see on two levels without appearing hokey or superficial. He doesn't wince at the supernatural, but rather takes it for its own worth. All Cherokees--in fact all Indians--should applaud his efforts. I live a few miles from where he walked in Gravette, AR, but I will not drive that highway again without thinking about the Trail of Tears.
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Summary: Compelling, honest and heart-felt journey of enlightenment.
Review: Ellis walked 900 miles to honor his Cherokee roots and I--a Cherokee whose ancestors walked the Trail of Tears in 1838--felt that I was with him the whole way. His easy poetic style of writing made everthing come alive and I still see the people he met, his tent and campfires at night. Best book on the Trail and its history I ever read.
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Summary: A must read for Indian, adventure and spiritual lovers!
Review: I found the book to be one of the best I have had the pleasure to come across in years. Jery Ellis writes so well that you are at one with him. Walking the 900 miles alone, in all kinds of weather puts one back in touch with nature and themselves. I thought the book was great and would highly reccomend it to every-one as a must. Thankyou Mr Ellis.
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Summary: Looking for the meaning of life??
Review: So is Jerry Ellis in this book, which is a first person account of his thoughts and encounters as he walks the Cherokee Trail of Tears. He blends what he sees and who he meets along the trail with ancestoral stories and beliefs in a way that educates and entertains the reader. He also manages to restore a person's faith in the kindness of Americans. I use this book as a classroom novel in my high school nonfiction course. The issues that Jerry struggles with in his book are some of the same ones that my students face as they prepare to leave school and figure out where they belong in the world. What keeps me from giving the book a five star rating is that Jerry sometimes gives the reader an up close and personal look at his love life in a way which doesn't really add to his narrative. Otherwise, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the cerebral slant of an excellent travelogue and who wants to know more about the spiritual traditions and history of the Cherokee.
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Summary: I Am the Author
Review: This is a formal thank you to readers over the past fourteen years since Walking the Trail was first published by Delacorte Press and nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. My driving force for walking the Trail in 1989 was to inform the world about the horrible history of my Cherokee ancestors. It was also a very private need to try to more deeply connect with my heritage, my Indian heart and soul. I sold almost everything I owned to finance this pilgrimage and took a bus to Oklahoma to begin the 900 mile walk back home to Fort Payne, Alabama. (The town gets its name from the fort--concentration camp--built to imprison the 1,100 of this area.)It is also the town where Sequoyah lived when he invented the Cherokee alphabet. My journey was blessed and filled with many loving people and extraordinary events. Since the book was published, I have lectured about the Trail of Tears throughout the US, Asia and Europe. All along my journey, people gave me items to bury as prayer offerings when I returned home for those who died on the Trail on 1838. They are now buried by the Sacred Oak within sight of my home in Fort Payne, Alabama. This fall, 2005, my wife and I will open a writers' retreat--The Tanager Center for Creative Endeavors--which will try to further honor the Cherokee and their values, values that are endangered by this exciting but questionable Modern Age. The Center sits on 200 wooded acres on a hill overlooking the valley where Sequoyah lived. Again, thank you readers for coming on the journey with me and the spirits of my ancestors from the Trail of Tears. May your treks through life be equally blessed.
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Summary: Yes, I recommend this book to everyone .. very good reading.
Review: This is a wonderfully-written book that helps us rethink our connection to our fellow humans and to all of Nature. Jerry Ellis has the ability to connect to people, causing them to trust him immediately and open up. Because of his encounters with so many during his walk along the Trail of Tears, I am encouraged about the state of our ability to be more tolerant of one another. Jerry also conveys a sense of calmness and patience and it has helped me to stop and take a few minutes to breathe, and look up, and look around. Also, to listen. Jerry writes with clarity and sureness, and it's as if he's telling you this story in person. I highly recommend this book.
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Summary: A must read for Indian, adventure and spiritual lovers!
Review: This is an outstanding book about a man (Cherokee) who sold everything he owned, took a bus to Oklahoma, and started walking 900 miles with a pack on his back to retrace his ancestors' Trail of Tears. The history, adventure, people encountered on the Trail will stay with me till the day I die.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging and distinctive
Review: This travelogue is a good exloration of modern America (c. 1989), but it is not about the trail so much as one man's journey through loneliness and the myriad of intriguing people he encounters throughout his walking "The Trail": a man who carrys around a human skull, to members of a cult, to ancestors of Cherokee trail walkers who settled on the land they walked before making it to the reservation.
The most refreshing aspect about this book is the author's respect for all people and for the sanctity of their claimed heritage. So many would dispell those claiming Native descent because they are not eligible for tribal membership, but Mr. Ellis see past that and into their hearts, identifying with them and recognizing that each person's story is sacred in its own right.
An excellent read on life, exploration, and the nature of humanity.
Four stars.
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