Rating: 
Summary: A comprehensive and diverse collection of Indian legends
Review: "American Indian Myths and Legends" is a collection of 166 stories selected and edited by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz that represent the heart and soul of the native people of North America. In contrast to the more familiar classical myths of ancient Greece and Roman, the genesis for these stories is much more organic, rising from the animals, plants and herb that made up the every day world of the people who told these tales. These tales also reflect the diversity of the peoples group under the name of American Indians, from the Seneca and Alconquian of the East to the White Mountain Apache and Navajo of the Southwest to the Brule Sioux and Nez Perce of the Plains. Using an admittedly artificial system of organization, Erdoes and Ortiz present ten sections: (1) Tales of Human Creation; (2) Tales of World Creation; (3) The Eye of the Great Spirit; (4) Monsters and Monster Slayers; (5) War and the Warrior Code; (6) Tales of Love and Lust; (7) Trickster Tales; (8) Stories of Animals and Other People; (9) Ghosts and the Spirit World; and (10) Visions of the End. I have been reading my copy again to consider its inclusion in a Contemporary Mythology class I am toying with teaching, and it certainly offers students an impressive collection of myths and legends in fairly pure form. There is some commentary, but the point here is not to analyze the stories but to preserve them and present them to new readers. However, teachers at any level who are studying myths can certainly find stories that can be used to create fascinating comparison/contrasts with tales on similar subjects from classical, Celtic, Hindu, African, or any other mythology they can get their hands on for class. I can see an excellent unit being developed just on the various creation myths of both humans and the worlds related in this book, which would provoke students to think about what difference the differences in these stories make in terms of how a people view the world and their place in it. Note: Many of the stories in this volume were collected by the authors in their extensive field research. Others are classic accounts, which are presented in their original forms, while the rest come from 19th-century sources that have been retold by the authors in an effort to do away with the artificial style typical of the period and restore their authenticity. The result is that there is a wide spectrum of American Indian history and culture covered within these pages.
Rating:
Summary: A comprehensive and diverse collection of Indian legends
Review: "American Indian Myths and Legends" is a collection of 166 stories selected and edited by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz that represent the heart and soul of the native people of North America. In contrast to the more familiar classical myths of ancient Greece and Roman, the genesis for these stories is much more organic, rising from the animals, plants and herb that made up the every day world of the people who told these tales. These tales also reflect the diversity of the peoples group under the name of American Indians, from the Seneca and Alconquian of the East to the White Mountain Apache and Navajo of the Southwest to the Brule Sioux and Nez Perce of the Plains. Using an admittedly artificial system of organization, Erdoes and Ortiz present ten sections: (1) Tales of Human Creation; (2) Tales of World Creation; (3) The Eye of the Great Spirit; (4) Monsters and Monster Slayers; (5) War and the Warrior Code; (6) Tales of Love and Lust; (7) Trickster Tales; (8) Stories of Animals and Other People; (9) Ghosts and the Spirit World; and (10) Visions of the End. I have been reading my copy again to consider its inclusion in a Contemporary Mythology class I am toying with teaching, and it certainly offers students an impressive collection of myths and legends in fairly pure form. There is some commentary, but the point here is not to analyze the stories but to preserve them and present them to new readers. However, teachers at any level who are studying myths can certainly find stories that can be used to create fascinating comparison/contrasts with tales on similar subjects from classical, Celtic, Hindu, African, or any other mythology they can get their hands on for class. I can see an excellent unit being developed just on the various creation myths of both humans and the worlds related in this book, which would provoke students to think about what difference the differences in these stories make in terms of how a people view the world and their place in it. Note: Many of the stories in this volume were collected by the authors in their extensive field research. Others are classic accounts, which are presented in their original forms, while the rest come from 19th-century sources that have been retold by the authors in an effort to do away with the artificial style typical of the period and restore their authenticity. The result is that there is a wide spectrum of American Indian history and culture covered within these pages.
Rating:
Summary: Good storyteller
Review: Adult storybook....
I ordered this book to glimpse into the Native American mythology, and I have to say, I am very impressed. This book comprises of ten parts, each consisting of intelligent, sometimes even funny tales and facinating stories of Human Creation, World Creation, Sun-Moon-Stars, Monsters, Love and Sex, Animals and Birds, and Ghosts-to mention a few. It's filled with analogies taken from nature. All these stories come from the tribes once spread across all over the North American continent. The editors claim that some of the stories are completely "untouched" by white people and that they still convey the original folklores started some thousands of years ago.
If you are interested in idiosyncratic facts than forget about it, if you like good stories and folk-tales, this book is for you.
Rating:
Summary: A great big book of myths!
Review: I am a huge fan of myths in general, but I never was familiar with Native American myths. After a trip to Alaska I found this book and it has opened up a new world. I know this book didn't go over well in Alaska, but I love it and read it over and over again.
Rating:
Summary: A great big book of myths!
Review: I am a huge fan of myths in general, but I never was familiar with Native American myths. After a trip to Alaska I found this book and it has opened up a new world. I know this book didn't go over well in Alaska, but I love it and read it over and over again.
Rating:
Summary: Winchinchala
Review: I love this book. Winchinchala reminds me of Calista Flockhart in all of her glorious innocence. Calista lives in the Land of the Be-Diapered Ones, which is a far cry from the People. Coyote Anew
Rating: 
Summary: A very pleasing set of tales for children of all ages.
Review: Received this book as a gift years ago and didn't appreciate the rich beauty of the stories and the story telling style until I began reading from it to the grandchildren. The stories are delightful to read and and deliver subtle and simple truths that add to the enjoyment of everyday living. Definitely worth readinf next to the fire with a cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter evening.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Collection of Stories from the First Nations
Review: Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz really did a wonderful job putting together this compilation. Taking various stories from North America, the duo covers traditional tales of everyone from the Aleut to the Toltecs and pretty much everything in between. Every region and culture group is represented, and tales from well known Nations such as the Cherokee, Lakota, Dine (Navajo), Apache and Iroquois appear beside those of less well known (but no less vibrant and culturally active) Nations such as the Miwok, Caddo, Metis and Shasta. Hopefully this will help expand people's views of Native American culture. After all, stereotypical views of "Indians" rarely include the Nations of California or the Pacific Northwest, or even the Southern Woodlands (the original homeland of the Cherokee and their neighbors). Obviously not every Nation could be represented, but this is still an excellent survey of the continent. It does a wonderful job showing how common cultural themes have woven their way across this entire continent, helping to reinforce the culture and customs of the First Nations. And at the same time, it also shows how each culture was different, having its own beliefs, customs and practices unique to themselves. Each chapter was divided into a different theme, so the book covers the Creation of People, the Creation of the World, Stories about Celestial Bodies, Monsters, War Heroes, Love, Tricksters, Animal People, Ghosts and the End of the World. Hence the book goes full circle in exploring major themes in North American belief. Each chapter includes the stories of numerous Nations from different regions, linguistic families or "cultural groupings", allowing the reader to see them in a much broader light. All of the stories are short, and they range in mood from hilarious (Intome's description of his nightmare in "Inktome Has a Bad Dream") to being deeply moving (the sun's sacrifice in "The Scabby One Lights Up the Sky"). At the end of each story, the source is given and they come from quite a number of sources. Many are recorded in this book for the first time as far as I am aware, so it is certainly worth looking at even if you are very familar with Native American traditions. To those familar with Native American culture, some things in this book should be familar, particularly the antics of Coyote, Inktome the spider, Raven and other tricksters, but also the tales of Glooskap, giants, floods, disembodied cannibal heads, the place of emergence, Hiawatha and so forth. One thing I should point out before going further is that some of these tales deal with adult themes (in the Inuit tale "Moon Rapes His Sister Sun" the moon commits the sins of rape and incest and forever chases his sister across the sky) and can be downright raunchy (as is the case with several of the Coyote and Inktome stories). There is nothing wrong with these stories, as they either are meant to teach a moral lesson (as is the case with the former) or because they are meant to amuse (in the case of the trickster stories). But it can come as something of a shock to those who are expecting "mere children's stories". Still, if you or someone you know has an interest in Native American culture, this book is certainly worth getting.
Rating: 
Summary: 166 Quickies
Review: Sorting through many of the American Indian Myths (As if there was a homogenized group called American Indians) Richard Erdoes and Alfonzo Ortiz selected 166 short, one or two page, stories. These stories look like the pre-curser to the urban legends today.
The myths are artificially separated into ten subjects and lose the continuity of being divided by particular ethnic group; thus we never get a feel for the bigger picture of where the stories come from.
You need a great sense of humor as many of the stories are very kinky such as "TEETH IN THE WRONG PLACE" (PONCA-OTOE), which is exactly what it implies.
There seems to be only three Zuni tales out of the 166. I wonder if there is a reason for this.
Rating:
Summary: Banned in Anchorage, Alaska !
Review: The Anchorage, Alaska School Board has banned this book from all school libraries. In a 4-2 vote, the school board did allow it to remain in teacher resource libraries. It will not be available for students to check out or examine, and it will not be on school library shelves. Objections to the book came about after Marty Decker, a Chugiak High School English teacher, used excerpts from the book in his 10th grade English class. Decker had failed to read some of the stories he handed out for students to read as part of an optional assignment. One student objected to "Coyote and the Strawberry" and complained to administrators. Decker had acquired his copy from the Anchorage public library. Because this book was available in school district libraries, however, Decker was determined to have been negligent only in failing to examine materials ahead of time, not in handing out work the school district could have found objectionable. A new teacher not yet tenured, he was suspended for three days and required to submit future lesson plans to his supervisor.
This incident led to district officials filing a formal complaint with the Controversial Materials Review Committee. That committee voted 11-2 to keep "American Indian Myths and Legends" on the shelves. The school board denied the committee's recommendation. Two of the school board members wanted to keep this dangerous book out of the hands of even teacher libraries. I have not read this book beyond Anchorage Daily News article excerpts, so the rating above should be a 10 for "banned."
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