Adopted into the Cherokee tribe as a teenager, William Holland Thomas (1805–1893), known to the Cherokees as Wil Usdi (Little Will), went on to have a distinguished career as lawyer, politician, and soldier. He spent the last decades of his life in a mental hospital, where the pioneering ethnographer James Mooney interviewed him extensively about Cherokee lifeways. The true story of Wil Usdi’s life forms the basis for this historical novella, the final published work of fiction by the late...

“So what does it mean to be a Cherokee?” asks Cherokee author Robert J. Conley at the start of this delightful collection of his writings. Throughout his prolific career, Conley used his art to explore Cherokee identity and experience. With his passing in 2014, Native American literature—and American literature in general—lost a major voice. Fortunately, this posthumous publication, edited by the author’s wife, Evelyn L. Conley*,* offers readers the opportunity to appreciate anew the blend...

They named him Striker, because the day he was born he was saidto have tried to hit the midwife. It’s a name the young Cherokeewould live up to throughout his early years, carrying with him theanger of watching his parents and best friend die on the Trail ofTears. Landing at Fort Gibson an orphan, Striker spends the nextfew years with other Cherokee children earning an education, anddeveloping a burning desire to kill white men. This craving builds...

A modern medicine man portrayed through the words of the people he has helpedRobert J. Conley did not set out to chronicle the life of Cherokee medicine man John Little Bear. Instead, the medicine man came to him. Little Bear asked Conley to write down his story, to reveal to the world “what Indian medicine is really about.” For Little Bear, as for the Cherokee ancestors who brought their traditions over the Trail of Tears to Indian Territory, the medicine is about helping...

What is your anxious child really feeling underneath the surface, and why do the usual tips never seem to reach it?You have run out of tools. You have tried the deep breaths and the pep talks, and still you watch your child freeze, spiral, or shut down over something you cannot always see. It leaves you feeling helpless in the one role you most want to get right.What no one tells you is that anxiety runs on a spectrum, and the technique that calms one chi...

Marshal Bluff Luton is out for one thing and one thing only-vengeance. Toad and Jasper Jessup were spotted in Wichita County, and Luton aims to make sure they never show their faces anywhere again. But the Jessup boys have hired a professional gunslinger who is no ordinary hired gun. A talkative, congenial man, he sits in a corner of the train, his steely grey eyes boring into the back of Luton's head, waiting for just the right killing time.

Henry Starr was one of the most notorious criminals of the Old West, famed far and wide for robbing two banks in the same town at the same time—a feat even the Dalton Gang couldn’t pull off. Still, Henry Starr was a reluctant outlaw.An honest, hardworking seventeen-year-old Cherokee cowboy with a steady job and a steady girl, he was framed and arrested for a crime he didn’t commit. When he was falsely accused and convicted a second time, Starr figured that since he was branded a cr...

Gaming and chiefing. Imposters and freedmen. Distinguished novelist Robert J. Conley examines some of the most interesting facets of the Cherokee world. In 26 essays laced with humor, understatement, even open sarcasm, this popular writer takes on politics, culture, his people’s history, and what it means to be Cherokee.Readers who think they know Conley will find an abundance of surprises in these pages. He reveals historical information not widely known or written about, such as ...

"Robert Conley spins a fast-action tall tale salted with Western humor."—Elmer Kelton, author of The Time It Never RainedHalf Cherokee and Civil War veteran Captain Skylar Garret returns to the home of Phillip Garret his white father, seeking an inheritance that he believes to have belonged to his late mother. Intertwined now into the lives of his three half brothers—one a vocal atheist, one an aspiring minister, and the other a black slave boy who Phillip Garret doesn't claim—Skyl...

For the first time, a book exists that compiles all the information candidates need to apply for their first School photographers job, or to apply for a better job.What you'll find especially helpful are the worksheets. It is so much easier to write about a work experience using these outlines. It ensures that the narrative will follow a logical structure and reminds you not to leave out the most important points. With this book, you'll be able to revise your application into a muc...

The Providence River begins its journey from the confluence of the Moshassuck and Woonasquatucket Rivers, in the capital city from which the river takes its name. A short distance downstream, the Seekonk River joins with the Providence as they flow on toward the mouth of Narragansett Bay. The history of the Ocean State was made on the banks of this historic river. It was here that Roger Williams established the first settlement dedicated to religious liberty, Rochambeau's army made its fir...

These pages are filled with memories and favorite tales that capture the essence of life in the Cherokee Nation. Ms. Duvall invites the reader to follow the tribe from its pre-historic days in the southeast, to early 20th century life in the Cookson Hills of Oklahoma. Learn about Pretty Woman, who had the power over life and death, or the mystical healing springs of Tahlequah. Spend some time with U.S. Deputy Marshals as they roam the old Cherokee Nation in pursuit of Indian Territory outl...