Status
Available
Call number
Series
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Publication
New World Library (2002), Edition: 2nd, Paperback, 304 pages
Description
Against an unflinching backdrop of 1990s reservation life and the majestic spaces of the western Dakotas, Neither Wolf nor Dog tells the story of two men, one white and one Indian, locked in their own understandings yet struggling to find a common voice. In this award-winning book, acclaimed author Kent Nerburn draws us deep into the world of a Native American elder named Dan, who leads Kent through Indian towns and down forgotten roads that swirl with the memories of the Ghost Dance and Sitting Bull. Along the way we meet a vivid cast of characters -- ranging from Jumbo, a 400-pound mechanic, to Annie, an eighty-year-old Lakota woman living in a log cabin with no running water. An unlikely cross between On the Road and Black Elk Speaks, Neither Wolf nor Dog takes us past the myths and stereotypes of the Native American experience, revealing an America few ever see.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member rmckeown
I wasn’t sure I would like this book. A good friend who is really into some New Age things recommended it for our book club. I had read Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee years ago and found that horribly tragic tale of genocide moving and unforgettable. As I began Nerburn’s book, I
Quite a few passages really stuck out. Here they are – without comment – because they clearly speak for themselves.
“Our elders were schooled in the ways of silence, and they passed that along to us. Watch, listen, and then act, they told us. This is the way to live” (65).
"‘Look out there, Nerburn’ he said. I surveyed the lavender morning sky and the distant rolling foothills. “This is what my people care about. This is our mother, the earth.”
"‘It’s a beautiful place,’ I offered.
He snubbed out his cigarette. “It’s not a place. That’s white man’s talk. She’s alive. We are standing on her. We’re part of her’” (131).
“'Whenever the white people won it was a victory. Whenever we won it was a massacre. What was the difference? There were bodies on the ground and children lost their parents, whether the bodies were Indian or white. But the whites used their language to make their killing good and our killing bad’” (162-162).
Dan’s granddaughter weighed in, when she met Nerburn during one of the author’s trips around the reservation with Dan. She said, “They ignored us. We were just women. But we were always the ones to keep the culture alive. That was our job, as women and mothers. It always has been. The men can’t hunt buffalo anymore. But we can still cook and sew and practice the old ways. We can still feed the old people and make their days warm. We can teach the children. Our men may be defeated, but our women’s hearts are still strong” (249).
I did find some minor faults with the book. I felt the book went on just a bit too long -- the last few chapters were really over the top. I got the message clear as a mountain stream without them. While Dan often complains about how “Hollywood Indians” sounded, he frequently sounded like a Hollywood Indian to me.
But overall, a touching and shameful account of the genocide this country perpetrated against Native Americans. At times, it had a rather Zen-like feel to it, but it was always, honest and from the heart. 4-1/2 stars
--Jim, 1/26/11
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became absorbed from the opening pages. This first person account of atrocities and the underlying philosophy of Native Americans, takes its place as an important supplement to Dee Brown’s book. While some of these incidents had a vague place in my consciousness, Nerburn brought them into clear focus with his collection of “talks” by Dan, an elder of the Lakota tribe.Quite a few passages really stuck out. Here they are – without comment – because they clearly speak for themselves.
“Our elders were schooled in the ways of silence, and they passed that along to us. Watch, listen, and then act, they told us. This is the way to live” (65).
"‘Look out there, Nerburn’ he said. I surveyed the lavender morning sky and the distant rolling foothills. “This is what my people care about. This is our mother, the earth.”
"‘It’s a beautiful place,’ I offered.
He snubbed out his cigarette. “It’s not a place. That’s white man’s talk. She’s alive. We are standing on her. We’re part of her’” (131).
“'Whenever the white people won it was a victory. Whenever we won it was a massacre. What was the difference? There were bodies on the ground and children lost their parents, whether the bodies were Indian or white. But the whites used their language to make their killing good and our killing bad’” (162-162).
Dan’s granddaughter weighed in, when she met Nerburn during one of the author’s trips around the reservation with Dan. She said, “They ignored us. We were just women. But we were always the ones to keep the culture alive. That was our job, as women and mothers. It always has been. The men can’t hunt buffalo anymore. But we can still cook and sew and practice the old ways. We can still feed the old people and make their days warm. We can teach the children. Our men may be defeated, but our women’s hearts are still strong” (249).
I did find some minor faults with the book. I felt the book went on just a bit too long -- the last few chapters were really over the top. I got the message clear as a mountain stream without them. While Dan often complains about how “Hollywood Indians” sounded, he frequently sounded like a Hollywood Indian to me.
But overall, a touching and shameful account of the genocide this country perpetrated against Native Americans. At times, it had a rather Zen-like feel to it, but it was always, honest and from the heart. 4-1/2 stars
--Jim, 1/26/11
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LibraryThing member juniperSun
Not always a comfortable book to read, but very readable, as Nerburn is not afraid to let himself look foolish.
More a story about Nerburn, this narrative challenges us to examine our preconceptions and relationships with Native Americans so that we will see each person as an individual and not a
More a story about Nerburn, this narrative challenges us to examine our preconceptions and relationships with Native Americans so that we will see each person as an individual and not a
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stereotype. At the same time, we get a glimpse of the pain experienced by modern day Indians from past memories and as they try to find a way for themselves in this society which doesn't allow them to follow their cultural values. Show Less
LibraryThing member elenchus
Nerburn receives an unexpected call: "My grandpa wants to talk to you." It's unclear if that's to criticize Nerburn's earlier books on the Red Lake Ojibwe or to discuss something else, and no further detail is forthcoming. Nerburn reluctantly agrees to meet. So begins an uncertain and at times
Dan isn't writing his life story or even his memories. He's not dictating sacred teachings. He wants written down what he's got in his head. "I watch people. White people and Indian people. I see things. I want you to help me write it down right." [17]
Neither Wolf Nor Dog is partly the book Dan requests but mostly it's an account of writing that book, with the result that much of what Dan has in mind doesn't make it into the text. Rather than a postmodern narrative trick, though, Nerburn's sincere grappling with Dan's request, figuring out how to honour it while avoiding the trap of romanticizing Dan as a holy man or noble red man, becomes the best means for fulfilling his promise. The resulting irony not so much literary -- deliberately crafted -- as one arrived at unintentionally, unforeseen. (Dan's burned shoebox of notes and jottings elegantly confirms this.)
Nerburn's achievement is significant, remarkable enough that almost unnoticed is the fact that one book is lost in order to better pursue another. Some of the one is here, necessarily, in order to tell of its abandonment. But it is that abandonment which is told here, a story of how Dan came to ideas, and then how Dan could share those ideas with a white man, and how a white man could understand those ideas. The ideas themselves (that first book!) become less important than their transmission, from one man to another, across cultures. So not a book on Oglala culture, nor an Oglala critique of U.S. mainstream culture, but a book on how the cultures interact.
I found the tone at times exasperating, its solemnity or gravitas too self-conscious and earnest. Nerburn makes gaffes almost inconceivable for someone who spent so much time among Ojibwe and other Native Americans. And yet, I must acknowledge for the book to work, Nerburn had to act, speak, think like a white man, even while wrestling with our sins. Perhaps, after all, he dutifully described the sharp elbows, the shame and emotion of cultures awkwardly bumping and crowding, deliberately included these embarassments because it's inevitable in genuine exchange. A model for our times.
//
Reference point: Nerburn's account appears to illustrate a case study of nonviolent communication, though Nerburn doesn't specifically cite Marshall Rosenberg (even assuming he's aware of him). The book also avoids performative contradiction.
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frustrating relationship between Nerburn and Dan, an Oglala Lakota wanting a book ghostwritten for him. Dan isn't writing his life story or even his memories. He's not dictating sacred teachings. He wants written down what he's got in his head. "I watch people. White people and Indian people. I see things. I want you to help me write it down right." [17]
Neither Wolf Nor Dog is partly the book Dan requests but mostly it's an account of writing that book, with the result that much of what Dan has in mind doesn't make it into the text. Rather than a postmodern narrative trick, though, Nerburn's sincere grappling with Dan's request, figuring out how to honour it while avoiding the trap of romanticizing Dan as a holy man or noble red man, becomes the best means for fulfilling his promise. The resulting irony not so much literary -- deliberately crafted -- as one arrived at unintentionally, unforeseen. (Dan's burned shoebox of notes and jottings elegantly confirms this.)
Nerburn's achievement is significant, remarkable enough that almost unnoticed is the fact that one book is lost in order to better pursue another. Some of the one is here, necessarily, in order to tell of its abandonment. But it is that abandonment which is told here, a story of how Dan came to ideas, and then how Dan could share those ideas with a white man, and how a white man could understand those ideas. The ideas themselves (that first book!) become less important than their transmission, from one man to another, across cultures. So not a book on Oglala culture, nor an Oglala critique of U.S. mainstream culture, but a book on how the cultures interact.
I found the tone at times exasperating, its solemnity or gravitas too self-conscious and earnest. Nerburn makes gaffes almost inconceivable for someone who spent so much time among Ojibwe and other Native Americans. And yet, I must acknowledge for the book to work, Nerburn had to act, speak, think like a white man, even while wrestling with our sins. Perhaps, after all, he dutifully described the sharp elbows, the shame and emotion of cultures awkwardly bumping and crowding, deliberately included these embarassments because it's inevitable in genuine exchange. A model for our times.
//
Reference point: Nerburn's account appears to illustrate a case study of nonviolent communication, though Nerburn doesn't specifically cite Marshall Rosenberg (even assuming he's aware of him). The book also avoids performative contradiction.
Show Less
LibraryThing member dele2451
Very insightful, enlightening and powerful reading. If I was an educator in the field of anthropology, sociology, American History or any related fields, I would make this required reading for my students. I am thankful the author and the elder were able to connect for long enough to get this
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unexpected and important story told. The explanations presented about the perceptual differences regarding property rights and ownership between Indian cultures and white settlers were especially thought-provoking/educational. A definite recommend, at least for every American. Show Less
LibraryThing member splinfo
Nerburn says over and over again that he is just recording AT HIS REQUEST the words of an old man of the Lakota Tribe who wants the white world to better understand his people. But unfortunately, he comes across as a bumbling dolt sitting at the feet of a wise Indian Elder and absorbing the ancient
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wisdom of a people in harmony with the world. Still, while unsettling, we need to hear these stories of injustice. Show Less
LibraryThing member mldavis2
It is difficult to categorize this novel. The author is a long time Indian advocate with life experience in the history and peoples of the American past. In this well written novel, he is asked by an Indian elder to write a book from the Indian perspective. The author writes in first person and
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creates several memorable characters as he "learns" of the elder's ideas and history. Sprinkled with humor, pathos and regret, Nerburn spins a fascinating tale of his encounter. Show Less
LibraryThing member St.CroixSue
An older book worth reading before the long-awaited movie
LibraryThing member bjellis
Life changing.
LibraryThing member SABC
Nerburn is ask by an Indian elder to write a book form the Indian's perspective. Written in first person, Nerburn creates memorable characters from the ideas and history the elder shares.
LibraryThing member streamsong
As the book blurb on the back of the book says: “An unlikely cross between On the Road and Black Elk Speaks, Neither Wolf nor Dog takes us past the myths and stereotypes of the Native American experience, revealing an America few ever see.”
After author Kent Nerburn helped his Native American
Although the elder, referred to only as Dan, had written down many of his thoughts over the years, he ended up burning them, and instead took Nerburn on a Indian roadtrip across the high plains, through the Badlands and to the site of Wounded Knee. As they drove and experienced, Dan gave Nerburn many of his little lectures in the context from which they were born.
Beautifully written and much to think about.
4.5 stars. I’ll be reading the sequel.
After author Kent Nerburn helped his Native American
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students publish the stories of their elders, he was contacted by an elder who wanted Nerburn to write a book for him.Although the elder, referred to only as Dan, had written down many of his thoughts over the years, he ended up burning them, and instead took Nerburn on a Indian roadtrip across the high plains, through the Badlands and to the site of Wounded Knee. As they drove and experienced, Dan gave Nerburn many of his little lectures in the context from which they were born.
Beautifully written and much to think about.
4.5 stars. I’ll be reading the sequel.
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LibraryThing member zmagic69
I have had this book in my to be read pile since- according to the receipt since 2004.
Wow!
Should be required reading in every high school in America.
One man’s opinion but he makes a strong case.
Excellent explanation of what was done to the American Indians and why everything everyone has done
Outstanding book!
Wow!
Should be required reading in every high school in America.
One man’s opinion but he makes a strong case.
Excellent explanation of what was done to the American Indians and why everything everyone has done
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since doesn’t fix the problem and oftentimes makes things worse.Outstanding book!
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Subjects
Awards
Minnesota Book Awards (Finalist — 1995)
Original publication date
1994-08
Physical description
304 p.; 8.62 inches
ISBN
1577312333 / 9781577312338