Tusmith, Bonnie. All My relatives: Community in Contemporary Ethnic American Literature. An Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1994.
Tusmith analyzes various cultures of ethnic Americans and the importance of individualism and communal values within each of them. She analyzes the sense of community in works by Frank Chin, Maxine Hong Kingston, Alice Walker, John Edgar Wideman, N. Scott Momaday, Leslie Marmon Silko, Tomas Rivera, and Sandra Cisneros.

Watkins, Joe. "Place-meant." American Indian Quarterly. 25.1 (Winter 2001): 41-45.
Watkins, an Oklahoma Choctaw, discusses the Native American sense of place, comments that "The relationships between American Indians and the land is multifaceted. It's not one of ownership per se, for we are owned more by the land, tied to it by obligations and responsibilities established by our ancestors." He considers the interconnectedness between land and culture as "a sacred thread" (41). The transience of Americans is a cause of their lack of connection to place.

White, Richard. "It's Your Misfortune and None of My Own": A New History of the American West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991.
The American West, White believes, "is a product of conquest and the mixing of diverse groups of peoples" (4). His this work, he traces American history from 1536 to the present day, which special emphasis on minorities, gender, and the environment . The chapter, "New Communities and the Western Social Order" is especially pertinent for this class. An excellent voice from a prominent and respected historian.

Klein, Laura F. and Lillian A. Ackerman. Women and Power in Native North America. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995.
A collection of essays from a 1988 symnposium this collection of articles treats the status of women in various tribes. Although none of the articles treat Plains Indians, the Introduction is helpful.

Rappaport, Doreen. The Flight of Red Bird: The Life of Zitkala-Sa. New York: Dial Books, 1997. br> This is a well-respected biography of Zitkala-Sa that uses her own words and extensive primary research to tell the story of this important American woman. Although it is written for Young Adults, the information about her life, as well as the bibliographical material, is indespensible.

---."Frank Waters." Updating the Literary West. Fort Worth: Texas Christian Univ,l997: 854-860.
A short update on Waters' works and the literary criticism occurring after the l987 volume was published.

Barringer, Felicity. "Pueblo Parents Feel Generation Gap: Where Shall Children Be Educated?" New York Times 24 Oct. 1990, natl. ed.: B5.
In this article, Felicity Barringer addresses the conflict that has arisen between Pueblo parents on the San Felipe Indian Reservation in New Mexico and the Tribal Council. At the end of the twentieth century, the question of where Indian children should receive their education is still very much controversial. The article points out that parents who want their children to receive the best possible tools to survive in the "outside world" have to pay for this parental concern with the scorn of the Tribal Council. Although the parents involved do not seek to deny their children's Indian identity, it would seem that the Indian Tribal Council looks down upon those who want to have the best of both worlds. Although the article focuses on a different time period than Frank Waters' book, it is interesting to find that it discusses the same issues as are addressed in his novel.

Blackburn, Alexander. "Frank Waters." Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook, 1986: 343-355.
A discussion of Waters' own dual white and Indian heratage, the influence of myth, his belief in the collective unconscious, and his concern for a synthesis of reason and intuition. A substantial bibliography.

Davis Jack L., and June H Davis. "Frank Waters and the Native American Consciousness." Western American Literature. 9 (l974): 33-43.
Comparing Waters' philosophical tenets to those of Transcendentalists such as Emerson and Thoreau, of Europeans including Jung and Heidegger,the authors give a detailed analysis of Waters' writing, including MAN, to bridge the "psychic gap between two vastly different cultures." This excellent essay reads easily; it is not as erudite as this sounds.

Deloria, Jr., Vine, ed.  Frank Waters:  Man and Mystic.  Athens, Ohio:  Swallow Press/Ohio University Press, 1993.
 A collection of essays divided into categories:  The Memories and The Commentaries.  Three under "The Commentaries"seem more pertinent to the study of The Man Who Killed the Deer.  They are Ä Tribute to the Man Who Killed the Deer" by Win Blevins, "Knowledge, Narrative and the Indians:  Ruminations on Frank Waters" by Will Wright, and "Frank Waters:  A Dialogue on Pueblo Living" by Larry Evers.

Greenwood, Phaedra, “Sheltering the Creative Spirit: Reconciling Sexual Opposites.” Salt Journal Review2.2 (January/February 2000). .
The author, Phaedra Greenwood, a journalist living in Taos, N.M. interviews Barbara Waters, the fourth wife of Native American novelist Frank Waters. In the article Barbara Waters discusses the author’s relationships with women and how the influenced his writing. “It seems at every stage of life a woman was there to aid my slow growth toward maturity of heart and mind,” Frank Waters wrote. In his novel, The Man Who Killed the Deer, the protagonist, Martiniano, rebuked in both the white and Native American cultures, endures a flogging for his refusal to conform to Indian tradition. It is in the loving eyes of his wife, Flowers Playing, who has come to tell him that she is pregnant, that Martiniano finds his dignity.

Kiyaani, Mike. As told to Thomas J. Csordas. "On the Peyote Road." Natural History 106 (March 1997):48-49.

Lyon, Thomas J. Frank Waters. New York: Twayne, 1973.
In the chapter "Idea as Drama: Major Fiction," Lyon provides an excellent discussion of The Man Who Killed the Deer, touching upon all of the major themes and issues. He believes that the novel is extraordinary in the way that it fuses "archatypal tale with documentary history" (104).

Niethammer, Carolyn. Daughters of the Earth: The Lives and Legends of American Indian Women. New York: Macmillan, l977. pp. 242-43.
A short excerpt from Waters' MASKED GODS, describing the Deer Mothers in the Taos Deer Dance, an ilustration of the"inner drama that lies beneath the surface of cold ethnological documentation." This is Waters at his sensual best.

Schultes, Richard Evans, and Albert Hoffman. “The Tracks of the Little Deer from Plants of the Gods—Their Sacred, Healing and Hallucinogenic Powers.” Vermont: Healing Arts Press, 1992. 8 pp. A Brief History of Peyote. 28 Jan. 2002 .
This article, from the website www.petoyr.org, is a brief history of the use of the hallucinogen peyote; that is, as European Americans understand its history. The article, from the www.peyote.org website, traces efforts by the Catholic Church to quell the use of the vision-inducing plant and summarizes some of the studies done by modern anthropologists who have studied the peyote hunts and ceremonies, as well as the religious, medicinal, and political arguments surrounding the use of peyote. The article describes the typical ceremonial use of peyote and explains the factors that contributed to and continue to contribute to the present growth of the Native American Church, the legal name of the peyote cult. The article is a good background source for Frank Waters’s The Man Who Killed the Deer.

Titiev, Mischa. "The Religion of the Hopi Indians." Forgotten Religions. Ed. Vergilius T. A. Ferm. Freeport: The Philosophical Library, Inc., 1950.
In this article, Titiev describes the background, structure, ritual patterns, ceremonial cycle, and meaning of the Hopi religion. The article describes in detail the architecture and use of kivas, in which the major ceremonies and village meetings take place. Titiev also discusses the division of rituals among secret societies throughout each village and the annual pattern of ceremonies performed to aid the katchinas, or supernatural beings, in bringing forth rain and changing seasons. The belief in katcinas plays a central role in most of the Hopis' religious foundation, from their origin stories to their daily rituals.

Frank Waters. "Neihardt and the Vision of Black Elk." A Sender of Words: Essays in Memory of John G. Neihardt. ed. Vine Deloria, Jr. pp. 12-24.
Waters is writing about the Oglala Lakota Black Elk and his "amanuensis," John Neihardt, but he expresses here his philosophy regarding the decimation of Indian tribes and the disastrous result to the white conquorers as well. He discusses at length Black Elk's great vision, including the concept of "ever evolving consciousness,. cosmic change taking place in great rhythmic cycles."

The World of the American Indian. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society. 1974.
References to the pueblos and Taos throughout, with illustrations of customs, dances, farming, geography. P. l95 includes narration of Alfonso Ortiz's visit with Taos friends. Taos pueblo is pictured pp. 8-9; Blue Lake is on pp. 368-69. For sight oriented, this gives a good sense of place.

“A Dialogue on Race with President Clinton.” PBS. 9 July 1998. Online NewsHour. 18 Feb. 2002 wysiwyg://21/http://www.pbs.org/newshour…ace_ relations/OneAmerica.transcript.html.
Jim Hehrer heads a discussion on race relations with President Clinton and eight Americans: Richard Rodriguez, Roger Rosenblatt, Clarence Page, Cynthia Tucker, Robert Suro, Kay James, Elaine Chao, and Alexie Sherman, who makes a point to state that he is the first Indian to be invited to sit on such a panel discussion and ,thus, emphasizes that “a poor Native American faces more hurdles than a poor anybody” in America.

Ruby, Robert H. and Brown, John A. The Spokane Indians: Children of the Sun.  Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1970.
This book provides an informative narrative of the history of the Spokane Indian tribe, from what is known of their ancestors' settling of the land around Lake Coeur d'Alene through their removal to the Spokane Reservation and into the mid-twentieth century.  Chapters eight and nine particularly cast light on the works of Sherman Alexie as they deal with the education and assimilation of the tribe at the turn of the century and the problems that arose from "civilizing" these people.  The final chapter, titled “Whither the Children?” deals with reservation life in during the mid-twentieth century and the Spokane tribe’s fight for repayment from the federal government for sacred lands taken from them. 

Tharp, Julie. "Fine Ponies: Cars in American Indian Film and Literature." American Indian Culture and Research Journal 24.3 (2000):77-91.
This informative paper depicts the use and meaning of automobiles in films and literature by Sherman Alexie as well as other writers, such as Thomas King, David Seals, Susan Power and Louise Erdrich.

Crawford, John. "Rodolpho Anaya." This is About Vision: Interviews with Southwestern Writers. Eds. William Balassi, John F. Crawford, and Annie O. Eysturoy. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico press, 1990: 83-93.
Antonio's life as he loses his innocence, believes Crawford, reflects the life of the Hispanic community in New Mexico. Although the Hispanics must face a changing world, the power of love is the redeeming force.

Dasenbrock, Reed Way. "Forms of Biculturalism in Southwestern Literature: The Work of Rudolfo Anaya and Leslie Marmon Silko." Genre 21.3 (Fall 1998): 307-319.
The first paragraph of the novel, states Dasenbrock, includes four levels of time that continue throughout the novel: narrated past of Antonio's history; the duration of the story we about about the read; static time and Ultima's agelessness; and historical time. Anaya uses the language and narrative techniques of the dominant culture to represent his own, but his works represent a biculturality.

Gish, Robert F. "Rudolfo Anaya." Updating the Literary West. Western Literature Association. Fort Worth: Texas christian University Press, 1997. 532-536.
Gish presents a brief but cogent evaluation of Anaya, his themes, his intentions, and his place in Southwestern American Literature, particularly in his writings as a Chicano. "Rudolfo A. Anaya has come as close to canonization in the mainstream of Amwerican authors as any Chicano/a or regional writer" (532). He has served as a key mentor in assisting other writers of the Southwest. The Selected Bibliography includes Anaya's books, plays, and essays, and the Secondary Sources include a range of topics related to Anaya's writing. The essay is short but a good introduction leading to further readings on Anaya.

Gonzalez, Ray. "Introduction." Muy Macho: Latino Men Confront Their Manhood. Anchor: 1996: xiii-xx.
Gonzalez discuss the myth of agressive yet emotionally private males in modern society and explains that differences in culture complicate expressions of manhood, such as strict, Catholic upbringing, language barriers, and the passivity of many Latino women. In Anaya's essays, he states, "We learn not only how to talk, act, respond, and think like men from the intimate clan of males in which we are raised, we also learn an attitude about life" (xx).

Kanoza, Theresa M. "The Golden Carp and Moby Dick: Rudolfo Anaya's Multiculturalism." MELUS 24.2 (Summer 1999): 159-171. WilsonWeb. 23 february 2002. .
Although Bless Me, Ultima contains connections to ancient myths, explains Kanoza, it is also influenced by Anglo-American belle-letteres, such as Faulkner, Steinbeck, and Porter, as well as Melville. She compares Antonio and Cico to Ishmael, and Ultima as a counterpart to Ahab as mentor. In Antonio's world of opposites, he learns that "wisdom and experience alow one to look beyond difference to behold unity." The novel, too, reveals Anaya's "pluralistic cultural consciousness."

“La Curandera: The Online Newsletter of the Center for Traditional Medicine.” 1 January 1997. Center for Traditional Medicine. 24 February 2002. http://www.cwis.org/ctm/272curandera.html.
This website offers valuable insight to the world of modernized “traditional” medicine.  Based in Yelapa, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, this organization attempts to preserve the heritage of natural medicine found in cultures across the globe.  By combining this ancient knowledge with modern techniques of research and technology, the CTM hopes to counter “progressive” medicine that dominates the medical world today.  Furthermore, CTM attempts to bring together North American Indians, Non-Indians, and Mexican Indians in its search to preserve cultural medical solutions.

Lynch, Tom, Southwestern Literature. “Rudolfo Anaya” page 2000-2002 26 February 2002 http://web.nmsu.edu/~tomlynch/swlit.anaya.html.
Writers Rosie Garcia and Brenda Holmes provide a biography of Rudolfo A. Anaya, while Ana Castillo offers historical information on the Curanderismo and the page also includes student comments on Bless Me Ultima. Anaya, born Oct. 30, 1937 in Pastura, New Mexico, is the fifth of seven children. His mother’s lineage comes from Llano and his father vasquero, which makes Anaya’s novel biographical. His grandmother, La Grande, uses herbs to treat illness, which makes her the Ultima character. Believing in curanderismo (folk medicine) and witchcraft is prevalent throughout Hispanic communities and barrios. Common hexes include mal ojo (evil eye), susto (fright) and mal puesto (bewitchment), The egg is used often in the diagnosis and cure of ailments. Strong beliefs in superstition, remnants of beliefs instilled on Native Americans by the Conquistadors, are still common among Hispanics and often conflict with Catholicism and traditional medicine. Many of the students who commented on Bless Me Ultima have childhood recollections of the presence male or female Ultimas in their own families.

Newkirk, Glen A. "Anaya's Archetypal Women in Bless Me, Ultima." South Dakota Review 31 (1993): 142-150.
Newkirk identifies Ultima, the Trementina sisters, and the Virgin of Guadalupe as representing the three forms in which the archetypal woman (the Great Mother) appears, namely the Good Mother, the Terrible Mother, and the Holy Mother respectively.

Paredes, Raymund. "Early exican-American Literature." A Literary History of the American West. Western Literature Association. Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1987. 1079-1100.
---. "Conemporary Mexican-American Literature, 1960-Present." A Literary History of the American West. Western Literature Association. Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1987. 1101-1118.
These two essays give a good overview of the genre from its beginnings rooted in mexican folk-lore and in the corridos that tell the stories. Until the beginning of the twentieth century, almost all Mexican-Americans wrote in Spanish. Then these writers began to write to an Anglo audience, and this affected the nature of their writing. Both essays have helpful bibliographies for those interested in expanding their knowledge of this area of American literature.

---."Rudolfo Anaya." Heath Anthology Teaching Guides. 26 February 2001 .
Classroom Issues and Strategies, Major Themes, Historical Perspectives, and Personal Issues, Significant Form, Style, or Artistic Convention, Audience, and Comparisons, Contrasts, Connections are topics introduced in this succinct teaching guide to Bless Me, Ultima.

Saldivar, Ramon. Chicano Narrative. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1990.
This book contains a good discussion of the text, incluing the myths and legends, Antonio's coming of age passage, and a discussion of the encroachment of twentieth century industrial society and war upon nature.

Vallejos, Thomas. "Ritual process and the Family in the Chocano Novel." Journal of American Ethnic History 10.4 (Winter 1983): 5-16.
Thomas discusses the ritual process in Bless Me, Ultima as well as the dream sequences and Antonio's intitiations.

Diaz, Rolando J. “On Our Hispanic Heritage.” 10 April 2000. Eagle PassAlumni Webpage. 10 March 2002. http://www.epalumni.com/heritage.htm.
The author of this article was raised as a Mexican-American migrant worker in the cotton fields of Texas.  In the article, he does not dwell on the harsh conditions of his boyhood, but rather attempts to sort out the more complicated problems he faced psychologically.  First of all, he points out that as a Mexican descendant, he already was forced to deal with the duality of his heritage, both Spanish and indigenous.  Next, he was forced to suppress both of these cultures to assimilate into American society.  Eventually, the author’s education helped him come to grips with his identity, and he stresses that only education will help others who share his heritage escape the poverty that so many still live in today.

Otanez, Andrea, “A Window Into the Migrant World” Salt Lake City Tribune. 12 May 1995. American Ethnic Literature. 10 March 2002. http://electriciti.com/~espinoza/productions.earth.html.
In interviews with Eduardo Elias, associate professor of languages and Chicano studies at the University of Utah, and producer Paul Espinosa, reporter Andrea Otanez of the Salt Lake City Tribune pays tribute to the book y no se lo traigo la tierra just before a screening of the Public Broadcasting System film in that state. Both Elias and Espinosa recount how author Tomas Rivera’s book depicts the daily tragedies midst the poverty of Mexican-American migrant worker life. In his short novel, often described as the Chicano version of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, Rivera describes episodic life, often through the eyes of a child.

“Tomas and the Library Lady.” Feb 2002. Tomas Rivera Winner 97. 11 Mar. 2002 http://www.education.swt.edu/Rivera/Winner97.html.
Pat Mora wrote and Raul Colon illustrated “Tomas and the Library Lady.” Both won the Tomas Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award given by Southwest Texas State University. I found this information very interesting after having read Bruce-Novoa’s interview of Tomas Rivera.

Tusmith, Bonnie. All My relatives: Community in Contemporary Ethnic American Literature. An Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1994.
Tusmith analyzes various cultures of ethnic Americans and the importance of individualism and communal values within each of them. She analyzes the sense of community in works by Frank Chin, Maxine Hong Kingston, Alice Walker, John Edgar Wideman, N. Scott Momaday, Leslie Marmon Silko, Tomas Rivera, and Sandra Cisneros.

Bagley, Mary. Willa Cather's Myths.New York: American Heritage Custom Publishing, 1994.
Bagley analyzes the myth of the American Garden as well as the fall from Eden in Cather's works as well as their counter-myths. The books discusses most of her works, but has special chapters on The Song of the Lark, Lucy Gayheart, and One of Ours.

Limerick, Patricia Nelson. . New York: Norton, 1987. Parry, David. “Willa Cather and the Burlington Railroad.” June 2000. Willa Cather and the Burlington Railroad. 29 March 2002. http://www.unl.edu/cather/writings/charprof/article.htm.
This article, originally presented to the International Cather Seminar, analyzes the role of the Burlington Railroad in many of Willa Cather’s works. The author goes to great lengths to point out numerous references to the railroad and discuss Cather’s obvious knowledge of the rail system that ran through Red Cloud and the West.

Lauter, Paul, ed. Reconstructing American Literature: Courses, Syllabi, Issues. Old Westbury, NY: Feminist Press, 1983.[UNK--PS41 R4 1983]
General editor of the Heath Anthology of American Literature, Lauter has played a major role in opening the literary canon to minority writers. This book contains sixty-seven course syllabi.

Peck, David R. American Ethnic Literatures: Native American, African American, Chicano/Latino, and Asian-American Writers and Their Backgrounds. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 1992. [UNK--PS153 M56 T43 1996]
This work not only lists the major ethnic writers and their scholarship, but provides the context for their literature--the histories of four ethnic communities. Includes primary as well as secondary sources.