One hundred members of NatChat, an electronic mail discussion group concerned with Native American issues, responded to the recent Disney release Pocahontas by calling on parents to boycott the movie, citing its historical inaccuracies and saying that "Disney has let us down in a cruel, irresponsible manner." Their anger was rooted in the fact that, although Disney had claimed that the film's portrayal of American Indians would be "authentic," the Pocahontas story the movie told was really white cultural myth. The actual histories of the characters were replaced by mythic narratives depicting the crucial moments when aid was given to the white settlers. As reconstructed, the story serves to reassert for whites their right to be here, easing any lingering guilt about the displacement of the native inhabitants. To understand current imagery, it is essential to understand the history of its making, and these essays mesh to create a powerful, interconnected account of image creation over the past 150 years. The contributors, who represent a range of disciplines and specialties, reveal the distortions and fabrications white culture has imposed on significant historical and current events, as represented by treasured artifacts such as photographic images taken of Sitting Bull following his surrender, the national monument at the battlefield of Little Bighorn, nineteenth-century advertising, the television phenomenon Northern Exposure, and the film Dances with Wolves. Well illustrated, this volume demonstrates the complacency of white culture in its representation of its troubled relationship with American Indians.

"The poems, . . . some of the poetic drama (particularly Sweeney Agonistes), and relevant sections of prose criticism, are discussed in detail and placed in relation to the development of Eliot's oeuvre, and more briefly to his life and a wider context of philosophical and religious enquiry" --Introduction.

Brigid Hopkins' first memoir is a heartfelt, vulnerable exploration of the complexities of living with a parent who struggled with addiction. Coming face to face with her own childhood shadows, while trying to create the "perfect" family life she wished she'd had, led Brigid to profound healing.

With great tenderness, poet and critic Robert Peters recalls the brief life and sudden death of his son Richard, a four-year-old called "Feather" by his sister Meredith and brother Rob. Feather returns home ill one day from nursery school, spends the afternoon in bed with his father and his stuffed toy seal, and dies that evening. Looking back after decades on that February day in 1960, when the skinned knees, colds, and fevers of childhood were obliterated by the unthinkable--fatal meningitis--Peters sees with harrowing clarity the image of that little boy in the tugboat pajamas lying still on a gurney, one bare foot visible at the edge of the sheet. He recalls his anger, his confusion: "What shall I do with my hands?" Feather: A Child's Death and Life is an album of poetic and sometimes visceral snapshots: portraits of a family, a house, a strained marriage, a father reading poems to his children, a young academic struggling to establish himself, Peters catches his family in moments of almost transcendent joy and crushing grief. The children's happiness on Christmas morning, in summer at a Canadian lake, or ice skating is shadowed by lessons in accepting death: a succession of pet turtles, mice, and goldfish succumb; Dad butchers the Thanksgiving turkey, nicknamed "Gobble," in the snowy backyard. The fourth book in Robert Peters' series of memoirs, Feather not only illuminates the lives of father and child, but also reflects a moment in the life of a writer, as Peters' grief for his son finds expression in his first collection of poetry, Songs for a Son.

At age four, author Jennifer Martins son, Kelly, was diagnosed with a rare inherited metabolic disorder, mucopolysaccharidosis, or MPS, which caused multiple complications throughout his life. He lived until the age of twenty-three, when he died of a sudden heart attack. In Star Child, Martin offers a poignant look at her bittersweet healing journey following her sons death. Martins heartfelt expressions in Star Child celebrate Kellys brief life and give grieving parents solace and support, allowing healing to begin. Star Child includes stories and poems that complement my writing. Each story and each poem were specifically chosen to be included because of their beauty, eloquence, grace, and power. The authors and poets featured here offer a sacred communion with their words, hearts, and the deep understanding of loss, pain, and love. Their words and sentiments echo a familiar song to my broken heart. Different stories, different wordsdifferent but, in the end, the same. In the words of Queen Elizabeth II, Grief is the price we pay for love. Jennifer Martin Praise for Star Child Star Child: A Mothers Journey through Grief, by Jennifer Martin, is a beautifully crafted tribute to a young sons life and death, which lands in the heart gently, like a feather from an angels wing. Maria Housden, author, Hannahs Gift: Lessons from a Life Fully Lived Star Child is a beautifully told story. Jennifer Martin has managed to speak of her deep loss without sentimentality. Instead, she creates space for the universal elements of loss and grief to find expression. Through her words, the tearing apart of one mothers heart moves toward a fierce resolve to find the deeper meanings in love and life. In grief, she writes, Something expands and contracts inside of you. It is a wise image. Then she submits her own pain to the expansion. Paula DArcy, founder, Red Bird Foundation; author, Song for Sarah: A Mothers Journey through Grief and Beyond and When Darkness Unfolds as Light

In this moving sequel to The Lost World of the Kalahari van der Post records everything he has learned of the life and lore of Africa's first inhabitants. The Heart of the Hunter is a journey into the mind and spirit of the Bushmen, a people outlawed by the advance of blacks and whites alike.