{"product_id":"yellow-woman-and-a-beauty-of-the-spirit-9780684827070","title":"Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eYellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit\u003c\/i\u003e is a collection of twenty-two powerful and indispensable essays on Native American life, written by one of America's foremost literary voices. \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBold and impassioned, sharp and defiant, Leslie Marmon Silko's essays evoke the spirit and voice of Native Americans. Whether she is exploring the vital importance literature and language play in Native American heritage, illuminating the inseparability of the land and the Native American people, enlivening the ways and wisdom of the old-time people, or exploding in outrage over the government's long-standing, racist treatment of Native Americans, Silko does so with eloquence and power, born from her profound devotion to all that is Native American. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eYellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit\u003c\/i\u003e is written with the fire of necessity. Silko's call to be heard is unmistakable--there are stories to remember, injustices to redress, ways of life to preserve. It is a work of major importance, filled with indispensable truths--a work by an author with an original voice and a unique access to both worlds.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLeslie Marmon Silko: \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOne of the reasons I felt I must write the essays in this book was to remedy this country's \u003cbr\u003eshocking ignorance of its own history. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eU.S. history courses in elementary and secondary schools usually begin with the arrival of \u003cbr\u003ethe Englishspeaking Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock or, if the teacher is quite daring, with the \u003cbr\u003efailed colony at Roanoke, Virginia- Yet the true history of the United States begins thousands \u003cbr\u003eof years earlier with the stories of the paleo-Indian mammoth hunters on the plains of what \u003cbr\u003eis now northeastern and north-central New Mexico. These ancestors of the Pueblo Indian \u003cbr\u003epeople did more than survive, they learned to thrive under the harsh conditions of the \u003cbr\u003esouthwest desert. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn 1540, when the Spaniards marched into what is now Arizona and New Mexico, they found \u003cbr\u003elarge, prosperous villages which reminded them of towns in Spain; and so they called the people \u003cbr\u003eindios pueblos-pueblo is the Spanish word for town. The indios pueblos did not take the \u003cbr\u003einvasion of their land lying down- they resisted bitterly, and in 1680, they expelled the \u003cbr\u003eSpaniards to El Paso for twelve years. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn 1689, to make peace with the Pueblos, the King of Spain recognized each of the Pueblos \u003cbr\u003eas sovereign nations under international law Thus, the Pueblos of New Mexico (and Hopi of \u003cbr\u003eArizona) were acknowledged as nations by international law, almost one hundred years \u003cbr\u003ebefore the United States even existed. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIf our U.S. educational system actually gave students a complete history of this country, \u003cbr\u003ea great deal of prejudice aimed at Native Americans, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, \u003cbr\u003eand Spanish-speaking U.S. citizens might be ended as our school children began to understand \u003cbr\u003ewho really settled this country, and who really did the work of planting crops, mining ore, \u003cbr\u003eand building cities and railroads. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eUntil the whole story of the origins of the United States of America is known, there can be \u003cbr\u003eno justice, and without justice, there can be no peace. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReading Group Discussion Points \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOther Books With Reading Group Guides\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Simon \u0026 Schuster","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50641400070418,"sku":"9780684827070","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_bb602235-d410-41ff-ab0c-e6fe9a4b0789.jpg?v=1733014301","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/yellow-woman-and-a-beauty-of-the-spirit-9780684827070","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}