Wind from an Enemy Sky

by D'Arcy McNickle

Book Overview

A novel about a fictional Northwestern tribe. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0826311008
• ISBN13: 9780826311009
• Release Date: July 1988
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
• Length: 269 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Wind from an enemy sky, Chucks review

This is an exelent book full of detail, facts, laws and rules of life. This is one of the best books ive read you should try it to.

McNickle took three decades to write this and it shows

I am told that D'Arcy McNickle took three decades to write this book. I was also told that it is based on a true story, even more significant today because of all the discussion of dam breaching and the terrible effect hydro-electric dams have had on the ecology.McNickle writes excellent prose, but what I like most about his novels is his grasp of human nature. Perhaps because of his mixed heritage, he allows that people often do all the wrong the things for all the right reasons. This is not a book of racial hatred, but of deep misunderstanding.This is a fairly straight-forward narrative. McNickle does not make as much use of spiritualism and ancient beliefs as some of the modern Native American writers. I think he was targeting the non-Indian audience and trying to create a better understanding of his own culture. If so, he succeeds admirably.

A subtly told story of cross-cultural exchanges and betrayal

There are no simple dualities in this story. Things don't simply stack up in white vs. red conflicts. McNickle has created a cast of white and Indian characters who line up across the spectrum of "purely" Indian and "purely" white. The motivations of each character are complex and frought with cultural misunderstandings, good intentions, and understandable anger and frustration. This is a novel about the complexities of understanding across cultures and languages, and a warning against the failure to do so.