At the End of Ridge Road
The Credo Series
by Joseph Bruchac
In the 1960s in graduate school, Joseph Bruchac studied with Grace
Paley and met Allen Ginsberg. He went on to earn his PhD and work in
Africa, an experience that confirmed his belief that native peoples all
over the world possess the hard–won knowledge of humanity’s capacity
for self–destruction, wisdom set down in their stories and traditions.
Now in his sixties, Bruchac is known for keeping these stories alive
through traditional Native American storytelling, original children’s
books, fiction, and poetry. Books in his Keepers of the Earth series, coauthored with Michael Caduto, have sold millions of copies.
At the End of Ridge Road, a philosophical memoir, brings
together the threads of Bruchac’s life and reveals the linkage between
his interest in native cultures—he is Abenaki—and his views about human
dignity and social justice. He begins by asking the reader to “take off
your watch” and “live time” rather than be ruled by it. He then tells
about his childhood in the Adirondacks, the Abenaki heritage of the
region, his path from nature nut to jock to writer, and his house on
Ridge Road. Through these stories, Bruchac emphasizes ideas that are
important to many native tales, including understandings of time,
ownership of land, and “the circle as a way of seeing.”
At the End of Ridge Road is a new book in Milkweed’s Credo
series, in which acclaimed writers reveal the underpinnings of their
work. Other authors in the Credo series include Rick Bass, Robert
Michael Pyle, Scott Russell Sanders, Pattiann Rogers, Alison Hawthorne
Deming, Ann Zwinger, John Daniel, John Nichols, John Elder, William
Kittredge, and Gary Paul Nabhan.
Joe Bruchac
Author's Bio:Joseph Bruchac has edited a number of highly praised anthologies of contemporary poetry and fiction, including Songs from this Earth on Turtle's Back, Breaking Silence (winner of an American Book Award) and Returning the Gift. His poems, articles and stories have appeared in over 500 publications, from American Poetry Review, Cricket and Aboriginal Voices to National Geographic, Parabola and Smithsonian Magazine. He has authored more than 70 books for adults and children, including The First Strawberries, Keepers of the Earth (co-authored with Michael Caduto), Tell Me a Tale, When the Chenoo Howls (co-authored with his son, James), his autobiography Bowman's Store and such novels as Dawn Land, The Waters Between, Arrow Over the Door and The Heart of a Chief.
As a professional teller of the traditional tales of the Adirondacks and the Native peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Joe Bruchac has performed widely in Europe and throughout the United States from Florida to Hawaii and has been featured at such events as the British Storytelling Festival and the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesboro, Tennessee. He has been a storyteller-in-residence for Native American organizations and schools throughout the continent, including the Institute of Alaska Native Arts and the Onondaga Nation School. He discusses Native culture and his books and does storytelling programs at dozens of elementary and secondary schools each year as a visiting author. |
Price:
$ 14.00
Binding: Paperback
Availability In Stock: 224
In Print
Publisher: Milkweed Editions
Published: 2005
Size: 8x5
Genre: Nonfiction/Environment
Series: Credo
Pages: 152
ISBN: 9781571312754
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