RISING VOICES

From Maine to the Aleutians but largely from the West and Southwest; from the 19th century to the present, with a preponderance from the 60's and 70's; from young people whose white schooling estranged them from their tribes to those who view their heritage with pride—these 62 poems and essays testify eloquently to the richness, sorrows, and deep ambivalence of being Native American. The editors (Singer grew up in Santa Clara Pueblo) provide informative introductions to sections on ``Identity,'' ``Family,'' ``Homelands,'' ``Ritual and Ceremony,'' ``Education,'' and ``Harsh Realities''—e.g., a succinct summary of the sorry history of obligatory white-run schools; information on each author and the circumstances of the writing are also included. Always honest and heartfelt; expressing a variety of strong emotions with subtlety, simplicity, or irony but always with intelligence and conviction: pieces that present a compelling image of young people undaunted by their bitter history. Notably memorable source material. (Nonfiction. 12+)