Kirkus Reviews QR Code
INDIAN MASKS AND MYTHS OF THE WEST by Joseph H. Wherry

INDIAN MASKS AND MYTHS OF THE WEST

By

Pub Date: April 1st, 1969
Publisher: Funk & Wagnalls

The second of Mr. Wherry's proposed three books on the Indian (maybe more--he wrote six about automobiles) is primarily a retelling of their various myths, with the masks described in a chapter at the close and no doubt much more visualized in the 114 photographs (12 in color). Outlining the various regions with their respective territory, tribes and modus vivendi at the start, he then chronicles the myths of creation, with the cunning Coyote responsible for life as well as death, of First Man and First Woman, of the Raven who let there be light on the Northwest coast, etc., etc. Further myths of migration, of fire and rain, of spirits from cannibal timber giants to serpents and devilfish in the water. Briefly, quite superficially, he indicates the realistic rationale behind the belief which essentially was a reconciliation of potential good or evil. . . . At best a respectful popularization, in easy, neutral prose.