CHANGING WOMAN OF THE APACHE

Generations of Apaches have participated in the four-day festival honoring an adolescent girl's passage to womanhood. In an entry in the new American Indian Experience series, Golston describes the solemn and joyous Changing Woman ceremony that commemorates the sacredness of women in Apache culture. She also tells how the entire community joins in and thus renews its traditions and heritage and celebrates the survival of the tribe. After recounting the ceremony in detail for the first half of the book, Golston moves into a discussion of the Apache female, from childhood through old age. Teenagers will be particularly interested in the courtship stories. The two distinct sections of the book make for rather disjointed reading; overall, though, Golston's accurate and sympathetic descriptions honor not only the Apache but the importance of women to the Apache culture. Hers is an accomplished, historically invaluable work. (b&w photos, notes, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 13+)