Native American Myths: The Mythology of North America from Apache to Inuit

Native American Myths is a wide-ranging examination of mythology among the First Nations people in Canada and the USA, featuring examples from Apache, Blackfoot, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Cree, Inuit, Lakota, Navajo, Sioux, Tlingit, and many other tribes. Arranged by region and tribe, the book includes creation myths and heroic journeys, and features a huge range of characters from benign harvest spirits to fearsome sea beasts, from ominous disembodied heads to invisible woodland creatures. There are famous figures, too, such as the trickster Coyote, the mighty Thunderbird and the cannibalistic Algonquian monster Wendigo. Ranging from the Inuits in the North to the Apache in the South, from Tlingit in the West across to Algonquin in the East, the book delves deeply into the folklore of North America’s indigenous peoples, exploring the importance of features such sweat lodge ceremonies, the concept of balance in The Four Directions, totem poles and the idea of the upper world and an underworld. Illustrated with 180 photographs and artworks, Native American Myths is both an exciting and an enlightening exploration of the cultural beliefs of North America’s First Nations peoples.