Traditionally, the legends, myth-cycles, tales, rituals, songs and poems of Native Americans (both North and South) have been treated as ethnological data or as curious objects. William Brandon believes that the songs and poems in this volume will, in time, be accepted as representatives of one of the world’s great literatures. The songs and poems speak for themselves, and it is especially appropriate that they should appear now, at a time when Native Americans are reclaiming their heritage and struggling to regain control of their own destinies.