Voices in the Stones (Life Lessons from the Native Way)

Native Americans are lauded for their profound spirituality and deep understanding of the land. Kent Nerburn here draws on his three decades living and working among Native peoples to offer stories and reflections that reveal what the ways of Native Americans have to teach us all — about giving, sharing, grieving, and celebrating. Nerburn takes readers inside a Native feast that highlights respect for elders, to a nearly forgotten Nez Perce battlefield, and to both the traditional burial of a young man and the reinterment of the ancient bones of two teen-aged girls. At a dusty roadside café he introduces us to an elder who remembers when his ancestors could talk to animals. Whether moving and dramatic, delightfully humorous, or all of the above, these vignettes remind us that as common children of a common land, we have much to learn from each other — if only we have the heart to listen.