Our staff's selection of good reads
Playing Indian by Philip J. Deloria (Yale, $25).
Deloria traces white America's romance with Native American rituals
and dress, in spite of frequent hostility toward actual Indian
people, from the Boston Tea Party to the spiritual dabblings of the
New Age. -- Jeremiah CreedonP>
Letters to a Young Feminist by Phyllis Chesler (Four
Walls Eight Windows, $18).
Maybe struggling young women today need, instead of Prozac, a new
point of view. Chesler doesn't pull any punches in explaining why
the feminist legacy must be rediscovered by each generation. --
Andrea Martin
Carrying Water as a Way of Life: A Homesteader's History
by Linda Tatelbaum (About Time Press, $9.95; 207/785-4634).
Tatelbaum bailed on academia to live off the land in rural Maine.
These wise, funny essays about jars, beans, trash, and other
everyday realities illuminate the changing complexities of a simple
life. -- Cathy Madison
Rimshots! photographs by James R. Dean (self- published,
17010 Norman Road, Avon, MN 56310; 320/356-9267, $19.95 plus
shipping).
A fascinating tour of American culture through snapshots of
backyard basketball courts. -- Lynn Phelps
Tracking the Serpent: Journeys to Four Continents by
Janine Pommy Vega (City Lights Books, $12.95).
An evocative memoir of self-discovery by a poet with a knack for
living on the edge. -- Hugh Delehanty
A Whole Other Ball Game: Women's Literature on Women's
Sports edited by Joli Sandoz (Noonday, $13).
Esteemed women writers -- from Marge Piercy to Mariah Burton Nelson
to Adrienne Rich to Ellen Gilchrist -- write about sports and their
impact on the lives of women and girls. It should be required
reading for teachers, coaches, parents, and concerned citizens. --
Andy Steiner
