Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Creation Myths of Primitive America

Creation Myths of Primitive America

Kroeber, Karl

Hardcover

Series: Classic Folk and Fairy Tales

Native American HistoryGeneral ReferenceMythology & Folklore

ISBN10: 1576079392
ISBN13: 9781576079393
Publisher: ABC-CLIO
Published: Nov 5 2002
Pages: 342
Weight: 1.80
Height: 1.25 Width: 7.04 Depth: 10.46
Language: English

The remarkably accurate original translations of Native American myths from one of 19th-century America's foremost linguists.

Native American mythology shows vestiges of religious concepts already old when the Egyptians evolved their form of worship. This volume offers an unusual collection of myths from two Native American cultures, the Wintu and Yana, recorded and translated in the 1880s by Jeremiah Curtin, one of the outstanding American linguists of the later 19th century. Because Curtin sought out storytellers who were not influenced by other cultures, his translations offer remarkably accurate accounts of the fundamental beliefs of Native Americans.

In his introduction, Curtin explains the profound antiquity of these myths of creation, which preserve some of the earliest religious expression. He also provides an unflinching account of the appalling genocidal attacks on the peaceful Yana by white Californians in the 1860s. Because the Yana became extinct, Curtin's rendering of some of their important myths is an especially valuable contribution to contemporary understanding of Native American mythology.

Also in

Native American History

View All