Idaho Commission for Libraries

Reservation Blues (1995) is the story of an all-Indian blues and rock-and-roll band. When young Thomas Builds-the-Fire, the resident storyteller on the Spokane Indian Reservation, receives a guitar from legendary bluesman Robert Johnson, the stage is set for a magical odyssey. Builds-the-Fire and his fledgling band "Coyote Springs" journey from Seattle to Manhattan and back again. Along the way, Alexie weaves a powerful subtext of survival, traditions, and the power of the human spirit to endure and be heard.

Two writers invite readers to contemplate American values in a context of controversy and dialogue.

By Dennis Walsh

Indian literature is fascinating in that it contains literary forms and cultural views that run counter to those of the dominant white culture. Thus it is kind of counter-discourse that allows a reader to contemplate American and western values in a context of controversy and dialogue. Indian literature usually attacks common stereotypes that Indians were and are either noble natural men, on the one hand, or brutal savages, on the other. Instead it insists on the humanity of Indians, the differences among Indian cultures and differences among whites and Indians, and on the fundamental importance of tradition and community. Indian writers insist that not all-Indian cultures have vanished, but many have resiliently changed and adapted in the face of murderous circumstances.

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993) is a series of linked stories about contemporary life on and near the Spokane Indian Reservation. Angry, funny, bitter, these stories frankly depict the distance and the psychological and physical violence between people of different cultures, genders, and generations, yet the stories also testify to the power of hope and of cultural traditions. Alexie's screenplay for the movie "Smoke Signals" was based on portions of the book.