Product details
- ISBN 9781647792527
- Dimensions: 140 x 216mm
- Publication Date: 25 Aug 2026
- Publisher: University of Nevada Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Tellin' It Like It Is offers a powerful introduction to Adrian C. Louis (1946–2018), one of the most unflinching Native American literary voices of the twentieth century. Drawing from a half-century of published writing—and including a few previously unpublished pieces—this collection captures the evolution of Louis's voice, worldview, and craft.
Editor David Pichaske, a close friend of Louis in his later years, curates this volume with deep insight into both the public figure and the private man. Selections are arranged chronologically to trace Louis's transformation from a Nevada reservation teenager to a California hippie, a sixties hitchhiker, a Boston academic, a South Dakota reservation journalist, and finally, a Midwestern college professor.
Louis's work immerses readers in reservation life, yet its critique reaches the broadest dimensions of American and human experience. To enrich understanding, the book includes literary reviews, scholarly essays (including one by a noted Polish critic), an interview with Louis, and his own reflections on literature and identity. A foreword by poet Bojan Louis provides further context for this essential collection.
Adrian C. Louis (1946-2018) was a half-breed member of the Lovelock Paiute Tribe. In addition to his popular novel, Skins, he published over a dozen collections of poetry, a collection of short stories, and posthumously, Ghost Dancers: A Novel. Louis is remembered for his aggressive refusal to romanticize life on or off the reservation.
David R. Pichaske retired in 2023 from Southwest Minnesota State University after 58 years of college teaching. He is editor-publisher of Spoon River Poetry Press and Ellis Press, and the author of many articles and books of his own, including collections of poetry, travel books, literary criticism, popular music, and works related to Midwest literature and themes.
