Product Description
Throughout history, witches have always enthralled us. Be they good witches or bad witches, ancient sorcerers or modern-day Wiccans, their aura of magic, nature, and power is irresistible. Here, some of the greatest authors of all time are gathered together to stir up a little trouble. These works of prose and poetry capture the witch in all her guises: wicked, empowering, romantic, and pagan.

Featuring:Erica Jong € Dean Koontz € Louise Erdrich € William Shakespeare € Ursula K. Le Guin € Harlan Ellison € Sir Arthur Conan Doyle € Shirley Jackson € W.B. Yeats € Brothers Grimm € Ben Franklin € Emily Brontë € Louisa May Alcott € Ray Bradbury € Anton Chekhov € Emily Dickinson € H.P. Lovecraft € Nathaniel Hawthorne € Ambrose Bierce € H.P. Blavatsky € Mary Coleridge € Rosemary Edgehill € P.N. Elrod € Anita Endrezze € Mary Wilkins Freeman € David Gerrold € M.V. Ingram € Mercedes Lackey € Cotton Mather € Charles Perrault € Kathryn Ptacek € Doreen Valiente € Evelyn Vaughn € Lady Wilde ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Broad Overview of Pop and Classic Witch Literature
Witches' Brew is a dense literary anthology broken into three chapters. The first chapter Something Wicked This Way Comes: The Wicked Witch takes it name aptly from a line in a spell from Shakespeare's Macbeth. I was pleased to find this piece as the opening work in "Witches' Brew" but disappointed that this beautiful piece is abbreviated.

Something Wicked This Way Comes also contains W.B. Yeats, "The Sorcerer."Jocks identifies Yeats as a Ceremonial Magician in addition to the revered Irish poet and playwright that most know him to be.Yeats was a member of the Theosophical Society, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. H.P. Blavatsky cofounder of this order, is included with a piece titled "Can the Double Murder"Cotton Mather, a staunch supporter of the 1692 Salem Witch Trials work provides an account that will chill the bones of most witches.Mather's short piece "Bridget Bishop" concerns a witch trial that depends on "spectral" evidence.On the lighter side, Benjamin Franklin's (yes, that Benjamin Franklin)short story is a tongue in cheek critique of the "scientific" approach used in witch trials.Franklin's contribution written in 1730 is a short essay called "A Witch Trial at Mount Holly."Oscar Wilde's mother, Lady Wilde's piece "The Horned Woman" is a legend about Irish witches.Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, of Sherlock Holmes fame, is included with a dark look at magic in "The Leather Funnel."

Next, we find That's Witch with a "W": Witchcraft as Em-Power-ment.This chapter presents the powerful, omnipotent, witch and crone archetype.Beginning with a short poem by Emily Bronte, that uses nature as a metaphor for the spell that love casts."Snatcher" by Dean Koontz is a compelling piece that makes a delightful read aloud piece on a dark and stormy night.This is a classic crone revenge story that includes a repulsive villain and a hideous monster.Doreen Valiente, one of the founders of the neopaganism movement is appropriately included in the anthology twice.Her poem "The Witch's Ballad," provides an insiders experience of a Sabbat.Erica Jong's "Figure of the Witch" truly embodies the theme of this chapter.

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme: The Nature Witch is the last and my favorite chapter. Sandwiched between Doreen Valiente's basic course in witch craft "The Witches' Creed" poem and Erica Jong's potent warning against witch bias and anti-Semitism"Smoke," are wonderful pieces by the likes of Brothers Grimm and Emily Dickinson. A touching tale suitable to read tochildren "The Christmas Witch" by Rosemary Edgehill explains the significance of Yuletide. Evelyn Vaughn, (the pen name of the editor) contributes a lengthy story "Winter Solstice" that focuses on the semi-annual battle for dominance between the Oak King and Holly King.

It is pleasing that Native American voices are also included.Anita Endrezze's mythic tale, "The Humming of Stars and Bees and Waves," is an eerie Yaqui tale of a crone's epiphany after a retreat in a cave.Louise Erdrich, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, offers a haunting shape-shifter poem "The Strange People."If more diverse voices were included the anthology would be stronger still, afterall, witch and magic are global.

Yvonne Jocks' anthology provides a broad overview of popular and classic witch literature, crossing continents, cultures and approximately 400 years. ... Read more

Product Description
The destruction of the American Indian way of life is the theme of this novel. In the early years of the 20th century, Nanapush, sole survivor of the tribe of that name, is threatened and cajoled into selling his tribal land, a plight shared by Indians all over the United States. Louise Erdrich is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, and author of "The Beet Queen". ... Read more

Product Description
Louise Erdrich, following in the Native American narrative tradition has, crafted enduring tales of homecomings. Her widely acclaimed debut novel Love Medicine garnered prestigious awards, and quickly made its way onto bestseller lists and into readers' hearts. In this full-length critical volume, Stookey uncovers the layers of wisdom and humor embedded in Erdrich's engaging writing. Stookey, analyzing each novel in turn, examines the characters and themes that recur in Erdrich's canon of interconnected stories. This insightful analysis helps students and lovers of fine literature approach Erdrich's work with greater appreciation for her bold narrative style. ... Read more

Product Description

Setting out with her infant daughter and the baby’s father, an Ojibwe spiritual leader and guide, Louise Erdrich embarks on an evocative journey to the islands of her forebearers in southern Ontario. She arrives in a small boat on Lake of the Woods to visit powerful, centuries-old rock paintings that are still read by contemporary Ojibwe as “teaching and dream guides” and are appreciated as art works as well.

Erdrich expertly weaves the oral traditions of her ancestors into the account of her trip, integrating Ojibwe rituals and language. Her odyssey offers numerous history lessons unheard of in American textbooks. Erdrich, perhaps best known for her novel Love Medicine, once again reveals territory unfamiliar to--and untouched by--most of the outside world. One of Erdrich's last stops is on an island estate that belonged to explorer Ernest Oberholtzer, a friend of the Ojibwes. Ober’s island, as Erdrich calls it, is home to more than 11,000 books. Erdrich delights in her surroundings, but admits she is in "somewhat uneasy agreement with the spirit of the island, which is to let the books exist as they were meant to exist, to be read, to be found and then unfound. To have their own life." It is a striking analogy to the American West and its Native people. Ultimately, Erdrich concludes that books should be preserved--and share! d. It is their presence that ensures she will find comfort and companionship. --C.J. Carrillo ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

The Ojibwe, Ernest Oberholtzer, and "Austerlitz"
Of the six or so I have read, this is one of the better entries in the National Geographic Directions series, probably because Louise Erdrich is one of the better, more congenial writers.It is a light and charming book, which should provide a pleasant two hours of reading.It probably will be appreciated more by those interested in matters relating to Native Americans.

In BOOKS AND ISLANDS IN OJIBWE COUNTRY, Erdrich writes about her two obsessions:books and islands, of course.The islands are specific ones - islands in the Lake of the Woods just over the Minnesota border into Ontario and for centuries home territory of the Ojibwe Indians.Many of the islands are decorated with rock paintings (a practice dating back to 2000 B.C.).How are those rock paintings books?"So we can talk to you even though we are dead."

BOOKS AND ISLANDS revolves around a trip that Erdrich, then 48, took in 2002 to the Lake of the Woods with her 18-month-old daughter.She visits rock-painting islands and tells of many other things Ojibwe, including the Ojibwe language, Ojibwemowin, one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn (two-thirds of the words are verbs, and for each verb there can be as many as six thousand forms).The other highlight of her trip is the island and home of Ernest Oberholtzer in Rainy Lake.I had not previously known about Oberholtzer, but I learned that I am indebted to him for being instrumental in the preservation of the Boundary Waters, or Quetico-Superior wilderness, where I spent one of the best weeks of my life.He also accumulated books, of which 11,000 remain on his island, along with his quirky, hand-crafted house.Erdrich's trip, and the book, ends back at her bookstore in Minneapolis, Birchbark Books.

In one of those curious coincidences of life, I read BOOKS AND ISLANDS three weeks after finishing W.G. Sebald's "Austerlitz".The coincidence?"Austerlitz" is the book that Erdrich takes with her and reads during her trip and then discusses off and on during her book.

A wonderful book
Anyone who loves books should read this one; you'll be able to relate to the author. I personally could't put it down once I started it. It's a light read, I would even describe it as a 'comfort book', something one would read to relax and get his/her mind off of stressful sitations in life.

Women are more likely to enjoy it than men; it is very emotional and personal. It combines a mother's experience of travelling with her baby, an author's passion for books, and a young woman's love and pride for her native culture.

The book also contains an intimate insight into a foreign culture (for me, as a European), which complemented the book very well.

It was definitly not what I expected of the book, in a good way.

An interesting journey
This was the first book by Louise Erdrich that I read, and I really loved it. It's a literary tour around Ojibwe country, some of which she takes with her baby's father, a spiritual leader, and of course, her baby, who the animals seem intrigued by. It's an unusual, hard to describe book - not quite a mere travelogue, but also a glimpse into the Ojibwe life, a survey of the land, a little about her family, and the efforts of a man to bring more books to the reservation. This effort continues today, and in LE's view is a vital endeavor. I totally agree.

Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country
Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country documents Erdrich's journey to the Lake of the Woods region on the Ontario/Minnesota border, the traditional home of some of her ancestors.For the most part, I found the book enlightening, and although at first somewhat flustered by the author's style, soon was drawn into her story.The author seemed to me to be quite sincere about her intents and although only part Ojibwe on her mother's side, I felt that she had much appreciation for this heriatge.I feel, therefore, that D. Sander's review is quite harsh and seemingly motivated by other unspecified factors, and is not an accurate assessment of what the reader will derive from this book.

Out of her depth
First, the disclaimer: I am a great admirer of Louise Erdrich's fiction work and consider her one of America's greatest living storytellers. "Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country," however, left me early and never came back.Her tone throughout this self-congratulatory road trip memoir is stingy and smug while her observations are, at best, shallow to the edge of banality; despite her torrent of words and phrases, one almost never sees what she's seeing or trusts that we're truly feeling what she's feeling, the test of great landscape writing and a surprise, given it is one of her fictional gifts. At her worst, Ms. Erdrich's words convey an emotional immaturity and lack of generosity that betray her age and experience, not to mention her Anishinabeg roots (although it's a separate conversation best held among Indian people, it's worth noting here that this Ojibwa found some of her subjects, particularly those involving the sacred, uncomfortably close to a line of exploitation we should never cross). This book, which impressed me as little more than an exercise in boastful foolishness and a sad and futile attempt, perhaps, at some sort of self-healing by suggestion, was a great disappointment that verges sadly close to disaster. ... Read more