This book gives an in-depth literary history focusing on the lives and works of five major Native American authors: John Rollin Ridge, Sarah Winnemucca, Simon Pokagon, Alexander Lawrence Posey, and Charles Alexander Eastman. Their writings, produced in an era characterized by severe cultural oppression, are not only milestones in the evolution of early Native American literature but also comprise a significant contribution to American letters. The literary bequest of the authors covered in this book openly contests the perennial stereotype of the « Vanishing Indian.