For over 10,000 years, in the Pacific Northwest of America, in the eastern Plateau area, there lived several indigenous peoples, including the Salish-speaking Spokan Indians. Having successfully adapted to their environment, their settlements and culture flourished long before Euro-American contact and the deculturation that followed. Relatively little information of their way of life has been available - scattered among the accounts of early traders, trappers, and missionaries, as well as in the unpublished field notes of researchers... until now.

John A. Ross, an Emeritus Professor of Eastern Washington University, devoted four decades to learning the Spokan culture, through firsthand ethnohistorical and archaeological research, but even more so by interviewing Spokan elders who remembered the old ways and entrusted that knowledge to him, that it could be passed on to future generations.

This book, his magnum opus, is the culmination of all that research and gathered wisdom. A decade in the making, it is the definitive ethnography of a fascinating people who wisely crafted a way of life that was both sustainable and culturally rich.

The rich storytelling traditions of Salish-speaking peoples in the Pacific Northwest of North America are showcased in this anthology of story, legend, song, and oratory. From the Bitterroot Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, Salish-speaking communities such as the Bella Coola, Shuswap, Tillamook, Quinault, Colville-Okanagan, Coeur d'Alene, and Flathead have always been guided and inspired by the stories of previous generations. Many of the most influential and powerful of those tales appear in this volume."" "Salish Myths and Legends" features an array of Trickster stories centered on Coyote, Mink, and other memorable characters, as well as stories of the frightening Basket Ogress, accounts of otherworldly journeys, classic epic cycles such as South Wind's Journeys and the Bluejay Cycle, tales of such legendary animals as Beaver and Lady Louse from the beginning of time, and stories that explain why things are the way they are. The anthology also includes humorous traditional tales, speeches, and fascinating stories of encounters with whites, including "Circling Raven and the Jesuits." Translated by leading scholars working in close collaboration with Salish storytellers, these stories are certain to entertain and provoke, vividly testifying to the enduring power of storytelling in Native communities.