An author, editor, teacher, and scholar, Elizabeth Cook-Lynn is first and foremost a Dakota who speaks with the voice of her tribe. She is quick to point out, however, that she does not presume to speak for her tribe; she says in her autobiographical essay, "You May Consider Speaking about Your Art . . ." (1987), that the real tribal poets are those "who sit at the drum and sing the old songs and create new ones." Cook-Lynn's deep respect for her culture is evident in her poetry, fiction, and expository prose. Out of her life, rich in the experience of the Dakota language, mythology, and history and of life on the northern plains, Cook-Lynn has developed a body of work that rings with uncompromising truth. She has no doubt about the power and worth of her ancestral heritage and its capacity for survival. As Kenneth M. Roemer says in Native American...