56 pages • 1 hour read
Even As We Breathe
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Further Reading & Resources
Further Reading: Literature
Motorcycles and Sweet Grass, by Drew Hayden Taylor (Penguin Modern Classic, 2022)
Taylor’s novel offers a humorous take on modern Indigenous Americans living on a reservation. Although set in a different era, the problems and prejudices faced by the characters are quite similar to Cowney’s, and the discovery of skeletal bones also plays a key role.
House of Dawn, by M. Scott Momaday (Harper Perennial Modern Classic, 2018)
Momaday’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel describes the experiences of an Indigenous American soldier who returns to a broken home after World War II, traumatized and yet still nurturing hope for the future.
Further Reading: Nonfiction
Jacksonland: President Andrew Jackson, Cherokee Chief John Ross, and a Great American Land Grab by Steve Inskeep (Penguin, 2016)
Steve Inskeep’s book recounts the Cherokee struggle for independence as a conflict between Andrew Jackson and his former wartime ally, Cherokee Chief John Ross.
Video & Podcast Resources
The Great Dictator: Final Speech, by Charlie Chaplin
A video of the scene in Chaplin’s film, The Great Dictator, which moves Cowney in Chapter 24. Chaplin’s message of democracy and brotherhood resonates with Cowney, who fears that such voices may be silenced.
In this interview, Clapsaddle candidly discusses the book and the writing process with a PBS interviewer.
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