Old Three Toes and Other Tales of Survival and Extinction
- ISBN-10
- 0806149825
- ISBN-13
- 9780806149820
- Category
- Fiction
- Pages
- 200
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2015-01-09
- Publisher
- University of Oklahoma Press
- Author
- John Joseph Mathews
Description
The nine short stories in this collection by distinguished Osage author John Joseph Mathews are sure to be recognized as classics of twentieth-century nature writing and the wildlife conservation movement. The characters in Old Three Toes and Other Tales of Survival and Extinction are coyotes, mountain lions, deer, owls, sandhill cranes, prairie chickens—and human beings, who sometimes kill their prey but are often outsmarted by the largest and smallest animals. Mathews shows us the world through the animals’ eyes and ears and noses. His convincing portrayals of their intelligence recall the fiction of Jack London and Ernest Thompson Seton. Like these literary ancestors, Mathews originally intended his nature stories for boys, but the stories transcend boundaries of age, gender, and geography. Mathews writes not just to inspire his readers with nature’s beauty but also to demonstrate the interrelatedness of humans, animals, and the landscapes in which they interact. Timely and relevant to discussions of ecology and the environment, his stories will reach a wide audience today, more than fifty years after they were written. These stories show Mathews’s ability to write precise descriptions—of a coyote catching a field mouse, a crane eating a frog, a mountain lion playing. A hunter himself, Mathews understood both the animals’ readiness to fight and man’s instinct to survive. And he let readers share the dignity of the animal characters and their refusal to acquiesce to their own extinction, particularly in the face of human ignorance and carelessness. Susan Kalter’s afterword provides a poignant portrait of Mathews and traces the inspirations for the short stories in this collection. Thoughtfully annotated, these stories are the only published examples of Mathews’s hitherto unknown short fiction and will add to his stature as an important American Indian writer.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2015-01-09
- 201 pages
- Paperback
- University of Oklahoma Press
Similar books
-
John Joseph Mathews: The Short Stories of an Osage Writer
By John Joseph MathewsThe Short Stories of John Joseph Mathews, an Osage Writer sheds light on the complexity of Native American experiences of the last century and the ripple of these stories today.
-
The Short Stories of John Joseph Mathews, an Osage Writer
By John Joseph Mathews... two distinct runs of short story writing: the first his production of the 1940s and possibly the early 1950s, collected here; the second his nine- story “boy book,” Old Three Toes and Other Tales of Survival and Extinction.
-
John Joseph Mathews: Life of an Osage Writer
By Michael SnyderDuring this period, Edward met and rapidly became close friends with the Harlem Renaissance novelist Nella Larsen, the author of two late-1920s novels dramatizing racial identity and social relations: Quicksand and Passing.
-
Our Osage Hills: Toward an Osage Ecology and Tribalography of the Early Twentieth Century
By John Joseph Mathews, Michael SnyderDuring the time when Maher was partnered with H. G. Burt, Maher's wife, the former Adelia Genevieve Elwell (Veva), became “good friends” with Burt as their families “were thrown in contact frequently.” D. C. Maher died mysteriously on ...
-
Poke a Stick at It: Unexpected True Stories
By Connie CronleyI have friends who live near Chatsworth: Vilna Kembery and the Reverend Ralph Urmson-Taylor. I so liked the duchess's book, Counting My Chickens, that I had the audacity to send her (via Vilna) my own book of essays, Light and Variable.
-
The Last Days of Mankind: Ecological Survival Or Extinction
By Samuel MinesThe Last Days of Mankind: Ecological Survival Or Extinction
-
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
By Elizabeth KolbertThrough these stories, Kolbert provides a moving account of the disappearances occurring all around us and traces the evolution of extinction as concept, from its first articulation by Georges Cuvier in revolutionary Paris up through the ...
-
Point of Extinction - The Extinction Series Book 1: A Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Survival Series
By Mike Kraus, Tara EllisWith a deep emphasis on characters and real-world science, this post-apoc tale will keep you reading well into the night.
-
Families and Societies: Survival Or Extinction?
By Betty YorburgFamilies and Societies: Survival Or Extinction?
-
The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions
By David QuammenWe also meet some fascinating human characters. By the book's end we are wiser, and more deeply concerned, but Quammen leaves us with a message of excitement and hope.