Getting to the Heart of the Matter: Collected Letters and Papers

Robert K. Thomas

Abstract

This collection of some of the writings of Robert (Bob) Thomas, Cherokee elder, practitioner of the Cherokee traditional religion, mentor to a wide variety of younger Indian leaders, and anthropologist at the University of Arizona, were written over the last twenty-five years. They were written for different groups of people - some for Indians and others directed more to non-Indians, some for academics and others for a general audience. They cover a wide range of subjects and use a variety of writing styles. But all display Bob's great concern and passion, that which drives him - the survival of Indians as peoples. The nature of an authentic survival, the way to enduring peoplehood, is clearly spelled out in hard-hitting terms. --Daphne Anderson, Editor.