The Life and Traditions of the Red Man

“[T]his fascinating work emphasizes Penobscot survival through adaptation. . . . Highly recommended.” - L. M. Hauptman, Choice

“Make no mistake that the reprinting of this Maine classic is a cause for multicultural celebration and a benchmark event in local, regional and even North American scholarship. This is no idle boast by a parochial book reviewer, but a simple, essential fact. . . . The splendid new Duke University Press edition . . . is annotated, Professor Kolodny and other contributors put the work in fair critical context, and there is a helpful list of other works consulted. This is a volume that should please just about everyone.” - William D. Barry, Maine Sunday Telegram

“Nicolar’s life, like his narrative, provides a useful case study in survival and resistance that might fruitfully be examined along the lines suggested by Bruyneel as sovereignty’s third space. This volume is an important and welcome contribution to American Indian literary and cultural studies.”
- Carla Mulford, American Indian Culture and Research Journal

“Nicolar’s retelling of Penobscot origin stories and the journeys of Klos-kur-beh, a traditional ‘Wabanaki culture-bringer,’ exhibit Penobscot epistemology, and, therefore, indigenous cultural persistence (p. 42). Furthermore, by interweaving renderings of Penobscot stories of creation and prophecy with aspects of Catholic theology, the text exemplifies how colonized and indigenous peoples appropriated and adapted outsider cultural resources to shape reality to their own designs.” - Amanda Moulder H-AmIndian, H-Net Reviews

“The Life and Traditions of the Red Man is an extraordinary rendering of Eastern Algonquian history, story, and prophecy, self-published in the nineteenth century by a native writer from the northeast coast of the United States. As remarkable as the text was Joseph Nicolar himself, a brilliant and largely self-educated member of the Penobscot tribe who fervently wished to pass on what he could to the younger generations.” - Patricia Clark Smith, coauthor of On the Trail of Elder Brother: Glous’gap Stories of the Micmac Indians

“Joseph Nicolar’s The Life and Traditions of the Red Man is surely a landmark text, and Annette Kolodny’s framing helps make the narrative come alive.” - Philip Deloria, author of Indians in Unexpected Places

“Joseph Nicolar’s The Life and Traditions of the Red Man, reissued with Annette Kolodny’s excellent prefatory material, provides students and scholars of American Indian literatures with a valuable text in a reader-friendly edition, which is, crucially, endorsed by the Penobscot Nation.” - Eric Cheyfitz, editor of The Columbia Guide to American Indian Literatures of the United States since 1945