The Way of the Priests

The Real People #1

by Robert J. Conley

When a drought forces the Cherokee to the brink of annihilation, the people turn to their priests for salvation, but the tyrannical spiritual leaders are more concerned with preserving their own power than with helping their people.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Indigenous, Native American

177 pages, Hardcover

First published October 27, 1992

About the author

Robert J. Conley was a Cherokee author and enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, a federally recognized tribe of American Indians. In 2007, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas.

Reviews

[Lela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this at a library sale because I rarely see any book about Cherokee people anywhere and grabbed it thinking it would be nice to have something written by m own people about my people.
A short novel about the Cherokees, pre-colonials, and their ways. The story includes how the kutanis are beginning to overstate their power as well as the tension between the real people and other tribes. Entertaining and at times sad and violent story.
Has a nice glimpse into the culture of the people and language and its nice that a book like this is around to keep some aspect of that alive for Cherokees to learn from and enjoy an entertaining story that includes old tales passed from past years before as well.
It touched at me and my heritage and I enjoyed the tale and the glimpse of life.

[Michael]

Here begins the first book of the Real People series in which Conley looks back to a time before Europeans came to this land. The Priests are gaining too much power and a number of young people go on an adventure. The first sentence of this book begins from a squirrel's perspective. It is set in the time when animals spoke. Thus, Conley returns us to an enchanted world that is about to become disenchanted...

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Includes many Cherokee folktales and a glossary of terms at the end. I was going to take issue with the syllabary because this is set before Europeans arrived and I'd learned that Sequoyah came up with it in the early 1800s, but the author addresses that in his note at the end as well. Apparently there may have been a syllabary earlier than Sequoyah that he modeled his after.

[Susan C · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very entertaining. It had me laughing out loud in a scene where young Cherokee defend themselves using items for hunting birds! It is also heart warming with coming of age and how friendships evolved when becoming adults. I especially loved learning the preparations for a Cherokee wedding.

I'm in a book club and wanted to find a historical fiction about *any* tribe prior to white man. This fit the bill in both entertainment and learning history.

It's an unknown gem and am sad that it isn't more popular. This book was far too difficult to find.

[N.D. Wisard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good ole' storytelling.

[Cws]

W Con

[Nic · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good ole' storytelling.