Touched by Thunder is an extraordinary journey of remembering that deeply explores Indigenous experience through autobiography, story, song, poetry, and art. An honored artist and scholar, White Deer weaves an multilayered world of childhood and family, tribal communities, Indian boarding schools, celebrities and presidents, tribal elders and priests, robbers and rioters, Irish and Muslim immigrants and even the prophet Bubba. The swirling text is illuminated with 16 of his original paintings printed in full color, as well as black and white sketches. White Deer’s ingenious and visionary book traverses the fields of history, Indigenous and First Nations studies, memoir, and the arts, and is an engrossing read for a broad audience.
Biography
White Deer, Waylon Gary
"Touched by Thunder is not a usual memoir, nor is White Deer a usual person.... His is the first indigenous memoir that truly captures the drama, the laughter, the wit, dangers, gifts, and complexities of being a native person of our generation."
--Joy Harjo (Mvskokee Nation), University of Illinois; recipient of the PEN Open Book Award and Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas
"However you wish to view the perspectives given in this book, it is undeniably a very unique and interesting memoir with a whole host of characters that will surprise and delight you. Not least is the author himself, whose voice resonates with humour, empathy, deep spirit and a call to remember who we are."
--Aisling Meath, The Southern Star
