Rudy Yellow Shirt, a full-blooded Oglala Sioux and a criminal investigator with the Pine Ridge Public Safety Department, spends most nights locking up drunk and disorderly Indians, frequently including his own ciye, his older brother Mogie. They live on the Pine Ridge Reservation, the home of Crazy Horse's tribe, where the Indian wars ended with the massacre at Wounded Knee, and where so many Oglala people try to maintain their ancient dignity while living on welfare checks and cans of surplus commodity foods distributed by the government. But when Rudy falls and hits his head on a rock, the spirit of Iktomi, the trickster, starts messing with his life. Soon Rudy finds himself taking on the alter ego of the Avenging Warrior and dispensing swift vigilante justice to unlucky criminals. Then, one night, the Warrior decides to fire-bomb one of the liquor stores that hug the border of the reservation, and Iktomi plays his most diabolical trick, starting a chain of events that will change Rudy and Mogie's relationship forever.

Skins

Louis, Adrian

Random House Value Publishing

Rudy Yellow Shirt, a full-blooded Oglala Sioux and a criminal investigator with the Pine Ridge Public Safety Department, spends most nights locking up drunk and disorderly Indians, frequently including his own ciye, his older brother Mogie. They live on the Pine Ridge Reservation, the home of Crazy Horse's tribe, where the Indian wars ended with the massacre at Wounded Knee, and where so many Oglala people try to maintain their ancient dignity while living on welfare checks and cans of surplus commodity foods distributed by the government. But when Rudy falls and hits his head on a rock, the spirit of Iktomi, the trickster, starts messing with his life. Soon Rudy finds himself taking on the alter ego of the Avenging Warrior and dispensing swift vigilante justice to unlucky criminals. Then, one night, the Warrior decides to fire-bomb one of the liquor stores that hug the border of the reservation, and Iktomi plays his most diabolical trick, starting a chain of events that will change Rudy and Mogie's relationship forever.

Literature & Fiction

United States

Crown

Vortex of Indian Fevers

"Writing with the rage of a conscience that is simultaneously historical and urgent, Louis stands as one of those rare voices we must carry with us into the future."  —David St. John

Poetry

TriQuarterly

Bone & Juice

Adrian C. Louis's largely autobiographical verse is characterized by a bluntness born of self-irony and self-criticism. He attacks his subjects with an emotional engagement that is both tender and honest. Within the context of fallen ideals and lost spirituality among Native Americans, he composes elegies for his mentally disabled wife and describes scenes from "Cowturdville", his name for the town near a reservation where he lived. Mesmerizing the reader with the rhythm of his lively lines, Louis demonstrates a stylistic strength that is both accessible and demanding. His candid portrayals of Native American life and his social and moral critique of American consumerism and conformity are darkly hilarious odes to the cultural boundaries between Americans and Native Americans.

Adrian C. Louis's largely autobiographical verse is characterized by a bluntness born of self-irony and self-criticism. He attacks his subjects with an emotional engagement that is both tender and honest. Within the context of fallen ideals and lost spirituality among Native Americans, he composes elegies for his mentally disabled wife and describes scenes from "Cowturdville", his name for the town near a reservation where he lived. Mesmerizing the reader with the rhythm of his lively lines, Louis demonstrates a stylistic strength that is both accessible and demanding. His candid portrayals of Native American life and his social and moral critique of American consumerism and conformity are darkly hilarious odes to the cultural boundaries between Americans and Native Americans.

Logorrhea: Poems

Finalist, 2007 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in PoetryIn a torrent of rage, love, and irony, Adrian C. Louis explodes all the myths and hypocrisy of Middle America in the twenty-first century. This is how Walt Whitman or Allen Ginsburg might have written about our post-9/11 world--where the realities of poverty on Indian reservations and the plight of Hurricane Katrina victims come in second place to the vagaries of Homeland Security. For Louis, both he and our nation face an uncertain future. Like many of us he is trapped in a surreal void of the present, where he is faced with middle age and isolation, the death of loved ones, an unsatisfying job, and the battle against loneliness and self-destruction. He writes as if he has nothing left to lose but then fills the page with bittersweet sorrow for everything that has been lost. Armed with unforgettable images, relentless rhythms, and a dark and scathing humor, Louis takes aim at this American life.

Finalist, 2007 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Poetry In a torrent of rage, love, and irony, Adrian C. Louis explodes all the myths and hypocrisy of Middle America in the twenty-first century. This is how Walt Whitman or Allen Ginsburg might have written about our post-9/11 world--where the realities of poverty on Indian reservations and the plight of Hurricane Katrina victims come in second place to the vagaries of Homeland Security. For Louis, both he and our nation face an uncertain future. Like many of us he is trapped in a surreal void of the present, where he is faced with middle age and isolation, the death of loved ones, an unsatisfying job, and the battle against loneliness and self-destruction. He writes as if he has nothing left to lose but then fills the page with bittersweet sorrow for everything that has been lost. Armed with unforgettable images, relentless rhythms, and a dark and scathing humor, Louis takes aim at this American life.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Louis, Adrian. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Louis, Adrian

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Louis, Adrian. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Skins

Skins

Vortex of Indian Fevers

Vortex of Indian Fevers

Bone & Juice

Bone & Juice

Logorrhea: Poems

Logorrhea: Poems