Phyllis S. Morgan. N. Scott Momaday: Remembering Ancestors, Earth, and Traditions: An Annotated Bio-Bibliography. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2010. 396p. alk. paper, $39 (ISBN 9780806140544). LC2009-030036

The enormous contributions made by N. Scott Momaday (b. 1934) to Native Ameri-can culture and modern literature are on brilliant exhibit in this bio-bibliography from the University of Oklahoma's celebrated American Indian Literature and Critical Studies series. While the bio-bibliography format is a departure for this series, which is otherwise populated with novels, anthologies, and critical essays, the quality of Phyllis S. Morgan's work lends this book the authority and gravity required to match the Press' reputation in the field of Native American Studies. Morgan's portrait of the acclaimed Kiowa writer is divided into three parts, a biography and chronology, a thoroughly collected and classified annotated bibliography of Momaday's works, and an equally thorough account of works about Momaday and his writing. Together these sections animate for the student and researcher of both Native American literature and literature in general the work of one of the world's great writers. For the casual lover of poetry and fiction, Morgan's composition of a life entwined in stories and letters is also a portrait of the social life of the arts and a reminder that the craft of literature, in its highest form, draws from and amplifies the experience, place, and spirit of the artist. The volume is set in motion by Kenneth Lincoln's evocative introduction. Here the Pulitzer Prize-winning Momaday is placed in the nested contexts of Kiowa traditions, the culture of mid-century New Mexico, the Native American Renaissance , and the wider world of letters. By liberally quoting Momaday's poems in his introduction, Lincoln prepares the reader for the bio-bibliographic tour that follows. In fact, the clarity and strength of Momaday's voice are allowed to echo throughout the volume. Morgan's biographic essay, " A Life in a Rich and Exotic World, " maps Moma-day's life by marking transitions that coincide with his travels. The reader is furnished with a map to chart the episodes her biography unfolds. Ample space is devoted to chronicling Momaday's formative years, his childhood in New Mexico, his family, and his education and college years. Morgan then describes each of Momaday's residences in higher education as a professor of literature and as an accomplished author. She sketches his associations and his collaborations, but she also captures the structure of feeling that he develops as he endeavors to take each place he inhabits into his identity and work. The chronology that follows further underscores a theme made so …