Deborah L. Madsen is Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. She has published more than a dozen books on various aspects of literary theory, American studies, feminism, and Native and ethnic literatures.

Leading scholars critically explore three leading novels by Louise Erdrich, one of the most important and popular Native American writers working today.

1. Louise Erdrich in Context Deborah L. Madsen \ PART I: Tracks \ Short introduction Deborah L. Madsen \ 2. A Bowen Family Systems Reading of Tracks Allan Chavkin & Nancy Feyl Chavkin \ 3. "I knew there never was another martyr like me": Pauline Puyat, Historical Trauma, and Tracks Connie A. Jacobs \ 4. "To become a bureaucrat myself": History and Law in Tracks David Stirrup \ PART II: The Last Report on the Miracles At Little No Horse \ Short introduction Deborah L. Madsen \ 5. Power and Authority in the Realms of Racial and Gender Politics: Postcolonial and Critical Race Theory in The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse Mark Shackleton \ 6. "We Speak of Everything": Indigenous Traditions in The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse P. Jane Hafen \ 7. Love and the Slippery Slope of Sexual Orientation: L/G/B/T/Qetc Sensibility in The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse Patrice Hollrah PART III: The Plague of Doves \ Short introduction Deborah L. Madsen \ 8. "It All Does Come to Nothing in the End": Nationalism and Gender in Louise Erdrich's The Plague of Doves Gina Valentino \ 9. So, a Priest Walks into a Reservation Tragicomedy: Humor in The Plague of Doves John Gamber \ 10. Haunted by Birds: An Eco-critical View of Personhood in Louise Erdrich's The Plague of Doves Catherine Rainwater \ Works cited \ Further Reading \ Notes on Contributors \ Index