Books by Charles Wilkinson

Poetry. Charles Wilkinson's THE GLAZIER'S CHOICE is the first substantial gathering of work by a writer who has published two previous short collections of poetry. Many of these pieces, written over a ten-year period, are characterised by a powerful sense of place, a consistently lyrical voice and a preoccupation with the liminal, numinous and half hidden. Wilkinson's often oblique narratives eschew the first person in favour of a verse that is open and various in its technical procedures, neither mainstream nor egregiously avant-garde. A melancholic strain is sometimes leavened by humour and playful use of form.

Explores the broad historical, legal and social context of Indian fishing rights in the Pacific Northwest, providing a dramatic account of the people and issues involved. This book draws on the author's own decades of experience as a lawyer working with Indian people, and focuses on Billy Frank and the river flowing past Frank's Landing.

The history of the Siletz is in many ways the history of all Indian tribes in America: a story of heartache, perseverance, survival, and revival. It began in a resource-rich homeland thousands of years ago and today finds a vibrant, modern community with a deeply held commitment to tradition.The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indianstwenty-seven tribes speaking at least ten languageswere brought together on the Oregon Coast through treaties with the federal government in 185355. For decades after, the Siletz people lost many traditional customs, saw their languages almost wiped out, and experienced poverty, killing diseases, and humiliation. Again and again, the federal government took great chunks of the magnificent, timber-rich tribal homeland, a reservation of 1.1 million acres reaching a full 100 miles north to south on the Oregon Coast. By 1956, the tribe had been terminated under the Western Oregon Indian Termination Act, selling off the remaining land, cutting off federal health and education benefits, and denying tribal status. Poverty worsened, and the sense of cultural loss deepened.The Siletz people refused to give in. In 1977, after years of work and appeals to Congress, they became the second tribe in the nation to have its federal status, its treaty rights, and its sovereignty restored. Hand-in-glove with this federal recognition of the tribe has come a recovery of some land--several hundred acres near Siletz and 9,000 acres of forest--and a profound cultural revival.This remarkable account, written by one of the nations most respected experts in tribal law and history, is rich in Indian voices and grounded in extensive research that includes oral tradition and personal interviews. It is a book that not only provides a deep and beautifully written account of the history of the Siletz, but reaches beyond region and tribe to tell a story that will inform the way all of us think about the past.Watch the book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEtAIGxp6pc