Introduction. Native American literary outreach and the non-native reader -- Following the tracks : history and context of native writing -- Nothing but words : from confrontation to connection in N. Scott Momaday's House made of dawn -- Revitalizing the original clan : participant readers in Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony -- Individualism vs. separation : imagining the self to foster unity via Gerald Vizenor's Bearheart -- Writing for connection: cross-cultural understanding in James Welch's historical fiction -- The approximate size of his favorite humor : Sherman Alexie's comic connections and disconnections in The lone ranger and Tonto fistfight in heaven -- Stitching the gap : believing vs. knowing in Linda Hogan's Power.