Best of the best in Native arts (part 1).

Walk into any big box bookstore these days and chances are you'll find row upon row of books quarantined under "Native peoples" or "First Nations" or some such label. Too many of those books could cure insomnia.

How to choose among the good, the bad, and the paternalistic? Here's a highly arbitrary guide to what some Native cultural activists see as the best of what's available, not only in books, but in all the categories of artistic endevor.

Order of appearance does not indicate order of preference. It was tough enough limiting each category to five.

MOST INFLUENTIAL NATIVE ARTISTS

As chosen by Tom Hill, curator of the Woodlands Cultural Centre located in Brantford, Ont.

Norval Morrisseau: An Ojibway artist who was first to break through the Canadian professional white-art barrier in the 1960s with his inventive translation of Ojibway pictographs, thus creating a whole new school of art know as the Woodland School of over 60 avid practitioners.

Daphne Odjig: The first artist to integrate European modernism with the Ojibwe Woodland School. She created a renewed personal vision that synthesized Native values and contemporary experience. Through her teachings, she was also responsible for the revitalization movement in the Ojibway culture on Manitoulin Island in Ontario.

Joe Jacobs: A self-taught Iroquoian stone carver, Jacobs, through his realistic imagery introduced the Iroquoian narrative to a contemporary art form and changed a primarily tourist craft tradition to high art.

Bill Reid: Credited with restoring Northwest Coast artistic traditions, Reid bridged traditional culture and the mainstream of 20th century art. His emphasis on individualism while working within Haida conventions put First Nations art into the post-modern dialogue.

Robert Houle: Artist, curator, educator, and theorist, Houle was one of the first artists to articulate and challenge the definition of "Indian Art" and opened the door for a generation of younger artists to be a part of the post modern discourse.

BEST BOOKS BY NATIVE AUTHORS

As chosen by Paul Seesequasis, founder and publisher of Seventh Generation Books.

Half-breed, by Maria Campbell (McClelland & Stewart). Maria Campbell is known as the kokum (grandmother) for the extended family of Canadian Native writers. Half-breed is justifiably required reading on nearly every Native literature course in the universe, but it's more than just an autobiography from Campbell, a Metis writer and activist from northern Saskatchewan. It's about how life and stories intertwine to create art. There is pain, hatred, and racism in Half-breed, but there is also humor, perseverance and a woman's strength, and 25 years later, this ground-breaking autobiography still moves.

Love Medicine, by Louise Erdrich (HarperPerennial). Louise Erdrich, of Chippewa and German-American descent, is probably the best-selling Native author writing today. And while she has written four novels based on the Kashpaws, Lamartines and Nanapush's, the first, Love Medicine, is still the best. Love Medicine's strength is not just that it's well-written, but also that it's about one Native American community and the day-to-day lives of the people there. Erdrich wrote a much better book than the dozens of bad books out there that purport to tell the "bigger picture" about the Native people. And, best-of-all, it's cliche-free.

One Good Story, That One, by Thomas King. (HarperPerennial). This one is about Tom King. Him some writer, dat one. He go west and gets lots of stories. Good one, funny ones. Just read dat one bout the Coyote going west or dat mountie, Corporal Sterling, and dem Indians in da motel room. Sure is some good stories in there. Good coyote stores here and even ah-dam and Eve get in on the act, a bit late though. My uncle told stories like dis and made everyone laff. He was some coyote. I tink Tom King may be one too.

Our Grandmothers' Lives As Told In Their Own Words, edited and translated by Freda Ahenakew and H.C. Wolfart (Fifth House publishers). This bilingual (English and Plains Cree) collection of reminiscences and stories by Elder Cree women may seem out of place on this list, but there's a reason this book is here. By the next century it is commonly perceived that only three Native languages--Cree, Ojibway and Inuktitut--have a chance to survive as living languages in Canada. With each disappearance of an Indigenous language, and dozens are currently vanishing, there is a corresponding, irreplaceable loss of a whole way of thinking, defining and articulating life as Native people. Professor Freda Ahenakew is one of those valiant few fighting to preserve our languages. We need more like her.

First Indian On The Moon, by Sherman Alexie (Hanging Loose Press). I like Sherman Alexie because he's young, super-talented, and makes it funky-n-cool to be Indian. A Spokane/Coeur d'alene from Washington State, First Indian is one of his earlier books. He's just done his first big novel, Reservation Blues, but I have a preference for his early stuff. The cover of this one says it all: an Indian girl in jeans leans against a hot, red Mustang parked on the moon, in the sky is a "full earth", and at her feet is an American flag that she's just driven over.

There are at least a dozen other writers who could (should) have been on this list, and if I did one next week they just might be. These include Jeanette Armstrong, Lee Maracle, (the late) Lorne Simon, Simon Ortiz, Linda Hogan, Greg Sarris, N. Scott Momaday, Beatrice Culleton-Mosionier and James Welch.

BEST OF THE BEST NATIVE POETS

As chosen by Greg Young-Ing, publisher, Theytus Press.

Joy Harjo: (Number 1, numero uno, the best, the word maestro.) Attributes: ability to express "harsh" images in a soft, beautiful manner; tasteful use of repetition; circular rhythm patterns; dreamy and ethereal imagery drawn from contemporary life experiences; lines like "But come here, fear I am alive and you are so afraid of dying."

Jeannette Armstrong: Attributes: mastery of virtually all genres of verse: ability of blending the traditional and contemporary; wide range from simple to highly complex, both in thinking and style; lines like "I silent, listening by dying grasses, began hearing at dawn."

Armand Ruffo: Attributes: mastery of wide range of techniques; particularly innovative use of line breaks; ability to bring reader into poem; ability to express experiences of other people; lines like "poetry makes me want to write poetry."

Haunani-Kay Trask: Attributes: ability to blend and transcend personal and political; express Hawaiian traditions and contemporary experience; lines like "I can't believe you are dead, my darling the empty fury of your death, the sound all around me bloody, silent."

Linda Hogan: Attributes: extremely prolific use of traditional symbols in contemporary setting; lines like "The sound we make sleeping:

Honourable Mentions: Connie Fife, Kim Blaeser & Kateri Damm.

BEST NOVELS ABOUT NATIVES BY NON-NATIVE WRITERS

As chosen by Tom King, novelist and professor.

Dancers In The Scalp House, by William East lake (Viking). East Lake wrote four books that deal with Indians, The Bronc People, Go In Beauty, Portait Of An Artist With Twenty-Six Horses, and Dancers in the Scalp House. All of them are imaginative and unpredictable and represent some of the best work on Indians by a non-Native writer.

The Vanishing Point, by W.O. Mitchell (Mcmillan). While the novel itself can be problematic in places, the creation of the Native character Archie Nicotine makes the book well worth the read. An early and rare example of the non-Native writer who understands some of the humor that exists in Native communities and in Native characters.

Yes Is Better Than No, by Byrd Baylor (Charles Scribner's Sons). Baylor's book is a comic look at Natives in the southwest and the social services systems that they have to deal with. The humor tends to be broad at points and predictable, but overall it's fun and deals with a variety of more serious issues.

Contact Prints, by Philip Krener (Doubleday). Kreiner's novel is, as Robert Weaver says, "a marvelous black comedy" that follows the wanderings of a white teacher who arrives at Fort Henrietta-Maria on James Bay in northern Quebec to teach the Cree. It is a skeptical and humorous look at life in the north, dead bleak in places, hilarious in others.

The Victory of Geraldine Gull, by Joan Clark (Macmillan). Clark's novel is set among the Swampy Cree on the shores of Hudson's Bay. It revolves around an Ojibway woman, Geraldine Gull, and her unpredictable relationship with Wilma, a white art teacher from the south, and with the Cree community in which they both live.

BEST NATIVE CDs OR TAPES

As chosen by Elaine Bomberry, co-owner of All Nations Talent Group, and chair of `Music of Aboriginal Canada' JUNO category.

Up Where We Belong by Buffy Sainte-Marie (EMI Music Canada). Buffy as we've always wanted to hear her, and it's the recording she's always wanted to make.

This Child by Susan Aglukark (EMI Music Canada). Beautiful fusion of traditional Northern music with the contemporary sound.

Kashtin by Kashtin (Groupe Concept). Their debut release brought the Innu language to the rest of the world along with their funky folkie-ness music.

1492 Who Found Who by Murray Porter (First Nations Music). Great thematic blues for Aboriginal people, by a true blues warrior.

Music For The Native Americans by Robbie Robertson and the Red Road Ensemble (Capital/EMI). Powerful and soulful songs from many Aboriginal Nations.

BEST NATIVE POLITICAL BOOKS

As chosen by Dan David, journalist and professor

Stolen Continents: The "New World" Through Indian Eyes Since 1492 by Ronald Wright (Viking). Finally, I remember thinking to myself after reading Wright's book, history through Indian eyes. This book is for anyone who wants an understanding, an overview of the events stretching over 500 years since "discovery" that continue to shape the political notions of Indian peoples in the western hemisphere.

The Dispossessed: Life And Death In Native Canada by Geoffrey York (Vintage). This was one of the first Canadian books that lifted the veil of ignorance about life and death on "the rez." It was a harsh, uncompromising and accurate indictment of the severe social problems on reserves in Manitoba. This book should be on the top 10 list of any Aboriginal studies course.

Colonialism on Trial: Indigenous Land Rights and the Gitksan and Wet'suwet'en Sovereignty Case by Don Monet and Skanu'u [Ardythe Wilson] (New Society Publishers). I've reported on land claims and their immense scope always seems to eclipse the absurdity of it all. The authors of this illustrated book manage to capture that very absurdity. In writing this book, they've managed to puncture the pretensions of governments and hold a mirror up for Canadians to see the hypocrisy of the whole damn process.

Sovereign In Justice: Forcible Inclusion Of The James Bay Cree and Cree Territory Into A Sovereign Quebec by the Grand Council of Cree (Nemaska). This was the Cree manifesto published a month before the latest (I won't say last) "neverendum" on Quebec sovereignty. It is also one of the most articulate expressions and explanations of the concept of Native sovereignty in recent years.

Heeding The Voices Of Our Ancestors: Kahnawake Mohawk Politics And The Rise Of Native Nationalism by Gerald R. Alfred (Oxford University Press Canada). Alfred uses Kahnawake as a case study in Native nationalism, thus recasting Indian assertions of sovereignty into a new light.