Although I have done extensive research using the written record, and I am including a brief reading list for those who wish to know more about the Cherokees, my deeper understanding of their rich and complex culture has come from Cherokee friends and teachers. I cannot stress enough how much their generosity has contributed and whatever is best in anything I have published that deals with this enduring, resilient nation has come from them. This current book, for example, owes a deep debt of gratitude to the people in the Cherokee language program at the Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah, especially Roy Boney who reviewed the manuscript, made helpful suggestions, and made sure my use of their language and Sequoyah’s syllabary was accurate.

The list of those Cherokee people who’ve taught me so much over the decades is too long for me to include everyone. So I will just mention some of those who most directly impacted this book. First is my friend, the late Robert Conley, the most prolific Cherokee author, who wrote a novel of his own about Sequoyah. Whenever we were together in Oklahoma or in North Carolina, or at some other gathering or conference outside the Cherokee nations, Bob was always offering me insights and introducing me to people who could take me further along the path of knowledge. And then there was his extremely Cherokee sense of humor, the way laughter and lessons were always combined whenever he was cracking a joke or engaging in gentle teasing. It’s hard to express how much he is missed. As is another friend and teacher whose poetry was always informed by his Cherokee roots—the late Gogisgi/Carroll Arnett, who gave me my first insights in the Cherokee Nation from a Cherokee perspective over forty years ago.

Another longtime friend I must thank is Gayle Ross, surely one of the greatest storytellers in the world, much less among her own Cherokee people. Whenever I hear Gayle tell a traditional tale, a whole world opens up before me, and it has been my great fortune to now and then share the stage or engage in collaboration with her.

Chad Smith, the former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, and Hastings Shade, the former Deputy Principal Chief—who never were too busy to talk with me whether over the phone or while I was visiting their nation.

There’s Jerry Wolfe, storyteller, stickball maker, Beloved Man, and museum guide who told me the story of the great ball game between the birds and animals as we walked through the Cherokee Museum in Cherokee, North Carolina, and to whom I owe what I know about the game of chunkey.