“Feathering Custer points to the need for critical understanding of the literatures of Native America. Penn's volume offers a challenge to all those interested in meaningful insights into these literary works to search the indigenous storytelling traditions, lives, and literatures of Native Americans.”—World Literature Today
“Penn demonstrates his own mastery of critical theories as he weaves them into his life experiences.”—Choice
“Penn refuses to take refuge in jargon or doublespeak, and his attempts to negotiate complicated cultural thickets prove winning.”—Publishers Weekly
"[Penn] attempts, with commendable verve and insight, to take the measure of Native American studies today. . . . Penn refuses to take refuge in jargon or doublespeak, and his attempts to negotiate complicated cultural thickets prove winning."—Library Journal
"At their best, the essays punch current notions of political correctness and academic protocol square in the chops. . . . It's an entertainment to watch Penn as he escapes being pinned down, taking up apparently contradictory positions . . . just for the fun of it all, making friends and foes alike sweat a little. Penn has emerged as an important presence on the Native American literary front."—Kirkus Reviews
“James Joyce–certainly a canonical writer–once said he expected to forge the consciousness of his race through his writing. For Joyce, that was a choice; he could have swum with what had already been created. For W. S. Penn, there is no such freedom: he must forge what the white world long ago destroyed, and he must forge it passionately and alone.”—Southwest Book Views
“Penn weaves in life experiences that grounded me from the academe. His arguments for a satire forming community, empowerment being false power and a mythic mind connecting all things prove his potent point that history reveals itself by telling us how we can continue to be (not what we have been).”—Meghan Saar, True West
“Folklorists interested in these issues will benefit from Penn’s insightful and engagingly written commentaries.”—William M. Clements, Western Folklore
