After a vision in which he beheld himself as a leader in the revitalization of native medicine and culture, medicine man Russell WIllier began to share his healing practices and world view with three anthropologists. In this volume they describe how WIllier treats chronic, stress-related condition and physiological dysfunctions with herbal remedies, sweat-lodge therapy, religious ceremony, and other techniques.

Cry of the Eagle also discusses the process by which the anthropologists experienced the medicine man's work. That process required change in both Willier and his observers. One of the most powerful events in their three-year association occurred when David Young's wife suddenly became critically ill. In the hospital her condition quickly worsened, and doctors were unable to diagnose the problem. Young surreptitiously brought the medicine man to the hospital, where a combination of native remedies and Western medical techniques worked together to restore her health.

Young, Ingram, and Swartz describe a process of shared vision and mutual change. They provide a rare insight into an aspect of native culture little known to the outside world.

David Young has written extensively for film and television, beginning with Jim Hensonâ??s Fraggle Rock. Most recently he wrote and co-produced a one-hour dramatic comedy pilot for CTV about residential real estate agents. Theatrical works include Love is Strange (with Paul Ledoux); Glenn, a theatrical portrait of Glenn Gould, which had numerous productions in Canada (including at the Stratford Festival) and overseas; and Inexpressible Island, which was produced in Canada, the United States, Germany, and Londonâ??s West End. Both Glenn and Inexpressible Island were nominated for the Governor Generalâ??s Literary Award. Clout, a portrait of a neoconservative press baron, was co-produced by the National Arts Centre and Tarragon Theatre. David also wrote an adaptation of Ibsenâ??s An Enemy of the People for the NAC. David adapted Alistair MacLeodâ??s award-winning novel No Great Mischief for Tarragon Theatre. Current theatrical projects include Without Hope, Without Fear, a theatrical portrait of Caravaggio for the NAC. David was a founding director of the Writersâ?? Trust of Canada and is a trustee of the Griffin Poetry Prize.

David Young's profile page

Grant Ingram was a graduate student in anthropology at the State University of New York at Buffalo

Grant Ingram's profile page

Lisa Swartz has taught in the Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta.

Lisa Swartz's profile page

'Compelling and highly informative reading.'

Dale Stelter, <em>Edmonton Journal</em>