Every Day Is a Good Day: Reflections by Contemporary Indigenous Women

New Book Offers Candid Conversations about Traditional Way of Life and Spirituality

"Even with a staggering set of problems, indigenous women look forward to the future," says Wilma Mankiller, former principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, activist and author other of the new book EVERY DAY IS A GOOD DAY: REFLECTIONS BY CONTEMPORARY INDIGINOUS WOMEN. The book features an Introduction by Gloria Steinem.

The book is a conversation with 19 prominent women artists, lawyers, ranchers, doctors, educators and activists. They share their unique--and surprisingly candid--perspectives on ceremony, the importance of context, Native American governance, womanhood, love and acceptance, and the value of traditional knowledge and institutions.

Says Steinem in her Introduction, "Wilma Mankiller has brought together wise voices in a conversation about the things for which we long the most," including Community, Balance, Peaceful Ways of Resolving Differences and Being of Good Mind.

Mankiller sees Every Day is a Good Day as an affirmation of the important role women with traditional knowledge have played in the political and cultural survival of Native people. "Our unique tribal worldview has enabled our culture and governments to endure war, relocation, loss of land and lives," she says. "And it is that worldview that has allowed me to remain positive even as I have dealt with two kidney transplants and two bouts of cancer."

The conversations were held in separate places, from Onondaga Territory in New York to Hawaii, but are presented as a larger discussion to evoke a sense of a gathering. "They find many moments of grace, beauty, and joy in their busy lives," says Mankiller. "And despite everything, they tend to view economic poverty as a barrier and a challenge, not a state of being."

"I hope that EVERY DAY IS A GOOD DAY will help people from many different communities learn about the special world in which these women live and see how they conduct their lives with dignity, faith, hope, and optimism," says Mankiller.