For twenty-five years, Shell Shaker has told a story that refuses erasure—where history speaks, women lead, and the past is never finished.
This special 25th anniversary edition features an critical introduction by scholar Kirstin L. Squint. Why was Red Shoes, the most formidable Choctaw warrior of the 18th century, assassinated by his own people? Why does his death haunt Auda Billy, an Oklahoma Choctaw woman, accused in 1991 of murdering Choctaw Chief Redford McAlester? Moving between the known details of Red Shoes' life and the riddle of McAlester's death, this novel traces the history of the Billy women whose destiny it is to solve both murders—with the help of a powerful spirit known as the Shell Shaker. Winner of the 2002 American Book Award, Shell Shaker centers women, resistance, and cultural survival, remaining as urgent and visionary today as when it first appeared.
