SOURCE: A review of Old Shirts & New Skins, First Indian on the Moon, and The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, in Western American Literature, Vol. XXIX, No. 3, November, 1994, pp. 277-80.

In the review below, Baxter discusses elements of realism and imagination in Alexie's Old Shirts & New Skins, First Indian on the Moon, and The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven.

Many Native Americans have been proclaiming recently that their new weapons for the future will be their art. The proliferation of these weapons is vital, not only for the survival of traditional cultures, but for exposing the hard truths of their lives, which is the first step in instigating change. Activist or not, Sherman Alexie, a Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian from Wellpinit, Washington, is a natural-born warrior quite adept at shaking things up.

In [Old Shirts & New Skins, First Indian on the Moon, and The...