When it was first published in 1968, N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn garnered scarce critical and commercial attention. Yet within a year, it won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for fiction, leading to international critical acclaim.

Publicized by Native American activists, the truth about reservation life and the plight of Native Americans was exposed to America during the early 1970s. In House Made of Dawn, Momaday chronicles the struggles of a young Native American man named Abel, exploring some of the issues and conflicts that faced the Native American community in the twentieth century.

This work was a crucial link in teaching the general public about the real lives and beliefs of Native Americans.

Although most critics admire the poetic beauty of his narrative style, Momaday's indirect way of storytelling—weaving together past, present and myth with no apparent order—may prove challenging to some readers...