In a work which promises to be a major contribution to both literary and Native studies, Place and Vision explores the role of physical landscape as both source and shaper of individual and cultural identies in three important contemporary Native American novels. Consistent with Native views on how individuals and the land are indivisibly related, Nelson argues that although Leslie Silko's Ceremony , N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn , and James Welch's The Death of Jim Loney share with other postwar American fictions a thematic concern with alienation, their protagonists show alienation to be a curable disease by regrounding their visions of selfhood in clear visions of place. In addition, Nelson shows how geographical realism functions to verify and validate the creative visions informing these works as well as to make them more accessible to non-Native readers. «Nelson's...knowledge of the works and their background is deep, and future critics will need to have a look at what he says. ...an important acquisition.» (B. Almon, Choice) «'Place and Vision' fills a gap in Native American literary criticism...'Place and Vision' is also to be highly recommended for the perceptive interpretation of characters...This book will be a useful guide to explore all novels, not just Native ones.» (Bernadette Rigal-Cellard, European Review of Native American Studies) «Robert M. Nelson's 'Place and Vision' is a major contribution to the growing body of criticism on the relationship between landscape and literature.» (Leonard Engel, Western American Literature) «This study does provide intelligent and careful reading of three prominent novels, and anyone interested in Native American relationships with the land and nature will benefit from it.» (Thomas K. Dean, The American Nature Writing Newsletter) The Author: Robert M. Nelson is an associate professor of English at the University of Richmond, where, since 1975, he has taught courses in American and Native American literature. He received his B.A. from the University of Virgina and his Ph.D. from Stanford University. His publications include articles on several American Indian writers, and since 1989 he has been a General Editor of the journal, Studies in American Indian Literature .