Author’s Note

This book is more than the story of Wilma Mankiller. It is also the extraordinary story of the Cherokee people and their indomitable courage. The chapters of this book weave together the story of one Cherokee woman with the history of all the people of the Cherokee Nation, much as traditional Cherokee stories weave together the unbroken threads of tribal history, wisdom, and culture preserved by each generation.

To honor the eternal voices of all Cherokee storytellers and oral historians, we have used a traditional Cherokee story to begin each of the thirteen chapters in this book. We feel that the untarnished power and wisdom of these stories speak directly from the heart of all that is Cherokee.