"The Sacred Ways of Knowledge" has been selected for listing in "Religion and Psychoactive Sacraments: An Entheogen Chrestomathy." http://www.csp.org/chrestomathy

This book is a supernatural thriller but with a twist. All of the main characters are American Indians. Actually, calling this book a supernatural thriller is sort of a misnomer, because there is much more here then chills and thrills. At various times throughout the book we get strong doses of history, philosophy, and religion. I don't really know much about the author except that she is a woman, and probably an Indian herself. Her main focus here seems to be on the Navajo tribe, as most of the really important characters are members of that tribe, and many scenes in the book take place in New Mexico and Arizona. I'm pretty surprised to see that there aren't any other reviews of this book on Amazon.com, especially since this book has been in print since 1988.

It is really impossible to condense the plot into a few sentences without resorting to mere superficialities. I'll try, however. A museum in Washington is having some scary encounters with 'spirit people,' or Indian ghosts. It seems that artifacts from long dead tribes, which are in storage in the museum's attic, still contain the essence of those to whom the items originally belonged. These spirits are upset, to say the least, and when people start committing suicide after seeing these spirits, something must be done to put a stop to the madness. That is one of the main points of the book, but it by no means includes more than a small percentage of the storyline. There are numerous subplots involving Indian slavery, Indian elders and their importance to the younger Indian generations, and tribal representatives working to get Indian artifacts returned to tribes. Almost all of these issues are examined from the viewpoint of Indians.

There are some serious flaws. All of the white people in the book are portrayed as either victims or ignorant boobs. At least the 'hate whitey' rhetoric is kept to a minimum, but it's still there. The Indian characters themselves are portrayed as successful, emotionally secure people. Several of the characters are university students, some are tribal representatives, and others are elders who are literal fonts of sagacity in their old age. This is in stark contrast with how most Indians live today. Many languish on reservations with nothing more than a welfare check and a ramshackle house to their name. This portrayal of Indians as largely successful people seems to do a great disservice to the many who have nothing. But it's also nice to see that this isn't the usual 'Injun and firewater' type of book that is all too common in many reading circles.

Still, Walters does do a good job of keeping her storyline straight, although Stephen King has written the same type of story, and he's done it better. At only 220 pages, this one is light reading with some supernatural scares. Most people will probably enjoy this book.