Description: This rich and stimulating work provides keen and sympathetic insight into the life and culture of native North Americans, as expressed in the symbolism of their art and ritual. In profiling the Indian's understanding of life, the author finds that there is something universal in human thinking -- that Native Americans and other peoples in distant parts of the world have built identical ritual patterns to articulate their separate discoveries of a single insight. Thus, each chapter examines a fundamental Indian ritual that serves as a base and metaphor for the study, e.g., the pipe rite, the tree of life cult, the corn dance, the Hako ceremony (fertility rite), and others. These rituals are then compared to analogous rituals in the Old World, in the ancient Near East, in the rites of classical mystery cults, and to those of other peoples and times. The result is a superb testament to the common humanity that underlies the superficially different ceremonies and imagery developed by many races. An excellent addition to the bookshelves of students and general readers interested in Native American life and thought, The World's Rim, through its "rich, vivid and intensely poetic language ... gives new emphasis and meaning to the phrase 'a common humanity'." -- The American Scholar. "For anyone who wishes a good, readable technical introduction to the spiritual side of the indian, this is the book." -- San Francisco Chronicle.

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