Robert Conley Real People Sparknotes

Real People is a series of novels by Robert J. Conley the American author best known for his works based on the history, tradition, folk lore, and experience of the Cherokee nation. The first novel of the Real People series was The Way of the Priests that Conley first published in 1992. Robert was born in Cushing Oklahoma in 1940 where he lived for most of his childhood. A proud Cherokee, he was a lifelong member of the federally recognized tribe of Native Americans called the Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians. Conley is known for his accurate portrayal of historical Cherokee personalities during the years before contact with Wild West pioneers. With the publication of the first novel of the Real People series, he became a critically acclaimed …show more content…
Conley was born in Cushing he went to Wichita Falls for high school before he attended Midwestern University. It was at Midwestern University where he got his bachelors in Art and Drama in 1966 before going on to pursue and graduate with a masters in 1968 specializing in English. He had quite the accomplished career that included being professor of English at Southwest Missouri State University and Northern Illinois University. He was also the head if the Indian Studies department Morningside College, Bacone College, and Eastern Montana College. Outside of his professional work he served the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma organization as Assistant Programs Manager. Since publishing his first novel in the 1980s he went on to write more than eighty books in all manners of genre including stage scripts, poetry, critical essays, fiction, and nonfiction. Conley wrote his first novel Back to Malachi out of anger at what he deemed despicable misrepresentation a Cherokee that had been falsely accused of murder before he was hunted down for nearly five years before he was executed by a mob. Before Conley publishers believed that an Indian protagonist could never be the lead in a Western until Conley broke the mold. He would go on to become one of the most influential Native American authors and was instrumental in the establishment of Native American Writers Wordcraft …show more content…
Conley. The Cherokee Nation is facing a grim struggle for survival as their social order has changed to become almost unrecognizable. The Anita-Kutani who are the elite priestly class charged with conducting religious rites have managed to lodge themselves gradually into almost every aspect of the nation’s life. The Cherokees are in a state of great dissatisfaction which is only compounded when their tribal lands are faced by one of the worst drought in their history. It is left to the priests to perform their religious sacrifices to produce the rain that the Cherokee Nation needs to survive. The priests are in a difficult position but know they have to provide a solution if they are to retain their power and prevent an uprising of the common folk. But drought or rain, the Cherokee Nation will never be the same