"In Beauty I Walk" is the first anthology to offer generous selections of both oral/traditional texts and works by the first generations of Native American writers. Emphasizing the lines of continuity between traditional narratives, songs, and ceremonies and pioneering written works by authors such as John Rollin Ridge, Francis LaFlesche, Charles Eastman, Alexander Posey, Zitkala-Sa, E. Pauline Johnson, and D'Arcy McNickle, the anthology allows readers to see the ways in which writers of the modern "Native American Renaissance" have perpetuated, adapted, and departed from oral tradition. Including representative texts by authors from a number of Native tribes, from a range of literary genres, and by male and female authors, "In Beauty I Walk" also offers a fuller appreciation of contemporary Native American writing by revealing its roots and its place within a long continuum.