The ancient Cherokee tradition of medicine man as healer, counselor, and protector is very much alive in modern-day Oklahoma. In Cherokee Medicine Man, Robert J. Conley introduces John Little Bear, a medicine man who follows the old ways he inherited from his family - medicine as it was carried over the Trail of Tears into Indian Territory. Conley did not set out to chronicle the life of a medicine man. Instead, the medicine man came to him. Little Bear asked Conley to write down his story, to reveal to the world "what Indian medicine is really about." For Little Bear, the medicine is about helping the people. Visitors from neighboring states and Mexico come to him, each one seeking help for a different kind of problem. A number of Little Bear's patients told astonishing stories to Conley, describing situations they faced, their eventual appeal to Little Bear for help, and the good that resulted. Each story is presented here exactly as it was told.
