Grandmother, you who listen and hear all, you from whom all good things come…. It is your embrace we feel when we return to you, begins Joseph Marshall III's prayer to the Earth in this book that is part memoir, part manifesto. Speaking from the cultural viewpoint of the Lakota of South Dakota, Marshall discusses here the efforts of native cultures to live within the environment and adapt to it, as opposed to changing it to fit human needs and comforts. Suggesting that becoming better stewards of our environment need not mean a drastic change in lifestyle, Marshall uses personal anecdote, history, and traditional Lakota tales to show that fostering sustainability and coexistence with nature will ultimately benefit mankind as well.