Quite some time ago, I decided Sherman Alexie was just plain great at what he does, and I’ve never reconsidered. His newest collection, War Dances, compiles poetry, short stories, prose, and mysterious hybrids of all three. Each is centered on revolutionary themes and social justice issues using artists, workers, fathers, sons, and their experiences dealing with extraordinary life changes.

In the first story, “Breaking and Entering,” a film editor stands in a stalemate, holding his son’s little league baseball bat, with a young man who has broken into his home. In “The Senator’s Son,” a young Republican Seattleite commits a hate-crime against his best friend, and has to choose between avoiding the consequences and accepting them. And in the title story, a famous writer has to decide how to care for his father, who is slowly dying a “natural Indian death” of diabetes and alcoholism.

Each piece in this collection is placed perfectly, making the book, as a whole, as engaging from start to finish as a well-paced novel. And Alexie’s writing is humorous, concise, and thoughtful; bound, like all of his work, to leave a lasting impression. ~Jared