Man Without Medicine

Actual historical events form the basis of this engaging western. Daha-den, the eponymous ""Man Without Medicine,"" had eschewed his calling of holy man and instead become one of the great warriors of his Kiowa tribe. That, however, was long ago. Now his people have been confined to a reservation in Oklahoma, and Daha-den tries to cling to as many of the old ways as possible under these drastically changed circumstances. When a shifty gambler sets up Daha-den and his fellow Natives and steals their horses, the old warrior sets out to recover his property and defend his rights. At his side is Thomas Young Man, a ""dapom"" or outcast adopted by Daha-den. As the pair pursue the thieves and as the story spirals toward its inevitably violent resolution, the old one will teach the youth what it means to be a Kiowa warrior, to fight for their people and a fading glory. In this brisk, if not necessarily uplifting, read, Haseloff (The Chains of Sarai Stone) leavens her poignant tale with factual information about the Kiowas, their beliefs and their reduced life in the late 19th century. (Nov.)