Greg Shaw and Charlie Soap — ‘Last One Walking”

Third Place Books is pleased to welcome Greg Shaw, former CEO and publisher of Seattle’s Crosscut news, and Charlie Shaw for a discussion of Shaw’s new biography, Last One Walking: The Life of Cherokee Community Leader Charlie Soap. This book charts the life and work of influential Cherokee elder Charlie Soap, husband of the late Wilma Mankiller, the first woman to serve as principal chief of the Cherokee Nation.

This event is free and open to the public. For important updates, RSVP is highly recommended in advance. This event will include a public signing and time for audience Q&A. Sustain our author series by purchasing a copy of the featured book!

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This event is free to attend. For important updates, registration is highly recommended in advance.

About Last One Walking. . .

You probably know the story of the late Wilma Mankiller, the first woman to serve as principal chief of the Cherokee Nation. You might not recognize the name of her husband, Charlie Soap, yet his role as a Native community organizer is no less significant. Combining memoir, history, and current affairs, Last One Walking charts for the first time the life and work of this influential Cherokee.

In telling this story, author and former journalist Greg Shaw gives voice to his sources. As a longtime colleague and friend of the family, he draws on his many travels and interviews with Soap and on previously unpublished writings, including a Soap family history penned by Mankiller, included here as the book’s prologue. Shaw offers a rich profile of Soap’s singular career—particularly as a champion of water rights.

In managing public infrastructure projects, housing assistance, and water development in the Cherokee Nation, Soap has exemplified ga-du-gi, the Cherokee word for community members working together for the collective good. Shaw portrays a dynamic partnership between Soap and Mankiller. Together they reignited community development for the Cherokee people by listening to everyone, including the poorest of the poor, and hearing their pleas for reliable water, a basic human need and a sacred element in Cherokee culture.

Charlie Soap’s name in Cherokee, Ohni ai (ᎣᏂ ᎠᎢ), translates as “the last one walking.” In the Cherokee wolf clan, this is the member who trails the rest of the pack to watch for danger and opportunity. The last one walking forms a bond of trust with the pack’s leader.

The Native American fight for land has been well chronicled, but the fight for water has not. Last One Walking helps to fill that void with a narrative that is also deeply moving, revealing on every page the spirit of ga-du-gi.

Greg Shaw is an Oklahoma native who reported for the Cherokee Advocate and is former CEO and publisher of Seattle’s Crosscut news. He is author of The Ability Hacks and The Future Computed: AI and Manufacturing. Shaw is co-author of Satya Nadella’s Hit Refresh and Kevin Scott’s Reprogramming the American Dream, as well as editor and publisher of The Amazon Way and Think Like Amazon. Shaw is a current communications executive at Microsoft and worked previous at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Charlie Soap (Cherokee Nation) served as Director of the Cherokee Nation’s Community Development Department and is recognized throughout Indian Country for his community-first approach to social change.

About Third Place Books

Founded in 1998 in Lake Forest Park, Washington, Third Place Books is dedicated to the creation of a community around books and the ideas inside them. With locations in Lake Forest Park and Seattle’s Ravenna and Seward Park neighborhoods, Third Place Books is proud to serve the entire Seattle metro area. Learn more about their event series at thirdplacebooks.com/events.