Navajo

*A NEW YORK TIMES PICK FOR TOP 22 NONFICTION BOOKS TO READ THIS FALL!* A Navajo Ranger’s chilling and clear-eyed memoir of his investigations into bizarre cases of the paranormal and unexplained in Navajoland As a Native American with parents of both Navajo and Cherokee descent, Stanley...

The Navajo, or Diné (“the people”), are the single largest group of Native American people in North America. Their traditional homeland, the Diné Bikéyah, stretched across the vast landscapes of present-day Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, defined by four sacred mountains that symbolized their spiritual and physical world. Yet their language and culture suggest that the Navajo actually originated in present-day Canada before migrating south toward New Mexico.

A century ago, the American Southwest was a region of savage natural beauty. There, the Navajo people worshipped the land, spinning folk tales into legends and prayers into songs. But besieged by US Army soldiers, the tribe was suddenly thrust into a battle that nearly destroyed the proudly woven fabric of its culture.

Although the mission school bans all that is Navajo, Ned secretly clings to his native language and culture. Proudly joining the U.S. Marines in 1943, he becomes a top-secret Navajo Code Talker. During bloody battles for Japanese islands, Ned and his brave band of code-talking brothers save thousands of lives using Navajo encryption the enemy never cracks.

The first and only memoir by one of the original Navajo code talkers of WWII. His name wasn’t Chester Nez. That was the English name he was assigned in kindergarten. And in boarding school at Fort Defiance, he was punished for speaking his native language, as the teachers sought to rid him of...

The indigenous Navajo way of life has been in "survival mode" since the introduction of Eurocentric culture in the Americas. Darryl Benally tells the true story of what it is like growing up Navajo, surviving the challenges of navigating in a multicultural society and an unjust system, while layering the pages with knowledge about the Navajo culture itself. Darryl Benally's story begins with life on a Navajo Reservation with all the cards stacked against him—being exposed to alcoholism, domestic violence, and enduring a government sponsored boarding school.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER From the author of Ghost Soldiers comes an eye-opening history of the American conquest of the West—"a story full of authority and color, truth and prophecy" (The New York Times Book Review). In the summer of 1846, the Army of the West marched through Santa Fe, en route...

*Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award* *A New York Times Notable Book* *Winner of the Texas Book Award and the Oklahoma Book Award* This New York Times bestseller and stunning historical account of the forty-year battle between Comanche Indians and white...

A fascinating life story intertwined with the history of the Navajo tribe. This is the story of a woman born in an earthen floored hogan on the Navajo Reservation in northern Arizona, educated in government-run boarding schools, denied marriage to the man she loved in favor of tradition and denied her birthright by family. Despite these roadblocks, she continued her education in the medical field. At times, she was sought out by the rich and famous people to provide care for their loved ones.

A collection of stories, poems, and meditations that illuminate the spiritual world of the Navajo. Explores the Navajo's fundamental belief in the importance of harmony and balance in the world. Shares Navajo healing ways that have been handed down for generations. Includes...

Discover the Four Bodies of Existence—reshape your self-knowledge, empower your story, and embody a happier, healthier life A revelatory guide and a vital invitation rooted in Indigenous wisdom from author Granddaughter Crow What if our inner narrative—the conscious and subconscious story we...

This is the true story of how a chance meeting with a young Navajo Indian propels an English traveler out of his professional life and into the world of North American Indian Medicine Men, a world where people genuinely believe that witchcraft can bring ruin, even death, and only the traditional medicine men have the knowledge to lift the curses and restore the sick to health. This is the Second Edition of the acclaimed Meeting the Medicine Men, with much extra material and detail supplied by Charles Langley from his field notes and diaries. As apprentice to the powerful Navajo medicine man...

Just before starting second grade, Jim Kristofic moved from Pittsburgh across the country to Ganado, Arizona, when his mother took a job at a hospital on the Navajo Reservation. Navajos Wear Nikes reveals the complexity of modern life on the Navajo Reservation, a world where Anglo and Navajo coexisted in a tenuous truce. After the births of his Navajo half-siblings, Jim and his family moved off the Reservation to an Arizona border town where they struggled to readapt to an Anglo world that no longer felt like home.

After her first week teaching at a boarding school on the Navajo Reservation near Canyon de Chelly, young Erica Elliott almost leaves in despair, unable to communicate with the children or understand cultural cues. But once she starts learning the Navajo language, the people begin to trust her, taking her into their homes and ceremonies. As she is drawn deeper into Navajo life, Erica has a series of profound experiences with the people, animals, and spirits of Canyon de Chelly. Fulfilling a Navajo grandmother’s prophecy, she returns years later as a medical doctor.

Growing up on the Navajo Indian Reservation, David Crow and his siblings idolized their dad. Tall, strong, smart, and brave, the self-taught Cherokee regaled his family with stories of his World War II feats. But as time passed, David discovered the other side of Thurston Crow, the ex-con with his own code of ethics that justified cruelty, violence, lies - even murder. A shrewd con artist with a genius IQ, Thurston intimidated David with beatings to coerce him into doing his criminal bidding. David's mom, too mentally ill to care for her children, couldn't protect him.

Since the first contact between natives and settlers, tribes like the Sioux, Cherokee, and Navajo have both fascinated and perplexed outsiders with their history, language, and culture. In Charles River Editors' Native American Tribes series, readers can get caught up to speed on the history and culture of North America's most famous native tribes in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.

With the end of the Civil War, the nation recommenced its expansion onto traditional Indian tribal lands, setting off a wide-ranging conflict that would last more than three decades. In an exploration of the wars and negotiations that destroyed tribal ways of life even as they made possible the emergence of the modern United States, Peter Cozzens gives us both sides in comprehensive and singularly intimate detail.

Rick Lindquist, scout under Colonel Kit Carson, is ordered to lead an Army of destruction against the Navajo driving them out—or killing them. Captured by the Navajo, Rick meets meets Micaela Castaneda, daughter of near-by rancher, who has grown up among them and argues the Navajo cause forcefully. This was their home, their country. And the U. S. government had signed a treaty granting the land to them in perpetuity.

When fall arrives in Duck Creek Village, the mountain is alive with secrets—and the first snow is anyone’s guess. For Maya, returning to the high plateau means reuniting with old friends, uncovering local legends, and finally solving the riddle of the mysterious “Drowned Village” beneath Navajo Lake. But when the village’s quirky tradition of rubber duck rituals is stolen out from under them, Maya and wilderness guide Finn are swept into a puzzle that ties folklore, environmental sabotage, and the fate of the community together. As the lake’s waters drop and long-buried clues ...

An icy chill foretells a harsh winter for the Navajo people—and for perpetually down on his luck Harley Ponyboy the situation grows increasingly desperate. What evil is this that dogs his every step? When a lucky lottery ticket comes his way, Harley uses the new resources to search for a lost love—only to find she has fallen to appalling depths. His stubborn resolve to help puts him on a collision course with her abusive companion . . . and with his own mortality.