Navajo Memoir

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 his culture and traditions. But discrimination didn’t stop Chester from answering the call to defend his country after Pearl Harbor, for the Navajo have always been warriors, and his upbringing on a New Mexico reservation gave him the strength to excel as a marine. This is the first and only memoir by one of the original Navajo code talkers of WWII.

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.

In the summer of 1846, the Army of the West marched through Santa Fe, en route to invade and occupy the Western territories claimed by Mexico. Fueled by the new ideology of “Manifest Destiny,” this land grab would lead to a decades-long battle between the United States and the Navajos, the fiercely resistant rulers of a huge swath of mountainous desert wilderness.

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.

In the powerful and haunting lands of the Southwest, rainbows grow unexpectedly from the sky, mountain lions roam the desert, and summer storms roll over the Colorado River. As a park ranger, Kristofic explores the Ganado valley, traces the paths of the Anasazi, and finds mythic experiences on sacred mountains that explain the pain and loss promised for every person who decides to love. After reconnecting with his Navajo sister and brother, Kristofic must confront his own nightmares of the Anglo society and the future it has created.

Nominated as BOOK OF THE MONTH by Discovering Diamonds, a leading independent book-review site. "In A Town Called Paradox is one of those rare, glittering reads that traps the reader immediately and doesn't let go. Thank you for an emotional, gripping and utterly rewarding read." Selected as an INDIE BOOK WE LOVE by LoveReading, a top book-recommendation website. "This book will grab your attention from page one... I hope you will read and thoroughly enjoy it, as I did..." I WASN'T looking for Marilyn Monroe even though I knew she was in town filming River of No Return... So begins In A ...

In 1896, Philip Johnston, age four, arrived on the Navajo Reservation with his parents, William and Maggie. In 1901 William brought Navajo leaders to Washington to plead their case to expand the borders of the reservation. Nine-year-old Philip did all the translating and interpreting between the Navajos and President Theodore Roosevelt. This is a fascinating audiobook about Philip's life growing up on the Navajo Reservation and the equally fascinating story of his role with the amazing Navajo Code Talkers.

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.