Navajo Nonfiction

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.

Navajo myths are among the most poetic in the world, full of dazzling word imagery. For the Navajo, who call themselves the Dine (literally, "the People"), the story of emergence—their creation myth—lies at the heart of their beliefs. In it, all the world is created together, both gods and human beings, embodying the idea that change comes from within rather than without. Poet and author Gerald Hausman collects this and other stories with meditations that together capture the essence of the Navajo people's way of life and their understanding of the world.

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.

Navajo Tainted Beliefs is a fictional novelette exploring the similarities and differences between the Bible and Navajo stories regarding the creation of the earth and mankind. Chile Charlie and Dolly Sweet Thompson interview a shaman to obtain the facts regarding these concepts. These side-by-side comparisons are well-written and easy to understand. You will laugh, you will cry, and you will wonder why as you listen.