Arizona Books

Meticulously researched and informatively presented, "Holy Vikings: Saints' Lives In The Old Icelandic Kings' Sagas" by academician and historian Carl Phelpstead (Senior Lecturer in English Literature at Cardiff University) provides an informed and articulate biographical survey and history of the royal saints recorded in the Old Icelandic kings' sagas which were felt by church scholars and prelates to be improperly secular or profane and not 'proper' recordings of the saint's lives. "Holy Vikings" makes an impressive and persuasive argument that the theoretical concepts first developed by Mikhail Bakhtin provide modern scholars and academia with fresh, perceptive, and defensible insights into the role of hagiography with respect to traditional Icelandic saga-writing, and involve varied generic conventions in order to depict the Viking aristocracy and kings as 'holy' or 'sacred' in their eras. After an informed introduction to the texts that form the basis for the discussion, specific chapters address the genre of Icelandic sagas, as well as three of the major sagas themselves. Of special note is the chapter on 'Saints' Lives and Saga Origins', followed by Professor Phelpstead's conclusions on the subject matter addressed. Enhanced with Abbreviations, a Bibliography, and an Index, "Holy Vikings" is a seminal and significant contribution to Viking Studies and Icelandic History reference collections and reading lists. Also very highly recommended from Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies for these academic library collections and translated into English by Robert E. Bjork is "A Viking Slave's Sage: Jan Fridegard's Trilogy of Novels about the Viking Age - Land of Wooden Gods, People of the Dawn, and Sacrificial Smoke" (9780866983754, $43.00).

Jim Tuck's HOLY WAR IN LOS ALTOS is must reading for anyone wanting more information about the Cristero War of 1926-1929. He even seems to go a ways beyond Jean Meyer by actually naming one of the Soviet Russian sources for much of the Marxist drivel that has traditionally affected American authors on this subject.

We read this book several years ago, and even back then the book was quite old being published back in the sixties. It is told by Ann Woodin, a woman originally from back East who marries a biologist. That might have been the end of it, but she ends up moving with him to the desert Southwest next to Phoenix where he ends up working at a national park there. Once in her new environment she is not overly enthusiastic, and her first impression is that everything is "prickly."

Over time she comes to appreciate and greatly love her new desert home. She relates many interesting and/or charming anecdotes that she, her husband, and her children had about their adventures in the daytime and nightime wilds of Arizona, the pros and cons (sometimes quite humorous) of temporarily hosting wild animals that eventually become more like pets, and throughout the first-person narrative that truly conveys her transformation from a reluctant transplant to someone who truly came to love the desert and its way of life.

Sadly the area they lived in so long ago has, in all likelihood, vastly transformed due to the relentless urban sprawl, and chances are one would little recognize the area they lived in assuming that anything even remains there. But for those of us who truly appreciated this book, at least it lives on in our memories...and on obscure library bookshelves like ours here in Minnesota to pleasantly surprise the patient reader who is willing to give it a chance.

Their children truly had a rare and remarkable childhood experience, not unlike my own in many regards up here in the Minnesota wilds--although my childhood environment was a lot wetter and greener. Perhaps that is why this book resonated with me so well. I guess I would define this book as one of those that you read in less than a week but remember for a lifetime. I sure would be curious to know what ever happened to all of them.... Thanks, Ann. You did a fine job.

Written by University of Redlands assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology Wesley Bernardini, Hopi Oral Tradition And The Archaeology Of Identity is the SAA Award Winning look at how drawing upon Hopi oral history and traditional knowledge can be applied as a source to stimulate new ways of viewing archaeological record. In an era when increasingly complex debate surrounds the methodologies and theories used to reconstruct prehistoric identity and the movement of social groups among Native Americans, particularly the southwestern tribes with their shifting populations and identities over the past thousand years, Hopi Oral Tradition And The Archaeology Of Identity sheds new light on a difficult and sometimes emotionally charged matter. Drawing upon case studies, architectural and demographic data, analysis of rock art motifs, and more, Hopi Oral Tradition And The Archaeology Of Identity is a most welcome scholarly analysis offering keen insights into both historical and modern-day issues. A welcome contribution to both archaeology and Native American studies shelves.

In researching for another book, Patterson found reference to an unpublished manuscript of the Keams Collection. With much searching he found the text at the National Archives and the illustrations at the Smithsonian. After reassociating this material, this important primary information was finally published. Contains excellent information about the meaning of Hopi symbols.

Written without scientific jargon, this beautiful book is spellbinding. Illustrations include b/w drawings by Look, beautifully reproduced color prints of the author's oil paintings, and many pre-1900 b/w photos by Ben Wittick, a pioneer photographer in the Four Corners region in the 1880's who was the first person to photograph the Hopi Snake Dance. He died in 1903 of a snake bite as prophesied 20 years earlier by a Hopi elder.

All of the drawings and paintings in this book are the work of the author. Al Look's oil paintings of the Snake Dance ceremonies and the associated kachinas are drawn from his more than 35 years of travels through the Four Corners area, specifically the Hopi mesas. He explains that "the hard working kachinas, who represent the Hopi Spirit world originated in the dim memory of unwritten history. They represent all spirits, from rain clouds and rocks to saints. They furnish entertainment and humor as they recite the legends and traditions of the tribe. As dolls, they instruct the children."

If you enjoy Hopi culture you will have a hard time putting this book down. Archeologist discover an abandoned Hopi villiage. They also find numerous bodies burned inside the Kivas. Molotki matches local legends to describe what actually took place to cause everyone living in this village to die. In this case it was a game so addicting that the people no longer cared about anything except playing the game! You will have to read the book to find out how and why this villiage was destroyed. This is one of about 7 different stories blending archeology with actual events that have been passed down from generations in the form of oral tradition.
The book is a little technical with the archeological eveidence, but the stories of each villiage are well written and many times you feel like you are there seeing the actual events. The stories them selves are fascinating and I think you will find them very stimulating.There is also a good mix of cultural mythology in many of the stories.
I highly recomend this book as one of the best I have ever read!

Excellent translation. Catches the feel of Hopi storytelling. One interesting story is a modern Coyote story- Coyote and the Black Snake. It has a pun with mild sexual innuendo- a common Hopi pattern- yet the pun only works in English!

Poignant stories of Mexican-American people. Told in an easily readable style. Each story gives pause to reflect. Highly recommended.

Some "magical realism" stories (with dead relatives interacting with the living) seem contrived; this memoir's use of the same device does not. Though I am not Hispanic nor Spanish-speaking, I am a native of Texas and loved this book. It resonated with me in part because much of it takes place in Texas (El Paso), and also because I find family histories compelling (my own family -- and other families).I disagree with the New York Times reviewer (above and on the book jacket) who says the author's use of Spanish phrases cannot be picked up from context clues. Nonsense! The author gives the English translation right in the same paragraph!A good read that can be picked up and put down as time warrants.