Dezba Woman of the Desert - #82 of the Rio Grande Classics

Glorieta, New Mexico: The Rio Grande Press, Inc., 1973. First Printing Stated . Hard Back. Very Good/No Dust Jacket. 6 1/4" x 9 1/4. Reichard, Lilian J. - Photography. 161 Pages. Cream boards with blue and red lettering and decorationss. This is a quality reprint of the 1939 release by J.J. Augustin Publisher, New York. Illustrated with 19 black and white photograhs. This book gives a short accont of Navajo behavior and attitudes toward their complex social and religious organization, a picture of daily life and adaptation to notions which have introduced by the United States government. The author's primary purpose was to answer questions asked by laymen, teachers, writers, artists and tourists. The traveler who has wandered off the highway realizes that the desert supports a people attractive and colorful. Yet these brief contacts may leave the impression that they are so reserved as to be stolid, so patient as to be shiftless, so mobile as to be irresponsible, so acquisitive as to be beggarly. The author says these Indians when under circumstances which they understand, are talkative and jolly and that toward memebers of their own tribe to whom obligations are well-defined, they are faithful, tolerant, dependable and generous. Navajos have many difficulties arising from their environment and to those troubles have been added the lengthy attempt to adjust to the ways of an alien civilization. The introduction of white culture has not been gentle or uniform and many Navajos do not understand this while at the same time many of them desire to embrace it. Contents in 13 Chapters: Matron, Dezba at Home, Grandchildren, Her Mother's Daughters, Conservative Son, Desba's Other Child, Play, Singing, Authority, Return to Earth, Groping, Heir, and Visiting.