The Navajos: The Past and Present of a Great People

John Upton Terrell

HarperCollins/Perennial Library

The careers of Coronado, Espejo, Juan de Onate and Vargas are just so many more confirmations of the established image of the conquistador -- an opportunist powered by his own greed who revenged his failure to find treasure on the helpless Indian population. As in Apache Chronicle (KR, 1972) and The Navahos (KR, 1970), Terrell's contribution to popular understanding lies in his empathy with and knowledge of the victims. The 150 Pueblos that flourished when Cabeza de Vaca first brought back news of the Seven Cities of Cibola were cultured communities though not, as Terrell shows, entirely deserving of the label ""peaceful."" They were accomplished warriors who indulged in occasional internal feuds and were used to protecting themselves against Apache and Navaho raids, but they were basically defensive fighters -- ""the Pueblos usually waited until they were attacked. . ."" -- and in dealing with the Spanish this was a fatal mistake. Aside from providing this anthropological perspective, Terrell allows the contemporary chroniclers to condemn themselves, excerpting their own words to preserve ""for posterity outstanding examples of the hypocrisy, humbuggery, and unqualified dishonesty employed by Spanish officials and countenanced by Spanish priests."" The record has stood for centuries; considering the revival of interest in the history of the Spanish southwest, Terrell offers his indictment at a propitious time.---Kirkus Review

Pueblos, Gods and Spaniards

The Dial Press

Relates early missionary endeavors and tells of how Protestant and Catholic men of the cloth strove to destroy the Indians' resistance to Christianity

The Arrow and the Cross

Religion & Spirituality

Other Religions, Practices & Sacred Texts

Capra Pr

Long before the arrival of Columbus on this Continent a network of Indian trade trails reached from ocean to ocean, and an extensive inter-tribal commerce, based on barter and exchange, was conducted in every region of North America. This is a book about that economy in the West

Traders of the Western Morning: Aboriginal Commerce in Precolumbian North America

Southwest Museum

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Books by John Upton Terrell