Dinetah: An Early History of the Navajo People

Dinetah: An Early History of the Navajo PeopleHere, in a highly readable style, is a lively chronicle of the Navajo people from prehistory to 1868. It is a sympathetic history of a great people who depended on their tenacity and creative adaptability to survive troubled times. The hardships and rewards of early band life, encounters with the Pueblos that revolutionized Navajo culture, the adversity of Spanish colonization, the expansion of Navajo land, the tragic cycle of peace and war with the

Here, in a highly readable style, is a lively chronicle of the Navajo people from prehistory to 1868. It is a sympathetic history of a great people who depended on their tenacity and creative adaptability to survive troubled times. The hardships and rewards of early band life, encounters with the Pueblos that revolutionized Navajo culture, the adversity of Spanish colonization, the expansion of Navajo land, the tragic cycle of peace and war with the Spanish, Mexican, and American forces, the Navajo leaders' long quest to keep their people secure, the disaster of imprisonment at Fort Sumner-all combine to express the relevancy of Navajo history to their people today. This book with its extensive archival illustrations and photographs weaves a complex but understandable story in which Navajos changed the future of the Southwestern United States. * * * * * Lawrence D. Sundberg taught for many years among the Navajo in Arizona and has a solid background in not only education and curriculum development, but in Navajo history, language and culture. He has also created materials for Navajo students in Navajo literacy, Navajo as a second language, and Navajo culture and ethnohistory. Mr. Sundberg holds a bachelor's degree in Anthropology from California State University, Fullerton, and a master's degree in Bilingual Education from Northern Arizona University. He is also the author of "Red Shirt, The Life and Times of Henry Lafayette Dodge," from Sunstone Press.