I mentioned earlier that a search for "Navajo" at amazon .com gave not fewer than 817 books (and 14 videos on VHS). The older spelling "Navaho" yielded only 103 books. I have used only one of those books as a source in the preparation of this report:
The Book of the Navajo by Raymond Friday Locke (Los Angeles, CA 2001)
The first edition of this book was published in 1976 (I bought my copy at the gift shop of the Holiday Inn). The book is voluminous (496 pages) and contains an index. About his sources the author writes "Much of the material in this book was derived from the Navajo themselves. The remainder is based on published and unpublished works.....". Unfortunately, the book does not contain a list if literature references (some direct quotes are referenced in the text. The book is very detailed about the myths and ceremonies of the Navajo and about the early history of the Navajo, up to about 1900. The more modern history of the Navajo is treated somewhat cursory.
An unusual book about the Navajo is Laughing Boy by Oliver La Farge (New York, NY, 1986). La Farge was not an Indian but lived and worked as an anthropologist in Arizona, where he was one of the authors of the first standardized Navajo alphabet. The novel "Laughing Boy" was first published in 1929 and won the Pulitzer price for fiction for that year. It is amazing that 73 years after it was first published the book is still in print. The book, set around 1930, is a love story between a young Navajo from the reservation and a Navajo girl who was raised in a Christian orphanage. As many love stories in the literature, it has a sad ending.
An unusual source of information about life in today's Dinéta are the suspense novels of Tony Hillerman. Hillerman is not an Indian, but he has a profound knowledge of the contemporary way of life of the Navajo and also about their religious believes. The personae in many of his books are Captain Largo, Lieutenant Leaphorn and Sergeant Jim Chee from the Navajo tribal police force, who solve criminal mysteries on the Navajo reservation and on that of the Zuni (in "Sacred Clowns" and "Dance Hall of the Dead"). Many of the cases involve superstition and Jim Chee is trying to be come a Hataali (a singer who performs the Navajo religious ceremonies). Besides of being informative, the books are also well written and will keep the reader spellbound. Note that "Finding Moon" and "Fly on the Wall" do not have the usual personae and are not set on the reservation. The book "The Dark Wind" from 1982 was made into a movie with the same name in 1993, which was shot mainly on the Hopi reservation, where the story is set. The movie was not very successful - most roles of Indians were played by non-Indian actors. Shooting for a second movie "Skin Walkers" by Robert Redford's Wildwood Productions has been completed and is scheduled to be shown on PBS stations this fall. This movie stars several Indian actors, including Adam Beach, and is directed by Chris Eyre, who also directed the movie "Smoke Signals".
Update 8-3-2002:The TV-movie "Skin Walkers" is scheduled to be shown on PBS on November 24, 2002 as part of the "Mystery" series. A website on this program will be launched on November 11.
A fellow student at the Elderhostel class told me, that there is another series of six suspense novels which are set on the Navajo reservation. They are written by Aimée Thurlo together with her husband David, who grew up on the Navajo reservation. However, I have not yet read any of these books.
I sometimes tell my seniors at the Irvine Lakeview Center, where I am a volunteer in the computer lab: "If you have access to the Internet, it is as if you have a secret door - you walk through it and you are in the Library of Congress". If you enter in the search engine "Google" the search word "Navajo", it tells you that it has found no fewer than 535,000 Internet websites which contain this word. Using the older spelling "Navaho" finds only 37,800 websites but Google will ask "Did you mean Navajo" - Google is a very smart computer program. Of course, these large numbers make the search for just "Navajo" practically useless. One has to be more specific and enter, for example, "Navajo language" (6,800 websites) "Navajo alphabet" (85 websites) or "Navajo Code talkers" (10,500 websites).
The following are a few websites which I found especially interesting or informative (some of them I have also referenced in other sections of this report):
Navajo Nation: This is the personal website of John Lowe, a Navajo (born to the Red House Clan, born for the Salt Clan) who lives in Kirtland, New Mexico. It has plenty of information about all things Navajo. Somewhat confusing is that he talks about the Navajo currently living in the fifth, not the fourth world. However, I don't think the Navajo are the only ones who are confused about our current world. (This website contains a number of annoying pop-up ads.)
Explore the Navajo Nation: I have not figured out who "americanwest.com" is, who posts this website, however, it contains interesting information which is of special interest for tourists.
Official Website of the Navajo Nation: This is exactly what it says - with links to all departments of the Navajo Government (including the Navajo Nation Bar Association).
Frequently asked Questions about Life on the Navajo Nation & Among the Navajo People: Larry DeLuccio is not an Indian, but he has been living with his family in Chinle for almost 20 years. He works as a systems analyst for the local school system and is responsible for the telephone and computer systems. Larry DeLuccio has compiled a FAQ file (actually, three files) whith the answers to not fewer than 206 questions - which must be all the questions anybody ever asked about the Navajo. He knows the value of knowledge: the files are copyrighted and you need his permission - for a fee of $14 - to print them. I believe many tourists would would be interested in buying this FAQ in bookform. On the side Larry DeLuccio runs the Unofficial Canyon de Chelly and Navajo Central Website, whose server also hosts the website of Marjorie Thomas' "Central Navajo Youth Opportunity Coalition
".