The Beautiful and the Dangerous: 2dialogues with the Zuni Indians

For more than two decades, Tedlock ( Teachings from the American Earth ), an anthropologist, and her husband made sporadic visits to their adopted family on the Zuni Indian Reservation of western New Mexico. Here she records legends, songs, ceremonies and folk medicine practices and vividly captures the daily life of this agrarian and matriarchal tribe. The focus zooms in on Hapiya and his wife Tola and their sons and daughters, as they try to maintain balance between the old way and the intrusions of technology and outside culture. The Apollo space mission, for instance, wreaks havoc on the Zuni religion and its gods of the sun and moon. The book powerfully portrays the tribe's visceral and mystic nature. Photos not seen by PW. (June)