Dinetah: An Early History of the Navajo People (Oxford Series in Optical and Imaging)
Dinetah 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 quiet to keep their people secure, the disaster of imprisonment at Fort Sumner -- all combine to express the relevance of Navajo history to their people today. Dinetah is enhanced with extensive archival illustrations and photographs that help to weave a complex but understandable story in which Navajos changed the future of the American Southwestern. Dinetah is a highly recommended addition to all Native American studies reading lists.  --Midwest Book Review