Chaco Canyon, Canyon de Chelly, Mesa Verde, Hovenweep . . . For many, such historic places evoke images of stone ruins, cliff dwellings, pot shards, and petroglyphs. For others, they recall
From timeless writings to contemporary classics, the contributors weave an unforgettable mosaic of a people and a landscape that continues to inspire wanderers and readers even after four centuries.
—Tulsa World
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ancestry. Remnants of the American Southwest's ancestral Puebloan peoples (sometimes known as Anasazi) have mystified and tantalized explorers, settlers, archaeologists, artists, and other visitors
for centuries. And for a select group of writers, these ancient inhabitants have been a profound source of inspiration.
Collected here are more than fifty selections from a striking body
of literature about the prehistoric Southwest: essays, stories, travelers' reports, and poems spanning more than four centuries of visitation. They include timeless writings such as John Wesley
Powell's The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Tributaries and Frank Hamilton Cushing's "Life at Zuni," plus contemporary classics ranging from Colin Fletcher's The Man Who Walked
Through Time to Wallace Stegner's Beyond the Hundredth Meridian to Edward Abbey's "The Great American Desert."
Reuben Ellis's introduction brings contemporary insight and
continuity to the collection, and a section on "reading in place" invites readers to experience these great works amidst the landscapes that inspired them. For anyone who loves to roam ancient lands
steeped in mystery, Stories and Stone is an incomparable companion that will enhance their enjoyment.
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