The Old Ones of New Mexico

Garden City, New York: Anchor Books, 1975. First Anchor Books Edition . Mass Market. Good. Harris, Alex - Photographs. 104 Pages. Q3 printers mark last page. Books has a square, tight binding. Covers have slight bit of discoloration on edges, creases and spots that are difficult to see in the scans. These 'old ones,' these wonderfully expressive storytellers, these wonderfully and deeply introspective individuals who are fulfilling their human destiny by contemplating things, asking themselves about what truly matters, and why, can be of assistance to those studying literature, philosophy, religion. Here, after all, are twentieth century Americans who knew in their bones how to embrace narratives, their very own, and who also knew how to describe the world and take its measure. This is an eloquent and perceptive book about an extraordinary group of older Americans, written by the man of whom Time said, 'his astonishing volume of publications has made him the most influential living psychiatrist in the United States.' Robert Coles's transcriptions of his interviews with the Old Ones combine with Alex Harris's photographs of their ageless faces to remind us that it is still possible to grow old with dignity. If they are old Spanish-speaking inhabitants of one state, they are also Americans who in many ways resemble others of their age elsewhere, regardless of racial or ethnic background. On the other hand, I believe they themselves express those qualities of mind, heart and spirit that distinguish them from some of the rest of us.' - from the Introduction. Robert Coles is a child psychiatrist and writer who went to New Mexico under a Ford Foundation grant in 1972 to work with Chicano children there. This book is the result of series of interviews he held with the older residents of the area. Among Dr. Cole's many other books is the Children of Crisis series for which he received a Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Among the many awards he has received is the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998. This book is illustrated with a center section of 40 full page black and white photographs by Alex Harris. Harris' photographs of rural Southerners were exhibited at the Carolina Symposium of the South where he and Coles met. Contents in Five Chapters: Introduction, Two Languages, One Soul, Una Anciana, La Necesidad, The Age of a Reputation, and The Old Church the Spanish Church the American Church.