THE PLACE WHERE SOULS ARE BORN: A Journey into the American Southwest
by KENEALLY, Thomas
- New
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- New/New
- ISBN 10
- 0671761048
- ISBN 13
- 9780671761042
- Seller
-
Austin, Texas, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Simon & Schuster, 1992. 1st Edition 1st Printing. Hardcover. New/New. Surprisingly, no illustrations. CONDITION: UNREAD 1992 Simon & Schuster hardcover (blue boards) & dust jacket, first edition, first printing. Deckle edges. No illustrations. Introduction by Jan Morris. CONTENT: I have always had a problem with the term "lyrical" being applied to non-fiction works. I was wrong. THIS is lyrical - just not on each page. Australian novelist Keneally brings his lively imagination to bear on the American Southwest. This is a sometimes sketchy account of a midwinter swing, by car and cross-country skis, through Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. Keneally doesn't talk to people much, and his reactions to landscapes can be predictable: ``Maybe religion is so strong in this landscape because this is terrain which puts the human in his place.'' But as in The Playmaker and Schindler's List, history is what moves him. He offers lively capsule biographies of figures who sum up an impulse, an era, a landscape, a paradox: Mormon prophet Brigham Young, silver tycoon Horace Tabor, the young scientists who were casualties of the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos. The proclaimed centerpiece of the book is a visit to Mesa Verde, that uplifting site in southwest Colorado where a thousand years of Native American history can be read from its architecture: pit houses, mesa-top temples, cliff palaces. Why did the accomplished Anasazi, its inhabitants, clear out after A.D. 1300? Was their mission to settle again in the wilderness, to start from scratch- -akin to the drive that sent the Mormons from upstate New York to Utah? His engaging narrative seamlessly interweaves the doings of Butch Cassidy, Georgia O'Keeffe, D. H. Lawrence, Max Ernst (who lived for a time in Sedona, Ariz.) and illiterate Army general Kit Carson, who forced the Navaho into a concentration camp. Although Keneally felt "immensity phobia" at the Southwest's vast heights and spaces, his remarkable book celebrates pre-Columbian gods and spirits who still communicate with the faithful in a territory open to the infinite. Keneally playfully draws some unusual historical parallels in order to chide Americans (condescendingly at times) for their inattention to their ancient roots on this continent. For those who don't know the region, an engaging if partial introduction. For those who do, there's the fun of watching a good novelist pursue his obsessions.
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Details
- Bookseller
- pacaritambo books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 003770
- Title
- THE PLACE WHERE SOULS ARE BORN: A Journey into the American Southwest
- Author
- KENEALLY, Thomas
- Illustrator
- Surprisingly, no illustrations
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- New New
- Jacket Condition
- New
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 1st Edition 1st Printing
- ISBN 10
- 0671761048
- ISBN 13
- 9780671761042
- Publisher
- Simon & Schuster
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1992
- Keywords
- 9780671761042, Four Corners, American southwest, Mesa Verde, Texas Panhandle, Anasazi, The Old Ones, Travel, Travel Essays, Native America, Native American religion, Navajo,
- Bookseller catalogs
- Young Adult: Educational; Ancient Americas: Anasazi; Archaeology: America; Ancient Americas: American Southwest; American History: The West; Travel; Adult & Young Adult;
Terms of Sale
pacaritambo books
If you should ever be unhappy with a book you order from us (Heaven forbid!), you may return the book within 15 days of receipt. If the error is ours, we will refund your original shipping charge and pay the return shipping as well. If the error is yours, we will keep actual postage. Any questions or problems, just email us and we'll work it out together. A word about international shipping: if I can prove that I mailed the book to you (and I will be able to), I cannot be responsible for the postal problems of another country. Sorry about that.
About the Seller
pacaritambo books
About pacaritambo books
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- New
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