Of Earth and Little Rain: The Papago Indians [SOLD]

OF EARTH AND LITTLE RAIN: The Papago Indians

By Bernard l. Fontana with photographs by John P. Schaefer

Publisher: Northland Press, Flagstaff

First Edition, Hardback 1981, slip cover, 140 pages

“This book, with its sensitively written text and powerful photographs, provides an appreciation for one of the lesser-known groups of Indians in the United States and Mexico.  They call themselves O’odham but to the world outside their reservations, which is the second largest in the United States, they are the Papago.

“In 1687, when Father Eusebio Kino encountered the Papago, he came upon men, women, and children who were the bearers of an ancient and eminently successful desert culture.  They had evolved their own religious beliefs, spoke a complex language, and had their own political, social, and economic structures.  They were altogether self-sufficient, depending on one another and on their desert environment to sustain them.

“During the three centuries since that first encounter with a European, the Papago have been both encouraged and coerced to become Spaniards, Mexicans, and Anglo-Americans, yet they have continued to exist as a clearly identifiable entity.  Traditional life may have altered, but it has not changed beyond recognition.  Instead, the Papago have adapted the peculiar culture of the white man to suit their own way of looking at the world.”

Condition: very good condition