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Left Handed, Son of Old Man Hat: A Navaho Autobiography
by
Left Handed
,
Walter Dyk
,
Luci Tapahonso
,
Edward Sapir
With a simplicity as disarming as it is frank, Left Handed tells of his birth in the spring "when the cottonwood leaves were about the size of my thumbnail," of family chores such as guarding the sheep near the hogan, and of his sexual awakening. As he grows older, his account turns to life in the open: nomadic cattle-raising, farming, trading, communal enterprises, tribal
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Community Reviews
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Autobiography of a Navajo born in 1868. He speaks simply but with a detailed memory. He would have been about 70 when he dictated his memories of early childhood until around 20 years old. He was born during the return from internment in Fort Sumnter and Fort Defiance. Given this it is amazing to me that within 20 years his family had probably a thousand sheep and around 70 horses as well as some cattle... Especially if you know what the high desert of Arizona is like, How can they sustain so ma
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I love when a book allows me to step into another time, another place. (I almost gave this 4 stars.)
Awesome book told in the Navajo speech style, slow and precise. I suppose I'm a little biased being that I've grown up hearing my grandparents tell me stories using the same linguistic pattern. For those who are seriously looking to read something authentic I recommend you read this as it was probably told, with great patience and sincere reverence.
This was a very difficult book to read. One does not just cruise through it. That said, it was an insight into the growing up of a Navajo boy in the late 19th century, which is why I obtained the book. BTW, it came from Goodwill of Indianapolis and the cost was only $0.01...$3 for shipping.
Jul 28, 2011
M_latimer
added it
I didn't finish this book. The story was kind of cool but the writing style drove me crazy. It was a written copy of an oral history.
Awesome. In addition to other things, he describes his first sexual encounter and calls bad people "evil spirits."
A unique autobiography... Some embarrassing experience for the young man it written, whom is seemingly shy...
Fascinating. DNF it was a little too slow, but I did enjoy what I read.
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