Customer Reviews

The Nightway: A History and a History of Documentation of a Navajo Ceremonial

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I hope that Dr. Faris will not be put off by me considering this book a masterpiece. It is one of my favorites, the details I'll omit. Very few scholars have grasped the complexity and beauty of Navajo ceremonialism and creation stories as well as the author has in The Nightway (Haile, Matthews, Zolbrod, McNeley). There are small portions of the book which I think some Nightway singers (medicine men) could disagree with but overall it is an excellent resource of information on the most familiar of Navajo ceremonials among non-Navajos. Reading Dr. Faris's text reinforces my convention that good anthropolgoy still exists. His basic postulate that the knowledges of living authorities of local history concerning the healing arts, that is, Navajo Medicine Men and Women, have knowledge which can be accepted as truths, and are as valid as material remains of the deceased, as interpreted by foreign histories, is refreshing, honest, respectful, and badly needed in so many areas of anthropology.

I hope that Dr. Faris will not be put off by me considering this book a masterpiece. It is one of my favorites, the details I'll omit. Very few scholars have grasped the complexity and beauty of Navajo ceremonialism and creation stories as well as the author has in The Nightway (Haile, Matthews, Zolbrod, McNeley). There are small portions of the book which I think some Nightway singers (medicine men) could disagree with but overall it is an excellent resource of information on the most familiar of Navajo ceremonials among non-Navajos. Reading Dr. Faris's text reinforces my convention that good anthropolgoy still exists. His basic postulate that the "knowledges of living authorities of local history concerning the healing arts, that is, Navajo Medicine Men and Women, have knowledge which can be accepted as truths, and are as valid as material remains of the deceased, as interpreted by foreign histories," is refreshing, honest, respectful, and badly needed in so many areas of anthropology.

I hope that Dr. Faris will not be put off by me considering this book a masterpiece. It is one of my favorites, the details I'll omit. Very few scholars have grasped the complexity and beauty of Navajo ceremonialism and creation stories as well as the author has in The Nightway (Haile, Matthews, Zolbrod, McNeley). There are small portions of the book which I think some Nightway singers (medicine men) could disagree with but overall it is an excellent resource of information on the most familiar of Navajo ceremonials among non-Navajos. Reading Dr. Faris's text reinforces my convention that good anthropolgoy still exists. His basic postulate that the "knowledges of living authorities of local history concerning the healing arts, that is, Navajo Medicine Men and Women, have knowledge which can be accepted as truths, and are as valid as material remains of the deceased, as interpreted by foreign histories," is refreshing, honest, respectful, and badly needed in so many areas of anthropology.