People of Chaco: A Canyon and Its Culture, Updated and Expanded Edition [Paperback]

Kendrick Frazier (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0393318257 | ISBN-13: 978-0393318258 | Publication Date: April 1999 | Edition: Revised and Updated

"[W]ritten in the best tradition of the science writer and the mystery writer. . . . [A] breathtaking piece of work."—Jake Page, Washington Times

In northwestern New Mexico's Chaco Canyon lies a spectacular array of ruins. Like Stonehenge, they are both a monument to our pre-history and a cryptic puzzle. We know that in Chaco Canyon, one thousand years ago, there arose among the Pueblo people a great and culturally sophisticated civilization. But many questions remain: Just what function did Chaco Canyon fulfill? How great was its extent and influence? Why did its culture collapse? First published in 1986 and now updated with the latest archaeological and anthropological evidence, People of Chaco is an essential book for the general reader on the Chaco culture and ruins. With grace and erudition, Kendrick Frazier scours the canyon for clues about its unique cultural system, confirms its importance to archaeology, and saves this vital American narrative from the oblivion of history. Illustrations, maps and plans

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The intermittent Chaco Wash has cut a broad canyon through northwestern New Mexico. Its natural beauty is surpassed only by the many prehistoric ruins it contains, which were built by the Chacoan Anasazi, the ancestors of the modern Pueblo Indians. About 1000 years ago, the Chacoans constructed multistory residences, established an extensive road system, exercised cultural hegemony over a large region in the southwestern United States, and then suddenly left. Frazier skillfully recounts the fascinating story of Chaco Canyon. He describes its discovery and exploration, its role in the development of American archaeology, and the clues it contains about a unique cultural system. This thorough, balanced, and engrossing work is a delight for all students of the prehistoric Southwest. Gordon C. Tucker, Jr., Nickens and Assocs., Montrose, Col.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Kendrick Frazier has combined scientific and ethnographic data with Native American oral history to develop a concise account of this national monument.
(Los Angeles Times Book Review )

By-the-fireside archaeology at its best. (Paul Craig - Sacramento Bee )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; Revised and Updated edition (April 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393318257
• ISBN-13: 978-0393318258
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #166,171 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pleasantly educational despite the editorial shortcomings, June 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: People of Chaco: A Canyon and Its Culture, Updated and Expanded Edition (Paperback)

For anyone interested in Chaco and the whole Chaco Phenomenon, this is a very readable place to start -- lots of good, basic information, and the addition of the last chapter updating what came before is particularly worthwhile. The only negative is easily overlooked because of the subject, but the editorial staff should be drawn and quartered for letting a reissue hit the presses with ANY grammatical and/or typo errors -- shame on them, but good for Frazier for updating his book (and his readers) on what's new re Chaco.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Diggers versus Inhabitants, October 16, 2009

By 

E. Gray - See all my reviews
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This review is from: People of Chaco: A Canyon and Its Culture, Updated and Expanded Edition (Paperback)

The "People of Chaco" is about the people (white man) who found the ruins, and the subsequent history of people who excavated, catalogued, and estalished the archeology. It is more about the history of the establishment of protection policies than of the people who lived here, built here, died here, socialized here...and their migration into other clans and tribes of the southwest, when the Chaco culture started to fail. This book was published in the mid-late '80's, and it is interesting to note that there have been a lot of turnarounds in thoughts, attitudes, and deductions in later published books. Later books, however, are almost too stiff, in their efforts to be more "politically correct" in their verbage and descriptions. Also, lots has happened since 1989.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent overview, January 4, 2007

By 

Stephen Bailey (Torrance, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: People of Chaco: A Canyon and Its Culture, Updated and Expanded Edition (Paperback)

For anyone interested in Chaco--or in 'Anasazi' culture in general--this is a great read. It is highly accessible to the lay reader, compiling the current theories, arguments and evidence in a way that is quite enjoyable. The overview of the historical development of research in the region is excellent. A 'must' for anyone interested in southwestern archaeology.