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Pueblo Nations: Eight Centuries of Pueblo Indian History

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As a member of the Sun Clan of the Jemez people, Joe Sando was in a unique position to research and write this history. As a scholar trained at Eastern New Mexico State and at Vanderbilt, he developed his skills as an historian. As a person he retained his empathy and humanity while confronting the unjust policies that have been visited on the Pueblo peoples by the Spanish, Mexican and United States governments. If you are interested in a well-balanced, incisive history of the New Mexico Pueblo people (the Hopi are not covered here), this book is worth the money to buy, the effort to read and the time to understand.

At 282 pages (hardback version), Joe Sando presented a unique prespective on the history of the Pueblo Indians, a confederation of tribes that stretch from the Zuni Pueblo on the New Mexico-Arizona state line to Taos Pueblo in North Central New Mexico. There is some remarks in this book that the Hopis are part of this confederation as well.

The book covers the history of the people from before the entrance of the Spaniards to the time of the book's publication in 1992. The Pueblo Revolt gets proper coverage with the interesting statement that the reputed leader of the revolt, Po-Pay, was little more than a associate of the campaign as most of the names of the leaders are lost to history. The oppresion and the foolish forced conversions to Christianity from the Spaniards as well as rival tribes such as the Apaches and the Navajos are explained from a viewpoint that the Pueblos just wanted to left alone and to pursue their agricultural way of life.

Other subjects covered include the adjustment of the Pueblo peoples to modern society and their education, difficulties with the United States that resulted in the taking of their lands and the their governmental structure which dates back to Spanish occupation. There is also an in-depth section that details nine Pueblo people that have shaped their history including Pablo Abeita, Sotero Ortiz, Mateo Aragon and Martin Vigil.

The book is richly illustrated with an extensive timeline of Pueblo history, a copy of the All Indian Pueblo Council Constitution, feast days of each Pueblo and some statistics. A nice bibliography, but no index. If one has to read a short, yet concise book on these people, I would recommend this one wholeheartly.