Mesa of Sorrows

Mesa of Sorrows recalls the history and legacy of the Awat'ovi massacre by brilliantly connecting the past to the Hopi present. It is a story of violence, destruction, and annihilation, but as James F. Brooks so eloquently demonstrates, it is also a story that is deeply rooted in the human experience. -- Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert, author of Education Beyond the Mesas: Hopi Students at Sherman Institute, 1902-1929 Mesa of Sorrows signals the emergence of a new kind of history that weaves archaeology, sacred knowledge, written words, and oral traditions into transcendent insight. The result is a deeply disturbing glimpse of the American past, populated by pathos, poison, prophecy, and persistence. James Brooks writes beautifully, and he writes for all of us. -- Elizabeth Fenn, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People In this brilliant and humane book, James Brooks recovers a grim tale of massacre, memory, and forgetting. Paying deft attention to bones, documents, pottery, and stories, he reveals a great mystery with a haunting and evocative clarity. In rich and telling detail, Brooks explores a particular massacre to illuminate powerful truths about the dilemmas of human nature. -- Alan Taylor, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832 Mesa of Sorrows is at once a profound immersion in the unique worldview of the Hopi and an eloquent meditation on the long shadows that violence in the past can cast into the present. A remarkable achievement by one of our preeminent historians of the Southwest borderlands. -- Karl Jacoby, author of Shadows at Dawn: A Borderlands Massacre and the Violence of History In this rich work of anthropology, archaeology, and personal sleuthing, James Brooks carefully unravels a mystery of enormous violence that convulsed the desert Southwest some three hundred years ago-and that still sends off psychic shockwaves. Here is a haunting tale that is also deeply revealing, not only about the ancient Hopi Indians but all human societies. -- Hampton Sides, author of Blood and Thunder Vivid.... Brooks tells this tragic story with great sensitivity and power, offering readers a fascinating perspective on the history of the American Southwest. -- Publishers Weekly An engaging anthropological investigation into this difficult subject.... An attractive, authoritative read. -- Library Journal Opens an enthralling window into an ancient culture...[and] offers a reflection that any society forgets at its own peril. -- Laura Miller - Slate