Books - February 2012

Code Talker: The First and Only Memoir by One
of the Original Navajo Code Talkers of WWII
By Chester Nez with Judith Schiess Avila (Berkley Caliber)

Now 90, Chester Nez is the only surviving member of the original Navajo code talkers—Marine Corps radio operators during World War II who created an unbreakable code based on their native language. (The Japanese had successfully cracked every previous code, undermining U.S. military operations in the South Pacific.) The code talkers took active part in every Marine battle in the Pacific, sending their final transmissions from Nagasaki after the dropping of the atom bomb on that city.

For 23 years after the war ended, the code remained classified—and the achievements of the men who devised it remained unrecognized and uncelebrated. They couldn’t speak about their work (even to family) until 1968, and weren’t awarded their well-deserved Congressional Gold Medals until 2001.

Nez’s memoir tells the story of the development of that code and details several horrifying battles in which it was used. Perhaps as important, though, it also tells the story of growing up a traditional Navajo from the 1920s through the 1940s. Although co-author Judith Schiess Avila notes that there are many variations in Navajo customs, and that this book records only those of Nez and his family, Nez’s recollections of the hardships and joys of herding sheep and goats, the horrors of boarding school, the practice of prayer and healing ceremonies, the pleasure of storytime before a winter fire—and of sharing that fire with a litter of prairie dogs—offers an unexpectedly lively and intimate view of daily life in a culture still largely unfamiliar to most Americans.

Nez and his fellow recruits were selected for the code-talking project because they were fluent in both English and Navajo—the same language, he notes somewhat ironically, that they were punished for speaking in the government-sponsored boarding schools they attended. And it may be that the same qualities of language that made the code so impenetrable have also made this memoir so powerful.
The soft, musical sounds of the Navajo language are almost impossible for people who did not grow up hearing it to reproduce. “Our speech does not simply state fact,” Nez says. “It paints pictures”—and tells stories that are memorized and repeated, generation after generation. “In Navajo life, everything has a story, narratives that are significant both in ceremonies and in everyday life.”

Two of the stories—about the forced Long Walk from Fort Defiance to the Bosque Redondo, in 1864, during which about 3,000 Navajos perished, and the Great Livestock Massacre of the 1930s, when, by government order, Navajo sheep and goat herds were thinned by being burned alive in trenches—are considered the greatest tragedies in Navajo history.

Both that history and storytelling inform this book, based on 80 hours of interviews with Chester and his son Michael. Perhaps the greatest achievement of the code talkers, Nez concludes, is that their story “is not one of sorrow, like the Long Walk and the Great Livestock Massacre, but one of triumph”—and the creation of a new chapter of Navajo history that is both spoken and written.—Patricia West-Barker

Book Briefs by Ashley M. Biggers

A Year or So in the Life of New Mexico: An Uncensored Look at Life in the Land of Enchantment
By Rick Carver (Fresco Fine Art Publications)

The call for photography was simple: “Photograph what you love, what is important, what needs to be seen. And do it all within a year.” More than 50 photographers answered the call with photo-documentary work that captures, in 400 images, the diversity of life in New Mexico, from rodeos to tribal dances. (The photo of U.S.S. New Mexico Commander Prokopius reading a copy of New Mexico Magazine on the ship made me smile.) Among this lively collection are images of nonprofit organizations serving the social good—fitting, because the profits from the sale of this book benefit Esperanza Shelter for Battered Families, based in Santa Fe.

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About Love: Photographs and Films 1973-2011
By Gay Block (Radius Books)

Known for her landmark work Rescuers: Portraits of Moral Courage in the Holocaust, acclaimed portraitist Gay Block is now based in Santa Fe. About Love is a survey of her 35-year career comprising her most intimate and moving photographs. In an interview with Anne Wilkes Tucker that accompanies the collection of images, Block notes, “I’ve always loved exactly what somebody looks like.” This exactness describes her work; though the portraits are more posed than candid, they are earnest. Two series are of particular note: Miami, South Beach (1982–1985), which bursts with images of the seasoned faces and joyful spirits of elderly characters, and Camp Girls (1981/2006), which captures young girls at camp and the adults into whom they grew. This handsome collection is by yet another prominent artist who calls the Land of Enchantment home.

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Into the Heat: My Love Affair with Trees, Fire, Saws and Men
By Cindy Bellinger (High-Lonesome Books)

Five-time author Cindy Bellinger’s romances change like the seasons—at times gently sliding from one to the next, at times shifting in a moment as brief as the turn of her head. In her memoir, she ends a hapless romance and buys a house in the heart of a ponderosa forest. A life here, she discovers, requires toughness—both mental and physical. Here the resourcefulness and practice of collecting firewood sparks insights about loves past and possible. The thoughtful book is peppered with poignant turns of phrase. Here’s one I’ll be stashing in my back pocket to remember: “This is how I’ve always wanted to live: close enough to touch the earth’s skin.”

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Sweeney
By Robert Julyan (University of New Mexico Press)

Best known for his essential book The Place Names of New Mexico, Robert Julyan turns his attention to fiction in this, his first novel. Once vibrant, the small New Mexico town of Sweeney has dwindled to population 856.Without any tourist draws, it is drying up before the residents’ eyes—until strange holes in the ground and a towering monolith appear overnight. Aliens, naked bull riders, and Native Americans (phony and real) all make appearances in this journey about survival and self-discovery. With his wry sense of humor, Julyan captures all the color and charm of small-town life.

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