Showing Into the Canyon: Seven Years in Navajo Country by Lucy Moore

Winner of the 2005 Willa Award for Best Memoir from Women Writing the West

A 2004 Southwest Books of the Year

In 1968 newlyweds Lucy Moore and her husband moved from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Chinle, Arizona, where he had taken a job with the recently created Navajo legal services program. They were part of a wave of young 1960s idealists determined to help others less fortunate than themselves.

After fulfilling the two-year commitment with the legal program, Lucy and Bob stayed for another five years. Into the Canyon is her account of the places and people they came to love and the lessons they learned from their Navajo neighbors.

"Ms. Moore's recollection of time spent in Navajo County is a beautiful and spirited tribute to Chinle culture. Moreover, we are given a glimpse into what it means to be affected by a place, time, and people. Beautifully constructed." - Women Writing the West

"Never a false note. Clearly written, candid, and funny . . . an engaging read." - Peter Iverson, historian and award-winning author of Diné and For Our Navajo People

"Lucy Moore tells this story with humor, sensitivity, and grace. Her absorbing memoir of seven years living, working, and being herself with Navajo people is a journey of discovery not only of 'the other' but, even more important, a confrontation with her own identity as a white person." - Mark Rudd, last national secretary of SDS, founder of the Weather Underground, teacher, and activist

"A delight to read; an invaluable historical and cultural narrative. . . . A good deal of my first novel, Ceremony, was inspired by Chinle, but I didn't fully appreciate just how much was going on during those years until I read Lucy's book." - Leslie Silko, author of Gardens In the Dunes and Ceremony


ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

Lucy Moore is a facilitator and mediator specializing in public policy, environmental, and cross-cultural issues. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

ACCLAIM

"The collection of stories Moore provides contain poignant memories. . . . Writing with flair and humor, [Moore] provides just the right amount of sentimentality. . . a meaningful read."-- The Durango Herald

"Lucy [Moore] tells her story with humor and reveals herself to be an idealistic woman with a sense of fun. All in all, a delightful read."-- Roundup Magazine

"This is an interesting and heartening memoir."-- New Mexico Magazine

"Into the Canyon explores cultural differences gently and nonjudgmentally as an integral part of Moore's adventure. In addition to its strong flavor of the 1960s and 1970s, part of the pleasure of the book is observing the lessons the author learns. . her journey from a college girl to a competent woman who can make things happen and laugh at her own foibles and 'otherness'"-- The Albuquerque Journal North

"Well-written with a great deal of heart and soul, Into the Canyon is a literary window into a unique time and place with wonderfully warm and special people."-- Southwest BookViews

". . . insightful and entertaining. . well worth the read."-- The Santa Fe New Mexican

"The author's description of being a minority is insightful and honest. . . . Into the Canyon is a story of the places and people Moore came to love and of the lessons she learned from the Navajo people. Moore provides a personal slice of 1960s idealism. . . . This book is for those interested in American Indians, Southwest history, and crosscultural adventures."-- Multicultural Review

"Moore's memoir recounts her seven years in Navajo country during the tumultuous years of 1968 to 1975, as her role in her adopted home went from insurance agent to Headstart teacher to justice of the peace. . . . She immersed herself in the Navajo culture, as best she could, made friends across the divide and never lost her sense of humor."-- Seattle Post Intelligencer

"...a valuable and, yes, entertaining read."-- Journal of Arizona History