Insightful | House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest

House of Rain | House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest | Craig Childs

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	• House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest Craig Childs Back Bay Books, 2008 - 512 pages average customer review:based on 29 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A Good Mix

House of Rain weaves anthropology, desert experiences, and backcountry interactions with archeologists and family. The focus is field archeology, which academic publications cover formally and in much greater detail. They are cited in 22 pages of bibliography. The pictures are few and printed on pages with text. Stylized maps appear on the section headers. One might appreciate large color pictures and traditional, functional maps. But consider the $25 cost of this 500 page book. I've become accustomed to paying $30 - $35 for such a book and suspect that reduced photos and maps played a role in restricting the cost. There are other books with superb photographs of most of the ruins and artifacts Childs describes, or with maps at all scales depicting the northern regions covered by House of Rain. This book purposely and successfully blends education and entertainment. Becoming tired of speculation about ancient migration from a site? Childs shares his adventure there. Soon enough you are returned, refreshed, to the past. For unadulterated archeology House of Rain cannot compete with the referenced publications; for sheer life-threatening adventure it is no match for typical accounts of Himalayan climbs. And probably the descriptions of his toddler in the backcountry are eclipsed by Silverman's "Backpacking with Babies and Small Children", which I admit I have not read. But Childs set out to narrate passionately a mix of his ideas about southwestern archeology and his experiences in acquiring them. I find his attempt to be very successful.

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Insightful

This is one of the best books on the Anasazi, or ancestral Puebloans, that I have ever read. Rather than being a dry, archeological text, the author hoofs it across the Southwest and Mexico tracking the remains of the ancient ones who migrated there. All of Childs' books feature him on foot exploring places that few dare to tread. This book allows him to get inside the hearts and heads of a people who supposedly vanished over a thousand years ago. A great companion to David Roberts book on the Anasazi.

House of Rain

There always have been conflicting theories as to what has happened to the people, commonly called the Anasazi, who occupied the abandoned villages throughout the southwest. Working with various archeologists and visiting numerous abandoned sites you get a feel for how life was prior to the arrival of the european settlers. Craig Stevens gives his analysis of the reasons the "Anasazi" left the area of the abandoned villages. Read the book and you will be able to give your own ideas as to where they went and why they left the area.

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captivating read; highly recommended

As a former journalist fascinated by the people we call "Anasazi", I was totally captivated by Craig Childs' House of Rain. The writing is highly readable, the research thorough, and the information fascinating. It's a particularly compelling read for someone who's traveled the Southwest. This book is by far the best of several I've read about pre-Columbian peoples in the Southwest, and seems to present the most balanced view.

Anasazi Explained

This is a jaw-dropper of a book. Of all the books about the Anasazi, this is the only one that tells it all, puts it all together. Craig Childs has trudged his soulful way through all the dwellings, all the literature, tracing these mysterious people's movements over hundreds of years and hundreds of miles. He has given full rein to common sense and intuition in figuring out who they were, what they did and why. Adding to the excitement of continuous discovery, the reader is led through mile after mile on foot through dangerous terrain and weather, into caves, straight up mountains and deep into canyons. And as the story unfolds, each moment is as astonishing as if one were there. There is no impenetrable archaeological jargon here; plain English reigns. It is thrilling reading, understandable in every way and immensely satisfying.

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In this landmark work on the Anasazi tribes of the Southwest, naturalist Craig Childs dives head on into the mysteries of this vanished people. The various tribes that made up the Anasazi people converged on Chaco Canyon (New Mexico) during the 11th century to create a civilization hailed as "the Las Vegas of its day," a flourishing cultural center that attracted pilgrims from far and wide, and a vital crossroads of the prehistoric world. By the 13th century, however, Chaco's vibrant community had disappeared without a trace. Was it drought? Pestilence? War? Forced migration, mass murder or suicide? Conflicting theories have abounded for years, capturing the North American imagination for eons.

Join Craig Childs as he draws on the latest scholarly research, as well as a lifetime of exploration in the forbidden landscapes of the American Southwest, to shed new light on this compelling mystery. He takes us from Chaco Canyon to the highlands of Mesa Verde, to the Mongollon Rim; to a contemporary Zuni community where tribal elders maintain silence about the fate of their Lost Others; and to the largely unexplored foothills of the Sierra Madre in Mexico, where abundant remnants of Anasazi culture lie yet to be uncovered.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

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