Hillerman stole Native stories?

In ICI #178:  Dressing Up for Turkey Day, I reported on Tony Hillerman's death. In response, M. Matus wrote:I find it more than more than ironic that he is accepted as being "cool." All he did was steal Native folklore, stories, and myth to make millions. Especially on this site, I thought there was someone stalwart censoring things for us.My response:

It's not hard to determine that the Navajo praised Hillerman and gave him awards for his writing. For instance:

Tony Hillerman, Detective Novelist, Dies at 83Members of the Navajo community praised Hillerman for reigniting interest and fostering knowledge in Navajo ways. Ultimately it was the praise of the community that Hillerman valued highest.

Hillerman once said: “Good reviews delight me when I get them. But I am far more delighted by being voted the most popular author by the students of St. Catherine Indian school, and even more by middle-aged Navajos who tell me that reading my mysteries revived their children’s interest in the Navajo Way.”Tony Hillerman, novelist, dies at 83The recognition that gladdened him most, however, was the status of Special Friend of the Dineh conferred on him in 1987 by the Navajo Nation for his honest, accurate portrayal of Navajo people and their culture. It was also a special source of pride to him that his books are taught on reservation high schools and colleges.If any tribe praised a non-Indian for his authentic rendering of their culture, it's unlikely that I'd criticize him for it. I rarely say I know better than Indians what's best for them.

A stalwart censor?

As for your "censor" comment, you mean someone who posts only what actual Indians do and not what non-Indians do? Wow, you must be a new reader, M. I've never come close to taking that approach.

As a non-Native who does Native-themed comics, I'm not going to "censor" people who are doing the same as me. In fact, I post tons of things about non-Natives who make movies or TV shows, write books or comic books, create art or teach classes about Indians. Compared to the attention I've given people such as Mel Gibson, Dick Wolf, and Steven Spielberg, I've barely mentioned Hillerman.

If these non-Indian creators deserve praise, I praise them; if they deserve criticism, I criticize them. My philosophy isn't to ignore or omit things that are bad. I prefer to expose them to the light of day. I use them as a teaching opportunity to explain why the things are bad and how they could be made better.

I hope that addresses your concerns. For more on Tony Hillerman, see The Best Indian Books.

Thoughts on Hillerman's books

Here are my ratings for some of the Hillerman books I've read:

Coyote Waits--7.5
The Great Taos Bank Robbery--7.5
The Dark Wind--8.0
Hunting Badger--8.5
The Wailing Wind--7.5
Sacred Clowns--6.5
The Sinister Pig--2.5

Sorry, but that last book sucked. After a few chapters I had to give it up.

I've read more of Hillerman's books--e.g., The First Eagle, Talking God, A Thief of Time--but that was before I created my database of ratings. I'd have to reread them to be sure, but I think they were 7.5s or 8.0s.

Hillerman's books are usually in the 7.5-8.0 range, which means good or very good but not great. The plots are ingenious, as noted previously, but too complex. He ususally juggles 10-11 characters in a web of connections, and you need a flow chart to keep track of them. Following more than seven characters is often too difficult.

For more on the subject, see Tony Hillerman Dies and The Best Indian Books.

Hillerman's land of enchantment

Tony Hillerman knew New Mexico

His New Mexico was as enchanted and troubled as it is in life.New Mexico indeed is the "Land of Enchantment," a tourist bureau's dream with picturesque sunsets, colorful balloon fiestas, real cowboys and Indians, and quaint old towns that look almost too photogenic to be real. Beneath all this, I knew it as a place of profound paradox--stunning vistas and nuclear bombs, unique cultural traditions and bone-crushing poverty, racial blending and murderous violence.

Looking at the slick cover images on New Mexico Magazine, or hearing visitors say, "New Mexico is so spiritual and such a healing place," I'd think I was missing something.

But Hillerman's stories reassured me that I wasn't crazy. He saw it too. In an essay in David Muench's photo book "New Mexico," he writes about the state as a place influenced by "edges" that overlap--the mountain and desert climates, the cultures of the Spanish, the Anglo and the tribal forces of the Navajo, the Pueblos and Apache. His books about Leaphorn and, later, detective Jim Chee, may have been fiction, but I knew he was speaking in code about the way things really were.

Yes, New Mexico is this beautiful and this ethereal, and it is also this dangerous and this mean.

"Enchantment" denotes a spell cast, and if you grow up around people who whisper about Santeria and skinwalkers and kachinas, you know that's not something to take lightly.Comment:  I love photography books (hint for upcoming Christmas and birthday gifts), but they're rarely good enough to inspire me to spend money on them. I do have David Muench's Arizona and Ancient America, but not his New Mexico. (For fans of Native Americans, I highly recommend Ancient America.)

Tony Hillerman also put out a photography book: Hillerman Country. He wrote the text and his brother Barney took the pictures. This is another book I own and another worth having.

For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Books.

A Hillerman appreciation

Tony Hillerman, Novelist, Dies at 83In the world of mystery fiction, Mr. Hillerman was that rare figure: a best-selling author who was adored by fans, admired by fellow authors and respected by critics. Though the themes of his books were not overtly political, he wrote with an avowed purpose: to instill in his readers a respect for Native American culture.

His stories, while steeped in contemporary crime, often describe people struggling to maintain ancient traditions in the modern world. The books are instructive about ancient tribal beliefs and customs, from purification rituals to incest taboos.

“It’s always troubled me that the American people are so ignorant of these rich Indian cultures,” Mr. Hillerman once told Publishers Weekly. “I think it’s important to show that aspects of ancient Indian ways are still very much alive and are highly germane even to our ways.”His Native experience:Mr. Hillerman wrote with intimate knowledge of the Navajo, Hopi and Zuni tribes; he grew up with people very much like them. “I recognized kindred spirits” in the Navajo, he wrote in an autobiographical essay in 1986. “Country boys. Folks among whom I felt at ease.”

Anthony Grove Hillerman was born on May 27, 1925, in Sacred Heart, Okla., to August Alfred Hillerman, a farmer and shopkeeper, and his wife, Lucy Grove. The town was in the Oklahoma Dust Bowl, and the family’s circumstances were so mean that Mr. Hillerman would later joke that “the Joads were the ones who had enough money to move to California.”

“In Sacred Heart, being a storyteller was a good thing to be,” he said of his country village, which was 35 miles from the nearest library. Growing up on territorial lands of the Potawatomi Tribe, he went to St. Mary’s Academy, a school for Indian girls run by the Sisters of Mercy, and attended high school with Potawatomi children. He said he owed much of the veracity of his stories to his friendships.

“I cross-examine my Navajo friends and shamelessly hang around trading posts, police substations, rodeos, rug auctions and sheep dippings,” he wrote of his research methods.Reactions to his work:Some critics found Mr. Hillerman’s writing humorless, moralizing and too reverential toward the Native American characters he favored. But even his detractors usually praised the ingenuity of his plots.

His third book, “Dance Hall of the Dead” (1973), won the 1974 Edgar Allan Poe Award for best mystery novel, given by the Mystery Writers of America. In 1991 the group gave him its highest honor, its Grandmaster Award, after he had solidified the Navajo Tribal Police series with “A Thief of Time” (his own favorite novel), “Talking God” and “Coyote Waits.” His last book in the series, “The Shape Shifter,” was published by HarperCollins in 2006. Mr. Hillerman also wrote children’s and nonfiction books, including a memoir.

For all the recognition he received, Mr. Hillerman once said, he was most gladdened by the status of Special Friend of the Dineh (the Navajo people) conferred on him in 1987 by the Navajo Nation. He was also proud that his books were taught at reservation schools and colleges.

“Good reviews delight me when I get them,” he said. “But I am far more delighted by being voted the most popular author by the students of St. Catherine Indian school, and even more by middle-aged Navajos who tell me that reading my mysteries revived their children’s interest in the Navajo Way.”Navajos, Hillerman Shared AffectionHillerman's relationship with the Navajo Nation stretched far beyond the pages of those books, which featured two of the unlikeliest of literary heroes--Navajo police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. He shed light on Navajo culture, his books becoming a bridge to the reservation for tribal members who moved elsewhere, and encouraged Navajo youth to ask elders about traditions and ceremonies.

"The people spilled their guts to him," said James Peshlakai, who is characterized as a Navajo shaman in one of Hillerman's books, "The Wailing Wind." "The elders, they told him stories about things their own children never asked about."

Hillerman returned the blessings he received from Navajos by donating money for a water delivery program at St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School in Thoreau, New Mexico, to the Little Sisters of the Poor in Gallup, New Mexico, and to put up lights at a football stadium in Monument Valley, Utah.

Staff at the Thoreau mission, where a murder takes place in Hillerman's "Sacred Clowns," "have already been saying Mass for him and saying prayers," executive director Chris Halter said Monday.Comment:  For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Books.

Tony Hillerman dies

Mystery writer Hillerman dies at 83Together, they struggled daily to bridge the cultural divide between the dominant Anglo society and the impoverished people who call themselves the Dineh.

Hillerman's commercial breakthrough was "Skinwalkers," published in 1987--the first time he put both characters and their divergent world views in the same book. It sold 430,000 hardcover copies, paving the way for "A Thief of Time," which made several best seller lists. In all, he wrote 18 books in the Navajo series, the most recent titled "The Shape Shifter."

Each is characterized by an unadorned writing style, intricate plotting, memorable characterization and vivid descriptions of Indian rituals and of the vast plateau of the Navajo reservation in the Four Corners region of the Southwest.

The most acclaimed of them, including "Talking God" and "The Coyote Waits," are subtle explorations of human nature and the conflict between cultural assimilation and the pull of the old ways.

"I want Americans to stop thinking of Navajos as primitive persons, to understand that they are sophisticated and complicated," Hillerman once said.

Occasionally, he was accused of exploiting his knowledge of Navajo culture for personal gain, but in 1987, the Navajo Tribal Council honored him with its Special Friend of the Dineh award. He took greater pride in that, he often said, than in the many awards bestowed by his peers, including the Golden Spur Award from Western Writers of America and the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America, which elected him its president.

Hollywood was less kind to Hillerman. Its adaptation of his 1981 novel, "Dark Wind," with Lou Diamond Phillips and Fred Ward regrettably cast as Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn, was a bomb.Comment:  Phillips and Ward aren't Indians, but I thought they did a good job. I think Dark Wind is the best of the Hillerman movies--better than the three PBS movies directed by Chris Eyre. To me Wes Studi and Adam Beach didn't look anything like my conception of Leaphorn and Chee despite their being Indians. Phillips and Ward were closer to what I envisioned.

As for the best of Hillerman's books, I vote for Hunting Badger (above). Rob's rating: 8.5 of 10.

For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Books.