Review
The story told in this book should not be a familiar one. A tale of corporate negligence, impotent bureaucracy, and an alternately confused and devastated group of people should be the exception - or at least generate outrage. But for many, these descriptors sound all too familiar. Worse, some may have run out of outrage, having spent it on so many recent events. Thankfully, author Judy Pasternak and a few others had the concern and the energy required to pursue the truth regarding the effects of uranium mining on Navajo land and several generations of Navajo citizens.
Vanadium and uranium mining on Navajo tribal land began over sixty years ago. A company called the Vanadium Corporation of America began bargaining for reservation mining rights in 1941. The Navajo, who had previously resisted such requests, were swayed this time by not only the prospect of stable jobs,...
Beyond the Book
The Navajo Nation is a semi-autonomous political and cultural entity within the United States which covers northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico and parts of southeastern Utah. This is part of the area known as the Four Corners region, where the borders of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah meet, which became USA territory in 1848 after the Mexican American War. At about 26,000 square miles it is the largest land area assigned primarily to a Native American jurisdiction in the USA, and larger than 10 of the 50 states. The Navajo people refer to themselves as Diné ("the people"); Navajo is a Spanish word. The center of government for Diné Bikéyah (Navajoland) is in Window Rock, Arizona.
The basis of the present-day Navajo Nation was...
