Book Review

Navajo Oshley's life began in the nineteenth century and spanned most of the twentieth. He was born and grew to manhood in the Dennehotso area. He then lived in Monument Valley for about fifteen years before moving to Blanding, Utah, where he spent the remainder of his life. Oshley lived well into his nineties and became known as "One Who Greets with Deep Respect." In his world--one shaped by family, sheep herding, and tradition–Oshley made no distinction between the spiritual and the secular. The Journey of Navajo Oshley describes the elements of Navajo culture that supported Oshley's worldview as well as the outside pressures that threatened to undermine it. Oshley's story is based largely upon taped interviews initiated by Winston B. Hurst in 1978 for his master's thesis. With the help of Oshley's son, Wesley, the planned single interview grew into a total of fourteen interviews. Ten years later, Robert McPherson secured funds for transcribing and translating the interviews. Recognizing that writing down an oral story shaped by tone, gesture, and setting will always be problematic, McPherson persevered. Bertha Parish, a Navajo fluent in Navajo and English, conscientiously transcribed and translated each sentence. Oshley's family, friends, and contemporaries helped clarify chronology, names, places, and meanings. To compensate for an abrupt end to the interviews, McPherson has written a thoughtful concluding essay.

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