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"These 'old ones,' these wonderfully expressive storytellers, these wonderfully
and deeply introspective individuals (who are fulfilling their human destiny
by contemplating things, asking themselves about what truly matters, and
why), can be of assistance to those studying literature, philosophy, religion.
Here, after all, are twentieth century Americans who knew in their bones
how to embrace narratives, their very own, and who also knew how to describe
the world and take its measure. For those who teach about the mind, for
those who encourage in their teaching an effort to learn about the world,
these 'old ones of New Mexico' await attention, respectful regard; they
link arms with us, tell us and teach us, and as one of our greatest novelists,
Walker Percy, puts it in his novel The Moviegoer, they 'hand us
along'the heart and soul of our being thereby strengthened, enabled." "Superbly presented. As a collective portrait this book allows its subjects
to reveal themselves with a directness and immediacy that renders social
analysis of their situation almost superfluous." "An eloquent picture of the hard but productive and fulfilling lives
of these rural people. Coles and photographer Alex Harris were able to
break through the reticence of these people and have captured the essence
of their lives." Robert Coles is Professor of Psychiatry and Medical Humanities and James Agee Professor of Social Ethics at Harvard University. He is editor of Doubletake magazine, and he won a Pulitzer Prize for Children of Crisis. Available in cloth April 2002 280 pp. / 5 x 9" / $29.95 Author Bio / Samples / Purchase
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