Ladies of the Canyons: A League of Extraordinary Women and Their Adventures in the American Southwest

I love how Natalie Curtis was ahead of her time in wanting to learn all she could from the indigenous people of this land. She learned the language, wrote down their songs, played games, and fully appreciated their life style. She was appalled how the government was changing the housing, and making their children go to white man's school. Full of history and ceremony . . . this book holds a wealth of information for the reader. Artists who traveled the land jump off the page: The moonlight flooded that great silent land . . . The senses were too feeble to take it in, and every time onelooked up into the sky, one felt unequal to it, as if one were sitting deaf under the waves of a great river of melody. ~ Willa CatherThe author tells of visiting the Mesas and kivas, and when Theodore Roosevelt and his crew arrived to witness the Snake Dance, Walpi, August 21, 1913.Totally engaging reading that takes a step back in time in the lives of women who were truly remarkable individuals as well as their friends, colleagues, artists, writers, musicians, cowboys and Indians.Photo: Edward Curtis Hopi dwelling on Mesa

What a fascinating book about the women who helped to create the art and historical documentation of the culture.

This book is an interesting history of the "discovery" of the beauty and hardships of the American Southwest. It is also a tribute to the many women who found their freedom and their voices in a culture not bound by the East Coast constraints of culture and edicate.

A great resource of the story of women's lives. Written in a style where you can readily imagine you are actually listening to the words in voice over on a relaxing documentary. Well researched, and these ladies lives were fascinating and telling.

This is absolutely a five-star treatment of Southwest History as the title states. Ms Poling-Kempes offers up an excellent biographical, political, and social view of the efforts and energy of intelligent, talented, and visionary women (and men) such as Natalie Curtis and Carol Stanley, who dedicated their lives to recording and preserving Native American culture, art, language, music, and autonomy at a time when the power base of America was bent on assimilation. In the telling of this story of early Arizona and New Mexico statehood, she provides an outpouring of detailed information about the modern American art movement, the experience of ex-pats in Europe, the Panama-California Exhibition of 1915, and the efforts of Teddy Roosevelt to show tolerance and respect for other social groups. Wait 'til you read about the Witches Cave and how they were connected to the Salem Trials. It would be the perfect vade mecum for the Holidays!

Although I have to agree with the commenters who found this book slow going at times -- a better editor could have been of immense help -- I still give it five stars because once you stop thinking about the occasional repetition or worrying about who some of the many referenced artists are, you are drawn in.We were at Ghost Ranch in October, and I saw the museum exbihits about some of these women. Wanting to know more, I followed up on a gift shop display and ordered the Kindle version to read on a trip. Wonderful. I'll be sending gift copies to my daughter, who recently moved to Sandia Park, and to an old friend who's moving to Santa Fe next spring.

Courageous women but despite their daring the book drags in places.

Very good, well-researched, helped me understand the history of the southwest through the women's stories. It's funny that one reviewer thought the writer made the women come alive, but I didn't have that experience, they seemed rather two-dimensional. Still I'm glad to have read this, just returned from Santa Fe and found my experience was a little richer than in the past.

slow

Having spent quite a bit of time travelling in the American Southwest, I was fascinated to read of the intrepid and creative women who forged a life there and helped to develop the unique and vibrant artistic environment I so enjoy.