One of my continuing interests is the intersection of the “ordinary” individual life and the historical moment. My own father, Meyer, or Mac, had many. Born in a small shtetl in Ukraine before the Russian Revolution, he emigrated to the United States, arriving, still a teen, in 1927. In the early Thirties, at the height […]
Repressed National Memories
The San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation was established, as a concentration camp, on November 9, 1871. The intent was to remove from land coveted by the U.S. government and local settlers various Apache bands – originally, among the “Western Apaches,” the Pinal, Aravaipa, Apache Peaks, Tonto, and San Carlos bands – and concentrate them on […]
Bordello Rooms
The way I do it is I stand in the middle. I’m in the desert this time, gazing at the landscape as the dogs chase rabbits and roadrunners around me. My back is turned to Highway 80, to RVs and the other signs of post-nineteenth-century life, though they aren’t that plentiful. Before me, almost all […]
Katherine Siva Saubel
When we first publicly announced to colleagues and friends by email our intention to produce a book on contemporary Native American life, we asked those we contacted, as an aide to our research, for any referrals in the Native community they could offer us. The response was great and gratifying. In a culture at large […]
The Open Road
In the summer of 2006, the year of its eightieth anniversary, Julia and I flew to Chicago to drive the length of old Route 66 from its starting point at Michigan Avenue to its end at the Pacific Ocean in Los Angeles. Our article on the history of the route, and on westward travel in […]