Against the American Grain

Gary Paul Nabhan is a Lebanese American ecologist, agrarian activist, Ecumenical Franciscan Brother, and bilingual essayist whose work focuses primarily on the arid binational Southwest. He is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, a Lannan Literary Award, and an Utne Reader's annual visionary award, and he is the author of thirty-two books, beginning with The Desert Smells Like Rain. His most recent book is Agave Spirits. He resides in Patagonia, Arizona, and Desemboque del Sur, Sonora.

“Gary Paul Nabhan places the desert at the center of the ongoing struggle against colonialism, racism, and capitalism.”—Catherine Keyser, author of Artificial Color: Modern Food and Racial Fictions “From this gallery of visionaries, rogues, dissidents, authors, and naturalists, a new American mythos begins to emerge.”—Thomas Hallock, author of Happy Neighborhood: Essays and Poems

• IntroductionA Note (or Apology) About Changing Names, Dialects, and Local IdiomsChapter One. Resistance: Indigenous Elders Walking the LineChapter Two. Metamorphosis: Mustafa al-Zemmouri and Cabeza de VacaChapter Three. Volition: Maria de Ágreda, Jumanos Captain Tuerto, and Enrique MadridChapter Four. Abyss: Francisco Garcés and Salvador PalmaChapter Five. Indigenous Nationhood: Juan de Banderas and Padre Pedro LeyvaChapter Six. Race: Coyote Iguana and Lola CasanovaChapter Seven. Rebellion: Joaquín Murrieta Orozco and Alfredo Acosta FigueroaChapter Eight. Revolution: Teresita de Cábora and Lauro AguirreChapter Nine. Dust: Woody Guthrie and Tim Z. HernandezChapter Ten. Steinbeck and Ricketts: Broken Men Breaking ThroughChapter Eleven. Reies López Tijerina and Arturo SandovalChapter Twelve. Boycott: César Chávez, Dolores Huerta, and Fred RossChapter Thirteen. Huelga en General: Lalo Guerrero and Danny and Luis ValdezChapter Fourteen. Sanctuary: Jim Corbett, Ramón Dagoberto Quinones, and John FifeAcknowledgmentsFurther Reading and Cited Literature