Into the Canyon

Winner of the 2005 Willa Award for Best Memoir from Women Writing the West
A 2004 Southwest Books of the Year

In 1968 newlyweds Lucy Moore and her husband moved from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Chinle, Arizona, where he had taken a job with the recently created Navajo legal services program. They were part of a wave of young 1960s idealists determined to help others less fortunate than themselves.

After fulfilling the two-year commitment with the legal program, Lucy and Bob stayed for another five years. Into the Canyon is her account of the places and people they came to love and the lessons they learned from their Navajo neighbors.

"Ms. Moore's recollection of time spent in Navajo County is a beautiful and spirited tribute to Chinle culture. Moreover, we are given a glimpse into what it means to be affected by a place, time, and people. Beautifully constructed." - Women Writing the West

"Never a false note. Clearly written, candid, and funny . . . an engaging read." - Peter Iverson, historian and award-winning author of Diné and For Our Navajo People

"Lucy Moore tells this story with humor, sensitivity, and grace. Her absorbing memoir of seven years living, working, and being herself with Navajo people is a journey of discovery not only of 'the other' but, even more important, a confrontation with her own identity as a white person." - Mark Rudd, last national secretary of SDS, founder of the Weather Underground, teacher, and activist

"A delight to read; an invaluable historical and cultural narrative. . . . A good deal of my first novel, Ceremony, was inspired by Chinle, but I didn't fully appreciate just how much was going on during those years until I read Lucy's book." - Leslie Silko, author of Gardens In the Dunes and Ceremony