This book, which was first published in 1918, consists of literary translations of San Carlo Apache mythological tales. The myths include the creation of the earth, the birth of the culture hero and his ridding the world of monsters, and myths explaining the origins of certain ceremonies. The tales were collected from two chief San Carlos informants, namely Antonio, “a very well informed man of advanced age who dictated freely;” and Albert Evans, “a man of middle age speaking sufficient English to translate his own texts.” “The myths of the Apache are of two sorts: First, there are several important narratives, the most typical of which explains the origin of the earth, and of its topography, the birth of the Culture Hero and his activities in freeing the world of monsters. To the second class belong the myths explaining the origin of definite ceremonies. These myths in their more complete versions are known only to those who celebrate the ceremonies in question and are perhaps integral parts of the rituals. The myth of the woman who became a deer is typical of this class. “The tales divide into those which are wholly native and those that, in part at least, are of European origin. The Apache themselves recognize some of these tales as ‘Mexican’ but claim other such stories as Apache. Without a knowledge of European folklore a complete segregation of the European elements is impossible. The footnotes point out the more obvious foreign tales or incidents.”—Pliny Earle Goddard, Introduction

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A powerful work of visual nonfiction about three generations of an Apache family struggling to protect sacred land from a multinational mining corporation, by MacArthur “Genius” and National Book Award finalist Lauren Redniss, the acclaimed author of Thunder & Lightning “Brilliant . . . virtuosic . . . a master storyteller of a new order.”—Eliza Griswold, The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice) NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY KIRKUS REVIEWS Oak Flat is a serene high-elevation mesa that sits above the southeastern Arizona desert, fifteen miles to the west of the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation. For the San Carlos tribe, Oak Flat is a holy place, an ancient burial ground and religious site where Apache girls celebrate the coming-of-age ritual known as the Sunrise Ceremony. In 1995, a massive untapped copper reserve was discovered nearby. A decade later, a law was passed transferring the area to a private company, whose planned copper mine will wipe Oak Flat off the map—sending its natural springs, petroglyph-covered rocks, and old-growth trees tumbling into a void. Redniss’s deep reporting and haunting artwork anchor this mesmerizing human narrative. Oak Flat tells the story of a race-against-time struggle for a swath of American land, which pits one of the poorest communities in the United States against the federal government and two of the world’s largest mining conglomerates. The book follows the fortunes of two families with profound connections to the contested site: the Nosies, an Apache family whose teenage daughter is an activist and leader in the Oak Flat fight, and the Gorhams, a mining family whose patriarch was a sheriff in the lawless early days of Arizona statehood. The still-unresolved Oak Flat conflict is ripped from today’s headlines, but its story resonates with foundational American themes: the saga of westward expansion, the resistance and resilience of Native peoples, and the efforts of profiteers to control the land and unearth treasure beneath it while the lives of individuals hang in the balance.

Established in 1873, the San Carlos Indian Agency provided a reservation for the areas Western Apache bands. A U.S. Army post was created nearby to exert military control. Together the original agency and army post are known today as Old San Carlos. From 1874 to 1877, the U.S. governments peace policy directed additional Apache groups and other regional natives to San Carlos. Ensuing turmoil, including renewal of traditional intergroup rivalries and rebellion against civilian and military control, initiated the familiar Apache Wars. These campaigns were fought through the 1870s and 1880s, as Apache rebels intermittently broke from the reserve and returned to former haunts or sought refuge in northern Mexico. By all accountsfrom white civilians, military personnel, and native people alikethe San Carlos Agency and army post was an inhospitable locale, compounded by recurring instability and conflict.