An anthology of photographs and stories of multi-generational and multi-cultural women of the Southwest, whose lives and work embody the spirit of community.

A weaving of essays, poems, and stories centering on the life- giving story of the Corn-Mother.

The culture, history, and spirit of the Hispanic Southwest are brought to readers through this fascinating collection of 45 cuentos (stories and legends) from the region. From ancient creation myths of the Aztecs and traditional tales of Spanish colonialists to an eclectic sampling of the work of modern Latino storytellers, this book provides a rich tapestry of both obscure and well-loved stories-religious stories; animal tales; stories of magic, transformation, and wisdom; and chistes (short comic tales). Fifteen tales are also presented in Spanish. The origin and historical development of the stories are examined in an introductory chapter. A discussion of dichos (proverbs) and adivinanzas (riddles) illuminates the larger context of the oral tradition in which the tales have flourished. Lavishly illustrated with pictures of original paintings and sculpture by contemporary Latino artists, this fascinating collection will appeal to children and adults alike and is a must for the multicultural class

Beware of what lurks in the corn. Fairies don’t exist. At least that’s what Thomas Cavanaugh’s parents say. But the events of that one night, when he follows a fairy into the cornfield on his parents’ farm, prove them wrong. What seems like a destructive explosion was, Thomas knows, an encounter with Dauðr, a force that threatens to destroy the fairy’s world and his sanity. Years later, after a troubled childhood and a series of dead-end jobs, he is still haunted by what he saw that night. One day he crosses paths with a beautiful young woman and a troubled young man, soon realizing that he first met them as a kid while under psychiatric care after his encounters in the cornfield. Has fate brought them together? Are they meant to join forces to save the fairy’s world and their own? Or is one of them not who they claim to be?

Seven “masterfully told” stories of suspense and nightmarish drama from the National Book Award–winning author of Them (The Guardian). With the novella and six stories collected here, Joyce Carol Oates reaffirms her singular reputation for portraying the dark complexities of the human psyche. The title novella tells the story of Marissa, an eleven-year-old girl with hair the color of corn silk. When she suddenly disappears, mounting evidence points to a local substitute teacher. Meanwhile, an older girl from Melissa’s school is giddy with her power to cause so much havoc unnoticed. And she intends to use that power to enact a terrifying ritual called The Corn Maiden. In “Helping Hands,” published here for the first time, a widow meets an Iraq War veteran in a dingy charity shop, having no idea where the peculiar encounter is about to lead. In “Fossil-Figures,” a pair of twins—an artist and a congressman—never outgrow an ugly sibling rivalry. And in “A Hole in the Head,” a plastic surgeon gives in to an unusual and dangerous request. Together, these seven tales offer “a virtuoso performance” of “probing, unsettling, intelligent” storytelling from one of the world’s greatest writers of suspense (The Guardian). “The seven stories in this stellar collection from the prolific Oates may prompt the reader to turn on all the lights or jump at imagined noises. . . . This volume burnishes [her] reputation as a master of psychological dread.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “For horror stories to be truly horrific, the reader has to care. Oates feels this deeply in her writing, and delivers with style.” —The Independent “Further confirmation of a unique writer’s restless, preternatural brilliance.” —The Guardian

"Do you want to know?" the spirit asked twenty-three-year-old Eleanor Barrón Druckrey in 1967. At the time, the young woman was not quite ready. Ten years later and still stalked by spirits day and night, Barrón Druckrey accepted the invitation to embark on a journey of discovery through her dreams. She began to understand a pattern of brilliance and beauty related to the ancient past when magic, wonder, and awe reigned throughout the native cultures in the Americas. Drawn from more than thirty years of recorded dreams, Corn Woman Sings brings Native American traditions to life. Interwoven with Barrón Druckrey's personal stories and discussions on the legends of the great dreamers, Corn Woman's legacy lays a path of transformation and renewal for the modern-day curandera, medicine woman and mystic, in all walks of life. Corn Woman Sings shows you how to start building a dream map that will lead you to personal transformation. It illustrates the process of opening up to your inner self and starting the process of uniting mind, body, and spirit. Only time will tell what you might witness in your dreams.

This handsomely illustrated book is a welcome addition to the history of women during America’s Gilded Age. Wanda M. Corn takes as her topic the grand neo-classical Woman’s Building at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, a structure celebrating modern woman’s progress in education, arts, and sciences. Looking closely at the paintings and sculptures women artists made to decorate the structure, including the murals by Mary Cassatt and Mary MacMonnies, Corn uncovers an unspoken but consensual program to visualize a history of the female sex and promote an expansion of modern woman’s opportunities. Beautifully written, with informative sidebars by Annelise K. Madsen and artist biographies by Charlene G. Garfinkle, this volume illuminates the originality of the public images female artists created in 1893 and inserts them into the complex discourse of fin de siècle woman’s politics. The Woman’s Building offered female artists an unprecedented opportunity to create public art and imagine an historical narrative that put women rather than men at its center.

A young Native American believes an ancestor killed nearly three hundred years ago haunts him. He also has the conviction that he and his family are tormented at every twist and turn of their lives by the injustices exacted on their people both in the past and modern day. Spurred on by this ancient warrior spirit, his life is punctuated by his quest to vindicate the wrongs of the past and present. However this is not the only force at work in his life. Unpredictable change is at hand by a woman who appears to stand for everything he doesn't care for, the established order.

A story of adventure! When the Navajo people are on the brink of a devastating famine, the boy Red Bird is sent to ask Spider Woman for her help. On his journey he encounters a lizard, a Gila monster, a snake, and a flock of sun-yellow birds. Will they help Red Bird find Spider Woman in time to save the crops?

This that I now tell is as I saw my mothers do, or did myself, when I was young. My mothers were industrious women, and our family had always good crops; and I will tell now how the women of my father's family cared for their fields, as I saw them, and helped them. --Buffalo Bird Woman