Pueblo Indian Religion; Volume 1 [SOLD]

1939, reprinted in 1996 by Bison Books; published by University of Nebraska Press.

From the Back Cover

The rich religious beliefs and ceremonials of the Pueblo Indians of Arizona and New Mexico were first synthesized and compared by ethnologist Elsie Clews Parsons. Prodigious research and a quarter-century of fieldwork went into her 1939 encyclopedic two-volume work,Pueblo Indian Religion.

The author gives an integrated picture of the complex religious and social life in the pueblos, including Zuni, Acoma, Laguna, Taos, Isleta, Sandia, Jemez, Cochiti, Santa Clara, San Felipe, Santa Domingo, San Juan, and the Hopi villages. In volume 1 she discusses shelter, social structure, (and tenure, customs, and popular beliefs. Parsons also describes spirits, cosmic notions, and a wide range of rituals. Today, a half century after its original publication, Pueblo Indian Religion remains central to studies of Pueblo religious life.

Elsie Clews Parsons, a prominent sociologist, turned her attention to anthropology at the age of forty, after a trip to the Southwest. Her investigations established her as an authority on the Pueblo culture and society. At the time of her death in 1941, she was president of the American Anthropological Association