Published more than forty years ago, The Desert Smells Like Rai n remains a classic work about nature, how to respect it, and what transplants can learn from the longtime residents of the Sonoran Desert, the Tohono O\'odham people.
Whether visiting a sacred cave in the Baboquivari Mountains or attending a saguaro wine-drinking ceremony, Nabhan conveys the everyday life and extraordinary perseverance of these Desert people in a book that has become a contemporary classic of environmental literature..
Woven through his account are coyote tales, O\'odham children\'s impressions of the desert, and observations on the political problems that come with living on both sides of an international border.
Bringing O\'odham voices to the page at every turn, he writes elegantly of how they husband scant water supplies, grow crops, and utilize wild edible foods.
Ethnobotanist Gary Nabhan has lived with the Tohono O\'odham, long known as the Papagos, observing the delicate balance between these people and their environment.
Longtime residents of the Sonoran Desert, the Tohono O\'odham people have spent centuries living off the land--a land that most modern citizens of southern Arizona consider totally inhospitable.
He shares his awe and gratitude for O\'odham writers and storytellers who have been generous enough to share stories with those of us from other cultural traditions so that we may also respect and appreciate the smell of the Desert after a rain.
He writes about his own heritage and connections to the desert, climate change, and the border.
This edition includes a new preface written by the author, in which he reflects on his gratitude for the O\'odham people who shared their knowledge with him.
Nabhan conveys the everyday life and extraordinary perseverance of these Desert people.
Woven through his account are coyote tales, O\'odham children\'s impressions of the desert, and observations of the political problems that come with living on both sides of an international border.
He writes elegantly of how they husband scant water supplies, grow crops, and utilize edible wild foods.
In this work, Gary Paul Nabhan brings O\'odham voices to the page at every turn.
Published more than forty years ago, The Desert Smells Like Rai n remains a classic work about nature, how to respect it, and what transplants can learn from the longtime residents of the Sonoran Desert, the Tohono O\'odham people
