Coming this November: a book that celebrates the traditional Navajo way of life

For those who enjoyed our 2022 title Voices of Navajo Mothers and Daughters: Portraits of Beauty and anyone who wants to learn Navajo wisdom, we have something special coming soon.

Watch and listen as Mary Joe Yazzie fires a clay pot, Hazel Nez weaves a rug, and Sam Worker stitches a pair of moccasins for his wife. In We Walk the Earth in Beauty: Traditional Navajo Lifeways, readers will learn much that is of practical value for living in harmony with our environment.

The book is arranged into 19 chapters in five parts:

Part 1: Plants
Chapter 1: Yucca Shampoo, the Spencer Family
Chapter 2: Bé’ézó (Grass Brush), Stella Worker
Chapter 3: Grinding Corn, Roberta Blackgoat
Chapter 4: Cornmeal Patties, Roberta Blackgoat
Chapter 5: Navajo Tea, Stella Worker
Part 2: Water
Chapter 6: Hauling Water, Danny Blackgoat
Chapter 7: Navajo Farming, Ella Deal
Chapter 8: Firewood, Danny Blackgoat
Part 3: Wood
Chapter 9: Corral, Oskar Whitehair
Chapter 10: Summer Shelter, Yazzie
Part 4: Animals
Chapter 11: Moccasins, Sam Worker
Chapter 12: Branding, the Deal Family
Chapter 13: Herding, the Deal Family
Chapter 14: Cooking a Goat, Roberta Blackgoat
Chapter 15: Horse Hobble, Joe Gordy
Chapter 16: Navajo Rug, Hazel Nez
Part 5: Soil
Chapter 17: Pottery, Mary Joe Yazzie
Chapter 18: Mud Oven, Addie Yazzie
Chapter 19: Hogan, Delbert Begay

Author Kathy Eckles Hooker and photographer Helen Lau Running collected these careful descriptions and images of traditional Navajo methods in the 1980s. The first edition of this book was published in 1991 as Time Among the Navajo. Now renamed We Walk the Earth in Beauty in homage to the enduring, practical wisdom of the traditional Navajo way of life, this third edition has been completely redesigned. It includes a new preface, foreword, introductory text, and notes.

The book goes on sale nationally November 12, 2024, but you can preorder it right now at Soulstice Publishing! We fulfill preorders as soon as we have books in stock. Your preorder ensures that you’ll be among the first to hold this special book in your hands. And we have a special buy one/get one deal for preorders: buy We Walk the Earth in Beauty and add Voices of Navajo Mothers and Daughters: Portraits of Beauty to your order, and you’ll get 10% off your order!

Lolita Paddock, principal at Leupp Schools, said: “Infused with cultural knowledge and ways to live in beauty, this wise book carries our Diné elder stories.”

Thanks to its careful descriptions of time-honored lifeways, We Walk the Earth in Beauty is like a time capsule, holding Navajo wisdom for everyone to appreciate. Preorder today!