Talking to the Ground

The adventure of a lifetime, this is the true story of family's perilous trek into the sacred landscapes described in the Navajo creation story. This book is both a story of personal growth and a fascinating exploration of Navajo life, history, and spirituality. The Preston family, following the Journey for Knowledge and Power, packed their food on horseback, camped under the stars, and found their water in the desert. They traveled through some of the most isolated places in America, where they learned to depend on each other for their very lives and on the hospitality and wisdom of the Navajo people they met. The book includes unforgettable descriptions of the harsh splendors of Navajo Mountain, Monument Valley, and Canyon de Chelly - as well as lost Anasazi cities and remote canyons rarely visited by white people. Along the way, the author began to hear details of an extraordinary prophecy. Talking to traditional Navajo people, he gradually pieced together the complete story. It starts in the deep past, at the time of Creation, when the world was out of balance. It then explains the mysterious disappearance of the Anasazi. And finally it reaches into the distant future where, in a shattering twist, it links the fate of the Anasazi with the ultimate destiny of America itself.