The Navajo Creation Story

This is the most complete version of the Navajo creation story to appear in English since Washington Matthews' Navajo Legends of 1847. Zolbrod's new translation renders the power and delicacy of the oral storytelling performance on the page through a poetic idiom appropriate to the Navajo oral tradition.


Zolbrod's book offers the general reader a vivid introduction to Navajo culture. For students of literature this book proposes a new way of looking at our literary heritage.

"A brilliant rendering of a folk epic into a fascinating and highly literate work of art." --The New York Times Book Review

"A fine literary rendition that appears to approximate the traditional Navajo storytelling style better than any other English version." --Choice

"Easy to read, enjoyable, and … capable of stimulating an increased understanding of Navajo culture and an appreciation for Native American poetry." --American Indian Quarterly

Paul G. Zolbrod is adjunct professor of humanities at the Crownpoint, New Mexico Campus of Diné College, the Navajo Nation Tribal College. He also served as senior curator at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Museum of New Mexico, 1994-1997.

Author: Paul G. Zolbrod
443 pages. paperback 6 in. x 9 in.