The Great Taos Bank Robbery and Other Indian Country Affairs

I have read and enjoyed several of Hillerman's Navajo tribal police novels and was expecting this to be a story collection. It turned out to be essays, told in a novelistic style. Featured front and center, is New Mexico. The state's past, including prehistoric times, along with the battles of Native Americans and the Mexican people and more modern times, with poverty and corruption, that have plagued Hillerman's adopted state. Hillerman was a newspaper man for many years and these stories have that journalistic feel. The writing isn't as polished as his later Leaphorn and Chee novels but there are plenty of passages to sink your teeth into:

“It is November of a year of almost unbroken drought. The air smells of autumn, pine resin, show more dust, and empty places. The only living things in sight are a sparrow hawk and a disconsolate Hereford. The hawk is scouting the rim of the red mesa for incautious rodents. The cow resting its search for something to eat, is staring moodily in the direction of Gallup.” show less

I expected good things from “The Great Taos Bank robbery” but the book never reached those heights. The first story, about the bank robbery referenced in the title, promised much more than delivered and while there are some interesting essays on archaeology and very remote community, I couldn’t get excited about the book at all.

Super great stories about New Mexico...insights into the state. A couple of notable ones are about the 1967 Tierra Amarilla riots and the Navajo who couldn't get the wire strung. Classic New Mexico tales--read 'em!

I picked this book up in Taos thinking that it might give me some insight into the people who inhabit New Mexico. I'm no expert, but it seems to ring true.

The folks I met are mostly free spirits with their own way of doing things. This book presents the quirkiest of the bunch.

It's a humorous, irreverent look at the unique people who populate this part of New Mexico.

One or two good short stories, but the rest were disappointing. Some good insights into Sante Fe, New Mexico's culture. "...in New York society transcends and the man is submerged within it. But Santa Fe celebrates the individual."

Written when he was still a graduate student, before his writing career really took off. Quite dry compared to his later work - he really doesn't know how to tell a story, which is a shame considering he had interesting material.