Flight of Souls

David E. Stuart

јан 2008. · UNM Press

O ovoj e-knjizi

John Alexander's life has been a difficult one. His childhood was spent in foster care, orphanages, and reform school. Years of emotional and physical abuse have helped him form a protective shell of anger and cynicism. Worn out on social workers and parole officers, Alexander attempts to start a new life studying folklore and anthropology in Mexico where he imagines he will be free. However, he discovers that freedom has its own price and its own politics.

Early 1960s Mexican villages and rural communities are losing their youth to the big cities' modern lifestyle. At the same time, the United States government is interfering with its southern neighbor's politics, fixating on Cuba and the spread of communism. The self-exiled Alexander is forced to flee Mexico City as a fugitive because he gets caught up in a sensational murder mystery and the covert schemes of the world's superpowers. He seeks asylum in communities steeped in Aztec traditions and is offered a rare glimpse of a world rapidly being swallowed up by modern-day Mexico.

O autoru

David E. Stuart, the first student in the State of West Virginia to earn a degree in Anthropology, came to UNM in '67/'68 where he earned the Masters and Ph.D. and, later, an honorary doctorate from WVa Wesleyan College. He has conducted fieldwork in Mexico, Alaska, Ecuador, and the American Southwest, where he continues to publish in both Anthropology and Archaeology. He served the University of New Mexico as a senior academic administrator for many years, and still teaches the Archaeology of New Mexico.