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Author Tony Hillerman painted pictures of the West

Tony Hillerman's commercial breakthrough was

When I learned of Tony Hillerman’s death, I thought as much about his scenes and characters of the West as I did about the plots of his mysteries.

“I want Americans to stop thinking of Navajos as primitive persons, to understand that they are sophisticated and complicated,” Hillerman once said, according to the obituary by the Associated Press.

Jacket Copy blogger Carolyn Kellogg remembers the 2004 winner of the L.A. Times Robert Kirsch Award for Lifetime Achievement.

His mystery books featuring Tribal Police detective Joe Leaphorn served as inspiration for several of our Travel stories, including “Exploring the Canyons & National Parks of the West.”

Sample a Times Travel story and see photo galleries of Hillerman’s beloved West.

– Mary Forgione, Los Angeles Times staff writer

[Photo: Kelly Campbell / Associated Press, dated Jan. 18, 2007]

This entry was posted on Monday, October 27, 2008 at 3:48 pm by Mary Forgione and is filed under Arizona, National Parks, New Mexico, Outdoors & Adventure, Summer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.

One Comment on “Author Tony Hillerman painted pictures of the West”

Dr. Emil Authelet Says:
October 27th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Each summer I re-read all Tony Hillerman wrote, especially his bio and his Navajo/Hopi series. A master story teller, and a genuine friend of Native Americans, I use him as a model writer for my Writing Group here in Sun City West, AZ.

I knew as I read Shape Shifter, it might be his last, but I still help out hope for just one more.

Thanks Tony for your special gift to Native Americans and also to mystery readers and writers.

Gratefully,

Emil Authelet