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Reviews
House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest by Craig Childs
jenlouden's review
4.0
For sheer scholarship and passion, I have to give this book a four but sometimes the writing is so overwrought, it made me crazy. Also, I would have really really liked maps for each chapter and even within the chapters and most of all the various ideas and theories to be fitted together in some way to help me make a big picture. But still so interesting!!
sandyd's review
4.0
A writer decides to visit a bunch of archaeologists and Anasazi (and related Mogollon, Salado & other) sites, and update the public on this "vanished civilization" of the American Southwest. It's pretty good, although he jumps back & forth from the archaeological theories to his experience walking around the sites a lot, and I was occasionally annoyed by his descriptions. He does a really good job of translating the scientific jargon, though, and making it interesting to the general reader, so I forgave all his rambles about the moonlight and swimming in flash floods.
I think tying the ideas to the sites themselves is brilliant, actually, and this would be a good book to read (or have in hand) if you're visiting Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde, Casas Grandes, Aztec (the site in CO, not actual Aztec sites in Mexico), or many, many other wonderful places in the SW.
Lots of cool stuff about cannibalism, ritual, migration, and corn.
I think tying the ideas to the sites themselves is brilliant, actually, and this would be a good book to read (or have in hand) if you're visiting Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde, Casas Grandes, Aztec (the site in CO, not actual Aztec sites in Mexico), or many, many other wonderful places in the SW.
Lots of cool stuff about cannibalism, ritual, migration, and corn.
satyridae's review
3.0
Very absorbing chronicle of Childs' tracing of the Anasazi diaspora. One lovely passage: "There are places in the world where no clocks or calendars are needed, landscapes where time is as palpable, as abrasive, as any of the elements, sharp as hail."
susan's review
4.0
Interesting look at the Ancestral Pueblan people of Southwestern US/Northwestern Mexico. Presented as a series of short snippets of a journalist's study of the cliff dwelling peoples usually called Anasazi (Childs explains in the book that while this term is often used by archaeologists, it is not the accepted term used by the First Nations people of the area). A long read and parts of it seem a bit repetitive, but that seems to be the point, as he is tracking a "lost" people. Overall a good read if you're interested in the rich pre-European history of the area.
kilgorewolfe's review
5.0
This was a highly engrossing read, combining a travelogue with archaeological research to create a vivid portrait of one of the most fascinating prehistoric North American civilizations, the Ancestral Pueblans. Childs has a wonderfully poetic voice, which he uses to bring the details of the beautiful US Southwest to life. By combining these descriptions with information gleaned from a number of archaeologist, the book renders some powerful (albeit speculative) images of how the Ancestral Pueblans might have lived, and more interestingly, where they might have gone.
This is a well written book, and if you have even a slight interest in the ancient cultures of the American Southwest, I would strongly recommend it.
This is a well written book, and if you have even a slight interest in the ancient cultures of the American Southwest, I would strongly recommend it.
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