House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest

Craig Childs, who has spent a lifetime exploring the hidden corners of the American Southwest for even the faintest signs of water, adventure, and discovery in his previous books such as The Secret Knowledge of Water, Soul of Nowhere, and The Way Out, has turned his keen senses and ever inquisitive spirit in search of the secrets to what happened to the ancient Anasazi (or Ancestral Puebloans) of the region.

Through his reading of scholarly sources and history, seeking out of oral histories and traditions, and hundreds of miles of walking the landscape in search of clues, Craig Childs has turned his considerable talents for reading the landscape and turning his observations into wonderful prose towards the mystery of what happened to the Anasazi of 800 to 1000 years ago. He has canvassed the region, including Northern Mexico, to find out how this ancient civilization converged on places like Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde, where its culture thrived and flourished. And why these hubs of civilization dried up and its people seemingly scattered into the wind.

House of Rain isn't about finding definitive answers to the questions concerning these ancient peoples - the details we may never know; instead, this book is about the discovery and exploration of the mysteries of those who came before us on this land. We seek out these ancient civilizations because we hope, no we believe that through the journey of discovery we will find a piece of ourselves...and then maybe the answers we hope will help us in our future.

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This is one of the best books written on the native peoples of the Southwest. Childs uses his travels, his inquisitiveness and imagination to write a plausable history of the Anasazi... tracing their exodus from Chaco and the Colorado Plateau south into Mexico. An academic could never leap to the conclusions that Childs postulates, however most archeological papers don't touch the soul. Child's book does. He brings the Anasazi back to life and paints their culture with a colorful brush. I'll never look at an Anasazi ruin in the same way again.

The fate of the "Anasazi" people is one of the Southwest's greatest mysteries. Scholars continue to debate what happened to wipe this culture from existence. Archaeological evidence points to a highly intelligent people who accomplished many great things over several centuries. So where did they go?

In HOUSE OF RAIN: TRACKING A VANISHED CIVILIZATION ACROSS THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST, Craig Childs chronicles his studies of the lost Anasazi through exploration of ruins and pottery finds.

While this may sound dry at first glance, Childs succeeds at assembling his research and adventures into readable form. Part narrative and part scholarly writing, HOUSE OF RAIN is informative without being dull, which opens it to not only students in the field, but also to people genuinely interested in history and archaeology.

Although Childs's style in engaging, the constant transitions between stories of his on-site explorations and the offering of hard fact can be confusing. Childs frequently skips between memories of various digs, walking journeys, and times when he's been allowed access to artifacts and secluded sites. It's hard to keep track of where and when he's talking about when he skips around in this manner.

Aside from the mild confusion occasionally elicited by the scattered narrative, HOUSE OF RAIN has a great deal to offer history buffs. Readers' eyes will be opened by Childs's observations and depth of knowledge. There are no set answers, but he offers salient points that may go a long way to suggesting what really happened to the mysterious Anasazi.

Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer

03/04/2007

This is one of those rare books that may change how you perceive your world. I'm a European import and a newcomer to this part of the country (I now live in Salt Lake City), so this book opened up whole new aspects of our history of which I had been completely unaware (as, I suspect, are most Americans). I think it should be required reading for anyone who is under the impression that American history began with Columbus, or that the southwest is accurately and comprehensively depicted by John Wayne galloping through Monument Valley.

Initially, like some other reviewers, I also was annoyed by the lack of maps, but then began wondering whether Childs was intentionally avoiding involving the reader in the minutiae of the story and so distracting him or her from the real point: that there were large and complicated civilizations in the American southwest, trading extensively, and moving around in response to climate shifts, failures of crops or water supply, or pressures from other groups. From his other books I envisioned Childs as somewhat of a mystic (although he certainly doesn't give this impression in person), and it would be entirely consistent with this for him to be trying to capture the spirit of the region and convey an overall portrait of an entire area steeped in a culture that, although perhaps seemingly alien at first, becomes increasingly comprehensible as we begin to understand the conditions under which it arose and flourished. Then the absence of maps really doesn't seem so important.

Warning to all who like to know where in the region the author is talking about - there are no maps! I'm sure many know where the Mongollon Rim exactly is but I don't and my AAA maps were no help. Why can't I get a simple B&W map for cripe's sake? Second warning. The review I read (and the jacket cover) refer to the unsolved mystery of the fate of the Anasazi. Maybe I need a Conclusion Page but the answer wasn't exactly wrapped up in a bow. In fact, I'm not sure the author even concluded on this matter. I bought this because I am traveling to the Four Corners area for a month this year and plan on seeing and camping at several "Anasazi" sites. I read all 445 pages but it was a slog at times. It could have been a much better read with maps and especially if the author had ventured the clear cut conclusion that his publisher hyped.

I love this book. Craig Childs is not an archaeologist. Unlike most archaeologists, he is a wonderful writer. Most archaeology books are practically unreadable. Boring. Poorly written. Offering no real conclusions because the writer is too afraid to offer any speculation or opinion. Childs feels free to offer his very well-researched thoughts on what must have happened in the American Southwest nearly 1,000 years ago. I've read this book several times and agree with most (but not all) of what he puts forth. These people didn't "vanish" but the culture remains a mystery. The mystery of the Anasazi probably will never be solved. But this book is a very enjoyable read.

I'm a huge Craig Childs fan. I bought The Secret Knowledge of Water based only on the title, unopened. It was TERRIFIC!!! I have read everything CC has written that I could find. I haven't finished this one yet--I usually tear through his books in a few hours. I found this to be more technical and harder to read. I have spent a lot of time working at IHS hospitals in the same areas that are discussed in the book. I will never know the area as well as he does, but I can relate to what he's talking about and have learned from the book. I have rated it 5 stars to support CC as a writer--you can't get much better.

I'm not an archeologist, so I can't speak to Mr. Childs conclusions. I am however a lover of the southwest and Four Corners area, and a sometime archeological enthusiast, and here is where the author reveals himself to be in his element. This is a diary, a log of the travels, explorations, and conclusions of a man who knows the area and knows who to talk to in order to learn more. Mr. Childs respect for the terrain and past and present cultures he encounters is evident, as is his profound understanding of what makes the Colorado Plateau "tick".

I loved seeing the authors ideas and conclusions through his eyes. He's a gifted writer and an inspired traveller, and I'm sure this is a book I'll reread more than once.

I am glad I read HOUSE OF RAIN and I can easily recommend it to others interested in the "Anasazi" (the controversy over this name is discussed at some length in the book) and related peoples of the Southwest. Nonetheless, I am somewhat ambivalent about this book, more so than with many I have read.

On the plus side, HOUSE OF RAIN probably is the most comprehensive non-academic book dealing with the Anasazi and related peoples I have encountered, and one of the most readable. It traces the Anasazi and their extensive archaeological record from Chaco in New Mexico, north to Aztec and Mesa Verde, then west to the Utah canyonlands, then south to Kayenta and Antelope Mesa in Arizona, further south to the Mogollon Rim along the New Mexico/Arizona border, and even further south into the Sierra Madre in Mexico. Childs discusses in a non-pedantic fashion quite a few of the theories about the Anasazi, their way of life, their artistic, engineering, and organizational/political accomplishments, and their ultimate fate. Moreover, he is to be commended for not being deterred by political correctness from discussing such matters as cannibalism, warfare and slavery, ritual violence, and dementia and hallucinations induced by an exclusively corn-based diet. Nonetheless, he clearly is highly respectful of the Anasazi, and he communicates a sense of wonder and awe.

On the other hand, certain aspects of the book are annoying or distracting, at least to me. Foremost among them is the author's overly "personal" narrative, all-too-generously sprinkling the book with anecdotes from his travels through the Southwest as he tracks the Anasazi. I recognize that he wants to establish his credentials and also to avoid a dry, academic tone, but many of his anecdotes are banal in the extreme (for example, many of the interactions between he and fellow travellers or he and his family). Childs also too frequently lapses into sappiness or melodrama, leading me to fear that perhaps his account may be overly imaginative, too much the product of a romantic mind bent on understanding and explaining where anything close to absolute understanding and explanation simply is not possible. Finally, given the numerous accounts of large, carefully engineered and built structures, even cities, many of which were occupied for only a few decades, I would have appreciated some discussion of how these massive construction projects were accomplished.

Despite the (to me) annoying flaws of HOUSE OF RAIN, the book is highly informative, definitely worth reading, and probably worth returning to.

Craig Childs and "House of Rain" took me to places I've been and most importantly, to places I've been unable to experience. As I was reading this descriptive narrative of the Southwest that I love so much, I felt I was walking right beside him...excellent!