THE DESERT SMELLS LIKE RAIN: A NATURALIST IN PAPAGO INDIAN COUNTRY by Gary Paul Nahban

Gary Paul Nahban, Desert Smells Like Rain (North Point Press, 1987; University of Arizona Press, 2002).

Also available on audiocassette.  

(NON-FICTION)

Reviewed by Kurt McLean

In The Desert Smells Like Rain: A Naturalist in Papago Indian Country Gary Paul Nahban masterfully and thoughtfully weaves together stories about the lives of the Tohono O'odham people (desert people, formerly known as the Papago) and their natural environment. This book is a collection of short stories that gives the reader a glimpse into the richness of the Tohono O'odham culture and their desert home and is a great introduction to Nabhan's work.

The Tohono O'odham people live in what is arguably one of the harshest places on earth, the Sonoran Desert with communities in both Arizona and Sonora, Mexico.

Naturalist and ethnobotanist Nahban's knowledge and understanding of the natural world, and the Sonoran Desert in particular, with its many and varied interrelationships is both a scholarly and literary achievement. This already rich tapestry is further enriched and deepened through the wonderful and interesting tales of Tohono O'odham life that the author learned over time from his Tohono O'odham friends. Often culture and nature are viewed and studied as separate entities but Nabhan shows us that they are inseparable. The Tohono O'odham are a part of their environment and the environment is part of who they are and how they came to be.

Each essay can stand alone but like the Tohono O'odham and their environment they are made richer and more complete when taken together.  Chapter titles such as "Throwing up the clouds - Cactus Wine, Vomit and Rain" and "Plants Which Coyote Steals, Spoils and Shits On"  not so subtly hint at the humor and irony found throughout this serious and scholarly yet lighthearted and tantalizing work. 

Short and moving, this book is hard to put down. Which isn't a problem since it contains a mere 130 pages - including title pages and over ten photo pages.

Other works by Nahban that this writer can recommend include "Cultures of Habitat" and "Gathering the Desert."