Left Handed, Son of Old Man Hat

Left Handed (Navajo) (1868–?) was a DinÉ man who was born at HweÉldi (the Bosque Redondo prison camp), where the American military held Navajos from 1863 to 1868, and then returned to the Navajo homeland with his family. At the time of Walter Dyk’s interviews about his life, he was positioned as an elder who had lived well and prospered. Walter Dyk (1899–1972) was a linguist who studied under Edward Sapir. He studied Navajo language and published Old Mexican. Jennifer Denetdale (DinÉ/Navajo) is the first DinÉ/Navajo to earn a PhD in history and is an associate professor of American studies at the University of New Mexico. She is the author of Reclaiming DinÉ History: The Legacies of Navajo Chief Manuelito and Juanita and The Long Walk: The Forced Exile of the Navajo.

“An extraordinarily vivid and detailed story, full of earthily realistic dialogue, told with an amazing storyteller’s craft.”—The Roundup“A serious anthropological study that reads like a combination of Tobacco Road with two parts of Studs Lonigan.”—New Republic“An entertaining and absorbing story about Indian life.”—True West