A Zuni Life: A Pueblo Indian in Two Worlds

by Virgil Wyaco, Carroll L. Riley (Contributor), J.A. Jones (Editor)

Here Virgil Wyaco, a Zuni Indian elder and leader, recounts his life in both the traditional Zuni and modern Anglo worlds. As a boy, Wyaco learned Zuni ways from his family and the English language and vocational skills in Anglo schools. Earning a Bronze Star during World War II, he killed German soldiers in combat and participated in the executions of SS guards at Dachau. His postwar career included studies at the University of New Mexico, federal employment, marriage to a Cherokee woman, and family life in the suburbs. Later, Wyaco returned to Zuni as postmaster and married a traditional Zuni woman. His election to the Zuni tribal council in 1970 quickly established him as an influential leader. His varied career demonstrates the heartbreaks and rewards of a Native American life bridging two cultures.

Genres: Indigenous

153 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1998

Reviews

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

An oral history of what it means to be Zuni and how it was for this author to grow up as Zuni in an increasingly enveloping Anglo culture. Although this consisted of only two paragraphs in the entire book, the most arresting story came at the end of World War II. Here, he wrote about how he (and a dozen other soldiers) under orders, shot into a band of sixty German prisoners until they were all dead. The bodies were left there to rot.

[Lazlo Nibble · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wyaco’s life as a prominent Zuni “public man” arguably warrants something meatier than the brief transcribed narrative here. Worth a read but I wanted to know a lot more, particularly about the worlds of White and Zuni politics during his years of public service. A fact-checking pass wouldn’t have hurt either—he places Reagan-era Interior head James Watt’s attacks on SIPI in 1976, for example.

[Abby]

A short book about a single life that just about runs the gamut of satisfactions and complexities of being Native in the Southwest. This guy is plain inspirational. The narrative has been very smoothly touched up by an anthropologist-turned-novelist, although much of it seems to be word-for-word from Wyaco. The title claims he lived in two worlds, but I'd estimate more than that.