A Green Tree & A Dry Tree: A Novel of Chiapas

by Carter Wilson

Between 1868 and 1870 the Tzotzil Indians of Chiapas, Mexico, rose against the priests and soldiers of their white masters. A Green Tree and a Dry Tree, first published in 1972 and now available for the first time in paperback, tells the story of this rebellion, led by a charismatic Tzotzil visionary. "Vividly re-creates one of the most extraordinary Indian revitalization movements in Latin American history. . . . the first effort I have seen to use fiction as a medium for reconstructing an important historical event from the perspective of a participant group whose only record of it is oral. . . . a kind of people's history."—Gary Gossen, American Anthropologist

320 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1995

About the author

Carter Wilson comes from Washington, DC. He has published ethnographic fiction and non-fiction, including stories about Mayan people of Mexico, a children's book about the Netsilik eskimos of Canada, and a fictionalized account of the discovery of Machu Picchu in Peru. His first novel, CRAZY FEBRUARY, widely adopted in college anthropology courses, will be 50 years continuously in print by February, 2016. Wilson wrote the narration for two Oscar-winning documentary films, "The Times of Harvey Milk" (with Judith Coburn) and "Common Threads." He received the Ruth Benedict Prize from the gay section of the American Anthropology Association for his "Hidden in the Blood" in 1995. He has taught at Harvard, Stanford, Tufts University, and the University of California at Santa Cruz.