Dorothy Denetclaw and Matt Fitzsimons, "The Sons of Gunshooter: A Navajo Resistance Story" (U Arizona Press, 2026)

About this episode

The episode discusses the book 'The Sons of Gunshooter', which explores a Navajo resistance story through a historical and true crime lens.

In 1919, the brother of one of the West’s most famous Indian traders was shot to death in a remote corner of the Navajo Nation.Part history, part true crime, The Sons of Gunshooter: A Navajo Resistance Story (U Arizona Press, 2026) reexamines the killing and subsequent murder trial, while simultaneously embedding the story in a much larger saga of colonization and resistance. The result is a book that’s sweeping in its scope and surgical in its approach. Rewinding the clock to 1868, the authors follow the intertwining paths of two families to offer a riveting, deeply personal account that has been hailed as “a new way of doing historiography.”One of the authors is a descendant of participants in the case; the other is an investigative journalist. By merging Diné oral traditions with archival evidence, they succeed in upending one false narrative after another. This interview was conducted by Mary Reynolds, publicity manager for the University of Arizona Press. Her book, The Quake That Drained the Desert (forthcoming in 2026) investigates the 1887 borderlands earthquake that changed surface water and groundwater in Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. Learn more about your ad choices…

People in this episode

Host: Mary Reynolds

Guests: Dorothy Denetclaw, Matt Fitzsimons

Topics covered

• Navajo history
• colonization
• resistance
• true crime
• oral traditions
• historical narrative

Keywords

• Navajo Nation
• Indian traders
• murder trial
• colonization
• oral traditions
• historical narrative
• investigative journalism

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Arizona Press

Books & works: The Sons of Gunshooter: A Navajo Resistance Story, The Quake That Drained the Desert

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