author
Leo Crane
1881–1960
Drawn from years in the American Southwest, these books blend firsthand experience with vivid writing about Hopi, Navajo, and Pueblo life. His work offers a window into the landscapes, policies, and attitudes that shaped the region in the early 20th century.
1 Audiobook
Indians of the Enchanted Desert
by Leo Crane
About the author
Born in Maryland on February 27, 1881, Leo Crane later built a career in the United States Indian Service and spent much of his working life in the Southwest. Archival and bibliographic sources identify him as an Indian agent at Keams Canyon for the Hopi and Navajo beginning in 1911, with later service connected to Pueblo communities in New Mexico, the Crow Creek Reservation in South Dakota, and the Colorado River agency.
Crane is best known as the author of Indians of the Enchanted Desert and Desert Drums. These books grew out of his years working in and around Native communities in Arizona and New Mexico, and they helped make him part of the long tradition of nonfiction writers who tried to explain the Southwest to a general audience.
He died in Tucson, Arizona, on March 19, 1960. While his books reflect the language and viewpoints of their era, they remain of interest as firsthand records of government service, regional history, and the way the Southwest was written about in the 1920s.