Coyote - The Life and Times of Visionary Navajo Artist, David Chethlahe Paladin by John D Kennedy

This is historical fiction focusing upon the actual time and events in the life of David Chethlahe Paladin. At the time of his passing in 1984, Newsweek Magazine noted that he was the most prominent American Indian artist of our time. David was half-breed Navajo whose life was conflicted with cultural and religious conflict. His Native American spiritualism included an upbringing by his medicine man uncle and kiva training with the San Felipe Pueblo tribe. His life had a series of events that included God. These evnets led to conflicts between the logic of his Navajo American spiritualism and the concept of God. At the age of sixteen he was an espionage agent for the United States in Europe. Unusual circumstances saved him from certain death after his capture. He was sent to Dachau where he endured unspeakable horror. Following liberation of Dachau, David was rejected for rehabilitation by the US government. He returned to the Navajo reservation for treatment with his medicine-man uncle. His conflict between God and his Native American spiritualism intensified. This is not a story of down-an-out life on an Indian reservation. It portrays traditions and beauty of Navajo life and spiritualism. It reflects the life-long determination of a man to survive by meeting the challenges of his lot in life. His life parallels the mythology of Coyote in the Navajo culture.