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Oliver La Farge (1901–1963)

Author of Laughing Boy: A Navajo Love Story

34+ Works 1,471 Members 29 Reviews

About the Author

Includes the names: Oliver La Farge, Oliver La Farge, Oliver La Garge, Oliver L La Farge, Oliver La Farge, 2nd

Image credit: NYWT&S Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Reproduction Number LC-USZ62-116958

Works by Oliver La Farge

Laughing Boy: A Navajo Love Story (1929) 757 copies, 23 reviews

A Pictorial History of the American Indian (1956) 364 copies, 2 reviews

The American Indian (1956) 93 copies, 1 review

Santa Fe: The Autobiography of a Southwestern Town (1959) 45 copies

The Enemy Gods (1975) 39 copies

Behind the Mountains (1974) 29 copies, 1 review

Yellow Sun, Bright Sky (1988) 15 copies

The Man With the Calabash Pipe: Some Observations (2011) 14 copies

Cochise of Arizona: The Pipe of Peace is Broken (2014) 14 copies

The Mother Ditch (1983) 13 copies

Sparks Fly Upward 10 copies, 1 review

A Pause in the Desert (2009) 9 copies

Raw Material (2009) 9 copies

The Eagle in the Egg (1972) 7 copies

The Door in the Wall (2000) 6 copies, 1 review

The Changing Indian (1942) 6 copies

As Long as the Grass Shall Grow (1940) 6 copies

Tribes and Temples: A Record of the Expedition to Middle America (1986) — Author — 5 copies

Introduction to American Indian Art (1985) 5 copies

Long Pennant 3 copies

The Year Bearer's People 3 copies

All the Young Men: Stories (1976) 3 copies

The Copper Pot (1942) 3 copies

Prelude to Reunion 2 copies

Indians of the Eastern Woodlands (1964) 2 copies

We Need Private Schools 1 copy

John the Revelator [short story] 1 copy

Spud and Cochise 1 copy

The Eight-Oared Shell 1 copy

The Newest Frontier: Last Hope of the Indians 1 copy

Albatross 1 copy

Die Grosse Jagd. (1966) 1 copy

Santa Fe The Autobiography of a Southwestern Town 1 copy

Introduction to American Indian Art, Part 1 1 copy

Associated Works

Fifty Great American Short Stories (1965) — Contributor — 454 copies, 3 reviews

The Best of the West: An Anthology of Classic Writing from the American West (1991) — Contributor — 266 copies, 1 review

Murder on the Menu: Cordon Bleu Stories of Crime and Mystery, Volume 1 (1984) — Contributor; Contributor — 203 copies, 2 reviews

Ants, Indians, and Little Dinosaurs: A Celebration of Man & Nature for the 75th Anniversary of Natural History Magazine (1975) — Contributor — 194 copies, 1 review

A Decade of Fantasy and Science Fiction (1960) — Contributor — 150 copies

Tepoztlán: Village in Mexico (1960) — Foreword — 92 copies, 1 review

The Best of All Possible Worlds (1980) — Contributor — 82 copies, 2 reviews

Stories from The New Yorker, 1950 to 1960 (1960) — Contributor — 80 copies, 2 reviews

55 Short Stories from The New Yorker, 1940 to 1950 (1949) — Contributor — 62 copies

Great American Ghost Stories (1991) — Contributor — 38 copies

100 Best True Stories of World War II (WW2) (with 32 illustrations) (2011) — Contributor — 33 copies

The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction (1952) — Contributor — 28 copies

50 Best American Short Stories 1915-1939 (2013) — Contributor — 28 copies

Pulitzer Prize Reader (1961) — Contributor — 27 copies

Masterpieces of Mystery: The Fifties (1976) — Contributor — 24 copies

Western Ghosts (1990) — Contributor — 18 copies

The Best American Short Stories 1955 (1955) — Contributor — 14 copies

Great American Ghost Stories: Volume 2 (1993) — Contributor — 13 copies, 1 review

Great American Short Stories: O. Henry Memorial Prize Winning Stories, 1919-1934 (1935) — Contributor — 11 copies, 1 review

The Eleventh Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories (1975) — Contributor — 11 copies

Great Western short stories (1967) — Contributor — 9 copies

The Best American Short Stories 1951 (1951) — Contributor — 8 copies

The Best Short Stories of 1927 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story (1927) — Contributor — 3 copies

The Ethnic Image in Modern American Literature, 1900-1950 (1984) — Contributor — 2 copies

A Modern Galaxy — Contributor — 2 copies

A Magnum of Mysteries (1963) — Contributor — 2 copies

Ellery Queen's 1966 Anthology — Contributor — 1 copy

The Family Reader of American Masterpieces (1959) — Contributor — 1 copy

Tagged

20th century (13) American (16) American history (13) American Indians (21) American literature (37) American West (32) anthology (153) anthropology (42) biology (13) essays (25) fiction (294) historical fiction (26) history (75) Indians (24) literature (43) Mexico (17) mystery (50) Native American (64) Native Americans (47) natural history (30) nature (14) Navajo (32) Navajo Indians (14) New Mexico (31) New Yorker (16) non-fiction (55) novel (26) paperback (13) Pulitzer (31) Pulitzer Prize (23) science (24) science fiction (26) short stories (180) short story (15) Southwest (12) stories (18) to-read (63) unread (15) USA (13) western (20)

Common Knowledge

Canonical name: La Farge, Oliver
Legal name: La Farge, Oliver Hazard Perry
Birthdate: 1901-12-19
Date of death: 1963-08-02
Gender: male
Nationality: USA
Birthplace: New York, New York, USA
Place of death: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Places of residence: Newport, Rhode Island, USA
Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
Education: Harvard University
Occupations: anthropologist
short-story writer
novelist
Organizations: American Academy of Arts and Letters (Literature, 1957)

Members

Reviews

Laughing Boy (1929 Pulitzer Prize) by Oliver La Farge

I read this my senior year in high school --- 35 cents for the book. It's still readable but pages are starting to come loose from binding.

Flagged

IslandJAS | 22 other reviews | Sep 7, 2024 |

Laughing Boy by Oliver La Farge

While I really enjoyed reading about the Navajo customs and lifestyle, and the author's beautiful descriptions of the terrain, I found the dialogue to be so stilted and unrealistic that it took me out of the story.

Flagged

milbourt | 22 other reviews | May 11, 2024 |

Laughing Boy: A Navajo Love Story by Oliver La Farge

As the sub title says this is a love story set on the Navajo Reservation in Northern Arizona/Southern Utah. It is interesting to read about the cultural aspect of how relationships are handled within the Navajo community. The story is slow but worth the time to allow it to develop.

½

Flagged

foof2you | 22 other reviews | Oct 10, 2023 |

Laughing Boy: A Navajo Love Story by Oliver La Farge

Really good novel about a Navajo couple. Quite poetic and tries to give the flavor of their religion. I don't know how accurate it is, since the author lived among them but was not Navajo, but still worth reading for the story and appreciation of the culture.

Flagged

kslade | 22 other reviews | Dec 8, 2022 |

See More Reviews

Lists

Pulitzer Prize Winners for Fiction (1)

Best Books of 1926-1935 (2)

Shaking a Leg (1)

Must-Read Books About the Southwest (1)

Classics you know you should have read but probably haven't (1)

Statistics

Works: 34
Also by: 28
Members: 1,471
Popularity: #17,464
Rating: ½ 3.8

Reviews: 29
ISBNs: 66
Languages: 3

Charts & Graphs

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Pictures

Links

Encyclopedia Britannica author page

Oliver La Farge Collection, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin

American National Biography author page

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