This item led our local news last night, and I cried as I listened. When we moved to New Mexico 15 years ago, someone told me that one of the best ways to learn about Navajo culture, religion, and practices was to read Tony Hillerman's books, so I set about getting copies of all of them. I've learned so much from his books, including a couple of words of Navajo -- not a language that a layman should try to learn to speak, much less write. He was a New Mexico icon, and he will be missed.
As an aside, I had out-of-state visitors and attempted to give the wife some of the paperback editions of the Hillerman books--she "thumbed through" one of them and refused them, saying they were full of witchcraft and other things she didn't believe in. When I tried to tell her that was the Navajo way, she still refused to take them. I was astounded that she would refuse to read something that might broaden her horizens and her knowledge.