Welcome to Monument Valley Tribal Park—a world of weather-carved rock and wind-driven sand, of massive buttes painted with dark desert varnish, of hardy plants clinging to the earth. At dawn and sunset, an ever-changing sky silhouettes the dark-looming monuments against washes of color from delicate to vibrant. Monument Valley’s Navajo residents live in harmony with this challenging, beautiful landscape. Dynamic forces of earth, wind, and water built and sculpted the dramatic forms of this land. The visible rock of Monument Valley—carved today into buttes, monoliths, and mesas—represents millions of years of contrasting land layers as ancient sands compressed over geologic time into rock. Then the vast Colorado Plateau uplifted, erosion cutting its softer surfaces back down, leaving pockets and markers of hard rock still standing. Grain by grain, wind and rain still carve the rock forms of Monument Valley. Ancestral Puebloans settled into the recessed rock alcoves dotting this region more than a thousand years ago. Only fragments of their lives—masonry dwellings, hand-formed pottery, rock art—remain. Many generations later, the Diné—the People—established a homeland in the red rock country and a community based on harmonious life between Mother Earth and Father Sky. Harry Goulding came to Monument Valley with his young wife, Mike, in 1924 to establish a trading post at the foot of Big Rock Door Mesa. They raised sheep, traded handwoven Navajo rugs for food and household items, and hosted an ever-growing number of curious visitors. During the difficult Depression years of the 1930s, the Gouldings attracted early moviemakers to Monument Valley. John Ford’s films created an entire generation of moviegoers’ views of the American West—and travelers from around the world have visited Monument Valley ever since. The Navajo Tribal Council established Monument Valley Tribal Park in 1958. Now this place of traditional lifestyle and spectacular scenery is preserved for its beauty as well as its ancestral and contemporary importance to the Navajo. Those who travel here find not only the rich history of this desert place, but a sense of Monument Valley’s special harmony as well. Let the rhythm of this land thrum through your soul; let the voice of its spirit call you home.

The Colorado River Plateau is home to two of the best-known landscapes in the world: Rainbow Bridge in southern Utah and Monument Valley on the Utah-Arizona border. Twentieth-century popular culture made these places icons of the American West, and advertising continues to exploit their significance today. In Rainbow Bridge to Monument Valley, Thomas J. Harvey artfully tells how Navajos and Anglo-Americans created fabrics of meaning out of this stunning desert landscape, space that western novelist Zane Grey called “the storehouse of unlived years,” where a rugged, more authentic life beckoned. Harvey explores the different ways in which the two societies imbued the landscape with deep cultural significance. Navajos long ago incorporated Rainbow Bridge into the complex origin story that embodies their religion and worldview. In the early 1900s, archaeologists crossed paths with Grey in the Rainbow Bridge area. Grey, credited with making the modern western novel popular, sought freedom from the contemporary world and reimagined the landscape for his own purposes. In the process, Harvey shows, Grey erased most of the Navajo inhabitants. This view of the landscape culminated in filmmaker John Ford’s use of Monument Valley as the setting for his epic mid-twentieth-century Westerns. Harvey extends the story into the late twentieth century when environmentalists sought to set aside Rainbow Bridge as a symbolic remnant of nature untainted by modernization. Tourists continue to flock to Monument Valley and Rainbow Bridge, as they have for a century, but the landscapes are most familiar today because of their appearances in advertising. Monument Valley has been used to sell perfume, beer, and sport utility vehicles. Encompassing the history of the Navajo, archaeology, literature, film, environmentalism, and tourism, Rainbow Bridge to Monument Valley explores how these rock formations, Navajo sacred spaces still, have become embedded in the modern identity of the American West—and of the nation itself.

With over 50,000,000 paid downloads, Monument Valley is one of the most successful and best mobile games of all time. It's also one of the great indie games. In this book you can get an exclusive behind the scenes look at the making of Monument Valley, put together by award-winning games journalist Chris Stead. Artist and lead designer at developer ustwo Games, Ken Wong, talks through its development. You will see rare pre-release images, learn about the challenges and inspirations that help craft the Monument Valley experience, and pick up some great video games trivia. You will also learn about the Forgotten Shores expansion, and Monument Valley 2, the exciting sequel. The interview, feature and book are written by award-winning games journalist Chris Stead. It results in the top Monument Valley guide you can find. Monument Valley by ustwo Games is available now on mobiles and consoles through online retailers. Monument Valley 2 is available on iPhone and iPad devices at the time of this writing, with more formats to follow in 2017 and 2018. Both are examples of great unity game development. Below you will find a list of the book's chapters. And if you love your video games, make sure you check out Old Mate Media's Nintendo Switch Guide and other titles. Visit www.oldmatemedia.com/shop for more details.

"Moon has interviewed not only the Gouldings, but Native Americans & others who knew the family - even non-English-speaking Navajos!...A fine example of oral history."--CHOICE.

A series of in-depth examinations of the motion picture many consider to be Hollywood's finest western film.

"In the second part of the book, Holiday details the family and tribal teachings he has acquired over a long life. He tells his grandparents' stories of the Long Walk era, discusses local attitudes about the land, relates Navajo religious stories, and recounts his training as a medicine man. All of Holiday's experiences and teachings reflect the thoughts of a traditional practitioner who has found in life both beauty and lessons for future generations."--BOOK JACKET.

Monument Valley Tribal Park is a world of weather-carved rock and wind-driven sand, of massive buttes painted with dark desert varnish, of hardy plants clinging to the earth. Stunning photographs showcase the area.