Tony Hillerman grew up during the Depression in the small, farming community of Sacred Heart, in Potawatomie, Oklahoma. His father's farm came without indoor plumbing, tractor, or electricity. The nearest library was thirty-five miles away and the once-a-week movie in the nearest town was too expensive to attend. The battery radio was, therefore, "a big deal when it was operating. Growing up where I did, high value and respect were attached to being able to tell a story, to interest, or entertain people."¹

"My father, who hated the Nazis and who was very sensitive about being a German in America during Hitler's rise to power, often made it a point to tell us kids that people are all basically alike. Once you know that, then you start finding out the differences. It was true for us. Our neighbors were Seminoles and Blackfeet, all of them just like us...