The Sons of Gunshooter: A Navajo Resistance Story
Schedule
Sun, 01 Mar, 2026 at 06:00 pm
UTC-07:00Location
18 N. San Francisco St., Flagstaff, AZ, United States, Arizona 86001 | Flagstaff, AZ
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Date: March 1st, 2026Time: 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Location: Bright Side Bookshop, 18 N. San Francisco St.
Join us for an evening with Dorothy Denetclaw and Matt Fitzsimons, celebrating their latest book, The Sons of Gunshooter: A Navajo Resistance Story. The event will begin at 5:00 PM with a reading, followed by a Q&A and book signing at 6:00 PM.
About the Book:
An inspiring new take on a history we thought we knew
In 1919, the brother of one of the West's most famous Indian traders was shot to death in a remote corner of the Navajo Nation.
Part history, part true crime, The Sons of Gunshooter reexamines the killing and subsequent murder trial, while simultaneously embedding the story in a much larger saga of colonization and resistance. The result is a book that's sweeping in its scope and surgical in its approach. Rewinding the clock to 1868, the authors follow the intertwining paths of two families to offer a riveting, deeply personal account that has been hailed as "a new way of doing historiography."
One of the authors is a descendant of participants in the case; the other is an investigative journalist. By merging Diné oral traditions with archival evidence, they succeed in upending one false narrative after another.
About the Authors:
Dorothy Denetclaw is Tótsohnii born for Tł’ááschí’í. She has lived in Indian Wells, Arizona, her whole life. Dorothy is a survivor of the U.S. government’s boarding school system. After studying business in college, she worked on community development projects across the Navajo Nation as an organizer, activist, and interpreter. Dorothy especially enjoys researching her family history, a legacy for her children and grandchildren.
Matt Fitzsimons is a former newspaper reporter and the author of The Counterfeiters of Bosque Redondo: Slavery, Silver, and the U.S. War Against the Navajo Nation. He lives in San Diego, California, serves on the board of the Gaslamp Quarter Historical Foundation, and is a member of the Diné Studies Conference, based in Window Rock, Arizona.
Books will be available for purchase at the event.
This event is free and open to the public!
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Where is it happening?
18 N. San Francisco St., Flagstaff, AZ, United States, Arizona 86001Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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