Most Popular Books by Jake Page

Unprecedented, dramatic, persuasive: the first complete, one-volume history of the American Indians to explain the 20,000-year history from their point of view.

David Leeming and Jake Page gather some seventy-five of the most potent and meaningful of these tales in an extraordinary rich and readable introduction of this divine figure as she has emerged from prehistory to the present.

J. M. Adovasio has spent the last thirty years at the center of one of our most fiery scientific debates: Who were the first humans in the Americas, and how and when did they get there? At its heart, The First Americans is the story of the revolution in thinking that Adovasio and his fellow archaeologists have brought about, and the firestorm it has ignited. As he writes, “The work of lifetimes has been put at risk, reputations have been damaged, an astounding amount of silliness and even profound stupidity has been taken as serious thought, and always lurking in the background of all the argumentation and gnashing of tenets has been the question of whether the field of archaeology can ever be pursued as a science.”

The movie in progress is based on a historical event, a Native American victory over Spanish invaders. But some Indians deeply resent the movie company''s filming on tribal land. Shooting has just begun when a deadly real-life scenario rapidly eclipses the one slated for the screen: the man who leased the Santo Esteban Pueblo to Hollywood suddenly dies, and the leading man is murdered. Blind sculptor Mo Bowdre, whose beautiful Hopi girlfriend has a small role in the movie, is fascinated. Who are the players and what are the stakes? Finding the answer tests Mo''s inner vision to its limits.

Shaped by cartoons and museum dioramas, our vision of Paleolithic times tends to feature fur-clad male hunters fearlessly attacking mammoths while timid women hover fearfully behind a boulder. Recent archaeological research has shown that this vision bears little relation to reality. J. M. Adovasio and Olga Soffer, two of the world''s leading experts on perishable artifacts such as basketry, cordage, and weaving, present an exciting new look at prehistory. With science writer Jake Page, they argue that women invented all kinds of critical materials, including the clothing necessary for life in colder climates, the ropes used to make rafts that enabled long-distance travel by water, and nets used for communal hunting. Even more important, women played a central role in the development of language and social life—in short, in our becoming human. In this eye-opening book, a new story about women in prehistory emerges with provocative implications for our assumptions about gender today.

“Jake Page is one of the Southwest’s most distinguished writers.”—The Denver Post A bizarre murder leaves two teenagers dead in a desert arroyo, their naked bodies side by side, face up under the New Mexican sun. Near them, etched in stone, is a symbol unlike any Native American marking. What does it signify? The puzzle is made to order for Mo Bowdre''s quirky and capacious intelligence. But Bowdre, a wildlife sculptor and occasional sleuth, may be in over his head, as he becomes embroiled in a possible case of ritual killing—and a certain malice. . . . Praise for A Certain Malice “In a long tradition of oddball amateur detectives, the flamboyant Bowdre is a welcome addition. He’s certainly offbeat and larger than life.”—L.A. Life “Page’s mysteries are standouts.”—The Houston Chronicle “Move over, Tony Hillerman”—The Seattle Times/Post-Intelligencer

Presents a variety of myths, tales, and legends. Includes Native American tales about creation, goddesses, trickster gods, the Indian and the white man, as well as Hispanic American, Asian American, Anglo American, and African American stories. Features patriotic heroes, American loners, frontiersman, and tall tales, Western outlaws, lawmen, and cowboys, slave rebels, and Blues legends, among other topics.

169 illus., 137 color, 30 line drawings. Orig. $60.00.

Headline: A peak behind the Hollywood mask by one of its foremost makeup artists In Hollywood’s heyday, almost every major studio had a Westmore heading up the makeup department. Since 1917, there has never been a time when Westmores weren’t shaping the visages of stardom. For their century-long dedication to the art of makeup, the Westmores were honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2008. In this lively memoir, Michael Westmore not only regales us with tales of Hollywood’s golden age, but also from his own career where he notably transformed Sylvester Stallone into Rocky Balboa and Robert DiNiro into Jake LaMotta, among many other makeup miracles. Westmore’s talent as a makeup artist first became apparent when he created impenetrable disguises for Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster, Robert Mitchum, and Frank Sinatra for the 1963 film The List of Adrian Messenger. He later went on to become the preferred makeup man for Bobby Darin and Elizabeth Taylor, and worked on such movies and TV shows as The Munsters, Rosemary’s Baby, Eleanor and Franklin, New York, New York, 2010: A Space Odyssey, and Mask, for which he won an academy award. The next phase of his career was to create hundreds of alien characters for over 600 episodes of Star Trek in all its iterations, from The Next Generation to Enterprise. Replete with anecdotes about Hollywood and its stars, from Bette Davis’s preference for being made-up in the nude to Shelley Winters’s habit of nipping from a “little bottle” while on the set, Makeup Man will satisfy any Hollywood’s fan’s appetite for gossip or a behind-the-scenes look at how tinsel town’s most iconic film characters were created. Academy Award-winning Michael Westmore has been making up the stars for over fifty years. He frequently appears on the SyFy channel show Face Off with his daughter McKenzie Westmore.

When a major dealer of Native American art is murdered, Mo Bowdre and his girlfriend, Connie Barnes, investigate and uncover, in addition to the murder, a plot to steal Hopi Indian sacred objects.

Blind wildlife sculptor Mo Bowdrie and his girlfriend discover a corpse, and the unraveling of the murder''s secret uncovers a network of Aztec artifact smugglers.

The discovery of seven previously unknown Georgia O''Keeffe paintings sets not only Santa Fe, but the entire international art world, buzzing with excitement. Elijah Potts, successful author, skilled seducer, and shrewd owner of the Southwest Creations gallery, knows that this cache of canvases will be the crowning glory of his career--and the key to the fortune that he has always craved. Before the new O''Keeffes can be authenticated, the suave, elegant world of Elijah Potts starts to unravel. First Anita Montague, the manager of Elijah''s gallery and his sometime lover, is murdered. Next the paintings disappear. And then Potts finds himself in jail, charged with Anita''s murder. Is it a frame-up or is Elijah Potts a player in an elaborate game of forgery, greed, and deception? Mo Bowdre, with problems of his own, wants nothing to do with the police and media circus that descends on Santa Fe. But somehow he just can''t keep out of it. And Mo''s beautiful Hopi girlfriend Connie has a funny feeling that Potts isn''t the man he appears to be.

Some 20 light and witty essays by New Mexico-based naturalist Page in which his observations of birds and their behavior leads to ponderings on the meaning of life, the nature of humanity, and other deep subjects. Some of the material has appeared previously in The Smithsonian, National Geographic, The Washington Post, and other periodicals. No index or bibliography. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Dog lovers do not need to be reminded that dogs are astonishing creatures, but recent research shows that they are even more amazing than anyone knew. Dogs draws on the last several decades of studies, examining everything from a dog''s eyesight to its culinary preferences and sense of humor. Jake Page looks at dogs'' wild brothers, the wolves, and their closer cousins, the wild or pariah dogs; explains the newest theory of how dogs were domesticated; describes a dog''s development from puppyhood on; and finally ponders a dog''s emotional life and intelligence. While not a practical book on dog training, Dogs will give readers a better sense of why their pets behave as they do. And as an added bonus, Jake Page''s own pack of six dogs makes multiple cameo appearances. Engaging and informative, Dogs will make readers see man''s best friend quite differently.

In 1816 red, yellow, brown, or blue snow fell, and New England had no summer. From natural catastrophes such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and ice-ages to Chernobyl and other man-made disasters, Tales of the Earth takes a fascinating look at nature''s power over humanity, as well as the trouble humanity makes for nature.

Recounts more than seventy Native American myths from a variety of cultures, covering gods, creation, and heroes and heroines, and discusses each myth within its own context, its relationship to other myths, and its place within world mythology.

Beautifully photographed book of the Navajo people today.

The untold story of how the Chiricahua Apache tribe won a $22 million settlement against the U.S. government that had imprisoned tribal members for 23 years. In 1947 President Truman established the Indian Claims Commission. WILD JUSTICE is a history of that extraordinary tribunal and the efforts of Native American tribes to obtain restitution from it.