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We Came Naked and Barefoot: The Journey of Cabeza de Vaca Across North America. By Alex D. Krieger. Edited by Margery J. Krieger. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002. Pp. xvii, 318. Illustrations. Notes. References. Index. $39.95 cloth.
Half a century ago, Alex D. Krieger chose the transcontinental route of Cabeza de Vaca as the subject for his doctoral dissertation in anthropology at the National University of Mexico. He wrote in Spanish, but also prepared an English version that he planned to publish as a "popular book." After earning his degree, Krieger spent much of his career as a professor of anthropology at the University of Washington. He died in 1991, leaving his manuscript updated but still incomplete. Margery H. Krieger then undertook to complete the editing and publication of her husband's magnum opus. The revised dissertation, together with a brief Foreword and Afterword by Thomas R. Hester, constitutes roughly half of the volume. The remainder is made up of Krieger's own translations of two key documents: The Relación de los Naufragios (1555) by Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, and portions of the Historia General y Natural de las...