With Solders, Saints, and Shamans, Nathaniel Morris has written a rigorous and welcome history of an important but poorly understood Mexican region: the Gran Nayar, covering the greater part of modern-day Nayarit, as well as parts of Durango, Zacatecas, and Jalisco. The mismatch between state and regional geography clearly presented Morris with an uphill methodological climb. In order to recreate his region, Morris was required to visit archives in these four states, to say nothing of the federal archives or holdings of religious organizations, such as the Josefinos, who have played an outsized role in regional history. More daunting still, the Gran Nayar is not just a cartographical anomaly but also a cluster of four indigenous culture zones, which Morris distinguishes by using the correct ethnonyms, even if these may be unfamiliar to some readers. Hence, readers trek through Nayarit’s Náayari (not Cora) zone, Jalisco’s Wixárika (not Huichol) zone,...

You do not currently have access to this content.