People of Darkness (1980)

A visual symbol through which a message is communicated. Pictographs were used in ancient civilizations such as the Egyptian and the Chinese as early forms of written communication, and the symbols, which were first painted outside (on rocks or cave walls), were later developed into a system of writing. Utilizing natural pigments, many indigenous cultures around the world have left their marks, symbols, and representational pictures on the faces of boulders, on rocks, and on the walls of caves and early structures, and the painted images functioned both as a means of communication and as artistic expressions. In the Southwestern region of the U.S., there are many sites with ancient pictographs, as the relatively dry weather is especially conducive for the preservation of rock art.

Modern pictographs can be found in street signs and other public announcements that express a particular message using an image instead of written language. One such example is the "no smoking" sign that can be found and easily recognized all over the world.

The informal name for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canada's police force, which operates on both the federal and provincial levels. The force was founded in 1873, and the troops who served during its early periods rode horses to patrol large territories. These mounted troops were known for mediating, in a relatively peaceful manner, conflicts between members of the First Nations and white settlers. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is famous for its formal uniform of bright red jackets and wide-brimmed ranger hats, a dress uniform they still wear today.

In politics, a landslide describes an electoral victory in which a candidate wins by a sweeping majority of votes. In the election of 1948, Thomas E. Dewey, who was the U.S. Republican presidential candidate running against Harry S. Truman, was predicted to win a landslide victory. However, despite the assurance of pre-election polls, commentators, and journalists, Truman was the one who ended up winning the election, surprising many experts. The wrong predictions were made famous by the headline of the Chicago Daily Tribune, printed early in the morning of November 3, 1948, before the final results were clear, which read "Dewey Defeats Truman". A few hours later the newspaper corrected the mistake by printed a second edition announcing Truman's unexpected victory, but a copy of the early edition had already found its way to the hands of the elected president, who posed with it in what became a historical photograph that to this day stands as an iconic representation of embarrassing media mistakes.

The Ghost Dance was a spiritual tradition that was adopted by various Native American groups around North America in the late 1800s. The dance was based in the teachings of the Northern Paiute leader Wovoka, who had envisioned an end to white occupation and expansion, accompanied by the restoration of peace, harmony, and prosperity for all native peoples. Wovoka's teachings focused on good conduct, honesty, and communal cooperation, and the dance itself was a circle dance performed to the beat of drums, with singing and intermittent phases of trance or prophesying. The Ghost Dance movement, which carried the promise of hope to Native communities that were diminishing and suffering as removal to reservations, disease, and starvation were taking their toll, spread rapidly among many tribes across the U.S. Although a peaceful practice, the Ghost Dance was perceived by the U.S. government as a threatening force that might instigate united indigenous resistance. In some cases, like the breaking of the treaty with the Lakota in 1890 and the ensuing massacre at Wounded Knee, the government’s reaction to the perceived threat was unreasonable and extreme, resulting in the death of large numbers of Native Americans, many of them women and children, who had gathered to participate in the dance in an endeavor to promote peace.

The term “ghost dance” as it appears in Tony Hillerman’s 1980 novel People of Darkness, however, may not be related to the actual historical tradition. It may be a colloquial reference to a generalized Native American ritual of protection.

A small town in north-central Texas that was founded in 1846. The town is named after General Sidney Sherman, a leader of the Texas Revolution of 1835, during which Anglo settlers in northern Mexico attempted to secede from the Mexican nation. Sherman was established as the county seat of Grayson County and developed as a center for commerce, services, and industry.

A company that specializes in providing technical support, as well as testing instruments, for the petroleum and chemical industries. Petrolab also offers consultation and support to a variety of other industries, such as plastics, food safety, and pharmaceuticals. According to Hillerman's 1980 novel People of Darkness, the company is based in Farmington, New Mexico, it is in fact located in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and there is no indication that it was ever operating in Farmington, although it probably did provide services to oil drilling sites in New Mexico.

A small, individual study space that normally contains a desk and a shelf. Carrels can be found in most libraries, and can be either partitioned or enclosed in order to privide a quiet, private study environment.

Sometimes known as a .38 special, this caliber of gun can be found with either a revolving or a semi-automatic firing mechanism. In addition, the bullets fired from this gun can be either center-fired or rimmed. Center-fire cartridges are primed and struck in the center of the cartridge base, whereas rim-fire cartridges are primed and struck on the protruding rim on the base of the cartridge. Due to its minimal recoil, which is the reactive movement of a gun after firing, and its accuracy, the .38 caliber is a popular gun.

The main library on the University of New Mexico campus, located in Albuquerque. The library was built in 1938 and in 1961 was named after the late university president James F. Zimmerman. Designed in the iconic Spanish-Pueblo Revival style by John Gaw Meem, the building's design was inspired by colonial Spanish missions and pueblo adobe architecture. Local Native American and Hispanic artists were commissioned to design and execute interior wood carvings and tin works. The structure's focal point is a distinctive nine-story tower that can be seen from various points in the surrounding area. The tower, which was intended to hold 70% of the library's book collection, proved to be insufficient as the collection expanded, and new additions to the library were built in 1965, in 1974, and in 2001. In addition to its book collections and student study area, the Zimmerman Library offers a variety of research and archival services.

The Grants Daily Beacon was a newspaper founded by J.B. Barber and published in Grants, New Mexico, between the years 1959-1990. The newspaper provided reports and stories on local news and events. In 1990 it changed hands as well as title, and is now being published under the name Cibola County Beacon.