{"product_id":"the-last-cheaters-waltz-beauty-and-violence-in-the-desert-southwest-9780816521531","title":"The Last Cheater's Waltz: Beauty and Violence in the Desert Southwest","description":"\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eIn this abundant space and isolation, \u003c\/b\u003e the energy lords extract their bounty of natural resources, and the curators of mass destruction once mined their egregious weapons and reckless acts. It is a land of absolutes, of passion and indifference, lush textures and inscrutable tensions. Here violence can push beauty to the edge of a razor blade. . . .\u003c\/i\u003e Thus Ellen Meloy describes a corner of desert hard by the San Juan River in southeastern Utah, a place long forsaken as implausible and impassable, of little use or value--a place that she calls home. Despite twenty years of carefully nurtured intimacy with this red-rock landscape, Meloy finds herself, one sunbaked morning, staring down at a dead lizard floating in her coffee and feeling suddenly unmoored. What follows is a quest that is both physical and spiritual, a search for home.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEllen Meloy is also the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Anthropology of Turquoise\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Arizona Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50641406656786,"sku":"9780816521531","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_b3b4a4d2-39a3-4917-9ea3-18bb80b33954.jpg?v=1733015001","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-last-cheaters-waltz-beauty-and-violence-in-the-desert-southwest-9780816521531","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}