House of Rain (2007)

In House of Rain, author Craig Childs seeks the answer to the question, what happened to the Anasazi? The Native American tribe — often compared to the Mayans — built a thriving civilization based in New Mexico's Chaco Canyon, but around A.D. 1300 they abruptly vanished. Were they wiped out by disease? Natural disaster? Childs searched for his answers on foot, following the many Anasazi paths spiraling out of the canyon. As he followed a trail of pottery shards, visiting remote sites, he began to theorize where the Anasazi went. Childs' blend of anthropology, geography, and archaeology may not satisfy all critics, but his beautifully written travelogue provides a highly original answer to the Anasazi riddle. A-