As a pioneer of historical, archaeological, anthropological, and ethnological studies of the Southwest, Adolph Francis Alphonse Bandelier has a secure place in the intellectual history of late-nineteenth-century America. His one novel earned him even greater eminence, for, as Stefan Jovanovich says, "On publication in 1890, The Delight Makers was quickly recognized by anthropologists and archaeologists as a classic of both science and literature." In Southwest Heritage: A Literary Heritage with Bibliography (1972) Mabel Major and T. M. Pearce argue that "The Delight Makers will remain without rival among the nineteenth-century creative works dealing with the American Indian." "Taken strictly as literature," Jovanovich argues, "The Delight Makers can stand comparison with some of the better works of late-nineteenth-century naturalist fiction."

Bandelier was born in Bern, Switzerland, on 6 August 1840, the son of Adolph Eugene Bandelier and Marie Senn Bandelier. Perhaps because of his foreign background, some accounts of Bandelier's early life contain...