Oliver La Farge

Oliver Hazard Perry La Farge II (December 19, 1901 – August 2, 1963) was an American writer and anthropologist. In 1925 he explored early Olmec sites in Mexico, and later studied additional sites in Central America and the American Southwest. He wrote more than 15 scholarly works on this work, mostly about Native American culture.

In addition, he wrote several novels, Laughing Boy (1929), which won a Pulitzer Prize. La Farge also wrote short stories, published in such prominent magazines as The New Yorker and Esquire.

His more notable works, both fiction and non-fiction, emphasize Native American culture. He was most familiar with the Navajo people and had a speaking knowledge of their language. They gave him a Navajo name, 'Anast'harzi Nez', meaning "Tall Cliff-Dweller".