John Nichols obit

Acclaimed author of the 'Milagro Beanfield War,' John Nichols, dies 

He was not on the list.

Nichols, 83, who authored many books, including "The Milagro Beanfield War," passed away after battling a long illness.

Nichols is the author of the "New Mexico trilogy", a series about the complex relationship among history, race and ethnicity, and land and water rights in the fictional town of Chamisaville, New Mexico. The trilogy consists of The Milagro Beanfield War (which was adapted into a movie of the same title directed by Robert Redford), The Magic Journey, and The Nirvana Blues.

Two of his other novels have been made into films. The Wizard of Loneliness was published in 1966, and the film version with Lukas Haas was made in 1988. Another movie adaptation was of The Sterile Cuckoo, published in 1965 and then adapted for a film by Alan J. Pakula in 1969. He also had a hand, uncredited due to a decision in an arbitration with the Writers Guild, in the Oscar-winning Best Adapted Screenplay for Costa-Gavras' 1982 film Missing.

Nichols also has written non-fiction, including the trilogy If Mountains Die, The Last Beautiful Days of Autumn and On the Mesa. Nichols has lived in Taos, New Mexico for many years. His latest (2022) book is a memoir I Got Mine: Confessions of a Midlist Writer. He is the subject of a feature documentary by director Kurt Jacobsen and co-producer Warren Leming entitled The Milagro Man: The Irrepressible Multicultural Life and Literary Times of John Nichols, which premiered at the 2012 Albuquerque Film Festival and screened at a dozen more film festivals.

Nichols also was a photographer. Many of his photographs appear in his book On the Mesa, among others. He also participated as an instructor in fine art photographic workshops, most notably with the Los Angeles photographer Ray McSavaney. He was long-time political activist for progressive and especially environmental causes.

Nichols was born in Berkeley, California. He is the grandson of ichthyologist John Treadwell Nichols and a first cousin of Massachusetts politician William Weld.