A 1962 graduate of Hamilton, Nichols achieved international acclaim with thepublication of his 1964 novel The Sterile Cuckoo . His other novelsinclude The Wizard of Loneliness and his most popular work TheMilagro Beanfield War, a story of the struggles of poor Chicanos topreserve their land and rights against powerful business interests.
Nichols settled in New Mexico in the late 1960s. Since then, he has writtenseveral books on the life and times of modern New Mexicans. In addition to hisfiction works, he has published several non-fiction books. He wrote the textfor If Mountains Die, and The Last Beautiful Days of Autumn, twobooks of photography on New Mexico. He is a popular essayist, and highlyregarded political speaker. Although each of his books has a differentemphasis, he said that "they all deal with questions of land, cultural ethics,problems of ecology, economics, history and human survival." He wrote Keepit Simple: In Defense of the Earth as a discussion of the need forsimplicity for the health of the self and also for the planet.
Three of Nichols' novels have been made into major motion pictures. Releasedin 1969, The Sterile Cuckoo was filmed at the college, and starred LizaMinnelli. The Wizard of Loneliness and The Milagro Beanfield Warwere released in 1988.