New Mexico Books

Excellent book which moved me beyond words.

With this book, Edmunds Bunkse (Professor of Geography at the University of Delaware) has produced both a moving autobiography, and a compelling account of humanistic geography. Bunske's life experiences and his professional projects are here intertwined, each motivating or informing the other. As an autobiography, this book offers an account of Bunkse's developing "geographic sensibilities" - or "knowing how to be in a place and how to find one's way about in geographic space" (13) - as these have been affected by experiencs of war, travel, parenthood. As a defense of humanistic geography, this book offers an account of how individuals' geographic sensibilities affect their understanding of and, more profoundly, their "orientation" in the world. This a geography of "heart and soul," wonderfully illustrated with the author's own life experiences.

Bunkse's choice of metaphor is apt. He links the practice of geography, and the development of geographic sensibility (which is nothing like geography education), with the humanistic concept of an "art of life." Humanists, certainly since Montaigne, have long upheld the view that each individual human life is like a work of art; each individual should be appreciated as a work of art is appreciated. Unfortunately, in many fields of study, such as geography, this humanistic perspective is overlooked. As Bunkse states, geography as a whole is generally lacking in humanity. Humans are present in geography, but not as complex and deep individuals. Bunske's book - and the work of other humanistic geographers such as Yi-Fu Tuan - attempt to redress the lack of humanity in the field. Bunkse achieves this by revealing the intimacy or depth with which he has experienced different environments (in both natural and urban settings), and the manner in which his imagination and experiences have informed each other.

Bunkse's book appears at a very propitious moment. Geographers are increasingly taking an interest in autobiography, or, more generally, the close study of individual lives. Hopefully, this broader interest in autobiography may promote more geographers to engage with humanistic thought.

All in all, this is a fine book. It is an enjoyable read, intelligent without being 'academic', and moving without any hint of sentimentalism.

A very interesting Book written about One of New Mexico's Greatest People!! A must have for NM history students and historians. I am not just saying this because he was my Great Grand Father.

Well researched and written biography of my Great, Great Grandfather. Tales of his colorful past and the many famous people he knew.

This book contains selections from Nicholas Callaway's other O'Keeffe books- One Hundred Flowers, In the West, and New York Years. If you own only one of them, this is the one to own. There are some surprising paintings in here, especially if you've only seen the flower paintings before. The book is quite large, and the color reproductions seem pretty accurate from the few paintings I've actually been able to compare. Wonderful book!

An absolutely gorgeous book of Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings of the southwestern United States. It's large size and fine reproductions make it one of my most treasured possessions!

Join Yolanda Sahagun in 1973 as she learns about her past, her present and what will eventually shape her future.
Ghosts of El Grullo is the touching and emotionally connecting story of family, its trials and difficulties and yet how necessary and joyful it truly is. As a tender sequel to her first book, Patricia takes us further into the challenging journey towards adulthood that we must all venture on. Her story is a poignant tome, as she relates the immigrant/everyone experience to us in a way that shows us ourselves. She takes us though the odyssey of our coming of age; the difficult father and the under-appreciated mother, the struggle for freedom in a loving, but smothering environment. She is consumed with reaching independence, yet also consumed with the need to keep her family of eight siblings together. I found the book very emotional and enjoyable at the same time. In the end, it is evident that the most powerful of all love is the unconditional love of our parents.
Great book, give us more!

Patricia Santana is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and grew up in south San Diego, California. She has published several award-winning short stories and the novel, Motorcycle Ride on the Sea of Tranquility that was selected as a Best Books for Young Adults 2003 by the American Library Association.

Santana's new book, Ghosts of El Grullo doesn't disappoint. It continues the story of Yolanda Sahagun, a young woman whose life is similar in many ways to Santana's. She is a member of a Mexican-American family with eight siblings who live, work, love, laugh and cry in the San Diego suburb of Palm City.

El Grullo is the name of the village in Jalisco, Mexico, where Yolanda's mother grew up and where her aunts still live in the family compound. Every summer, Yolanda's family piles into their station wagon and goes to Mexico to visit family members there. The compound is old and the aunts tell stories of ghosts haunting the rooms and verandas. Yolanda was a sensitive and imaginative child and was very curious about the ghosts and about the family history.

In this book it is 1973 and Yolanda is about to start college at the University of California-San Diego. She has scholarships and plans to live in the dorms - away from her father and his old-fashioned and erratic rules and moods. College life is a whole new culture. She is constantly searching for symbolism and ways to mesh her Mexican-American heritage with her new freedom and with people she meets from very different walks of life.

Family crisis, family love, and everyday events are handled with such warmth and caring that I felt like I knew the Sahagun family (or at least that I wanted to know them better). Patricia Santana has created well-developed personalities - even the neighbors and Mexican aunts are more than just names on the page. I don't know how much of the story is based on Santana's own life, but she has certainly created a fictional family full of life and love.

I truly enjoyed reading the book and hope to find and read her earlier work.

Armchair Interviews says: Well-told story of family life.

This is an excellent book for those who are just getting interested in Southwest or New Mexico Archaeology. Definately a must read!

This is a great book for the casual reader on archaeology! The essays are entertaining, yet still enlightening, and are beneficial for both the newcomer to New Mexico and the long-time fan.

While the collection of images included is not exhaustive of all work done by Baumann, it provides a thorough sampling of his life work and details the process by which he created his masterpieces. Excellent book. FYI, my understanding is that a new compendium will be done in 2008 that should be a good complement to this book.

A nicely crafted book that covers all bases in this artists career. Great reproductions of the prints, well-written text and a solid book to hold in your hand. History on Baumann covers beginning of career to the end with just a touch of the technical side of this art form. Certainly inspired me!

This is a well-written and technically, beautifully illustrated book. The author has provided a thorough narrative of the techniques Gustave Baumann used to create his magnificent woodblock prints. For me, the best parts are the several chapters that explain and illustrate, step-by-step and layer-by-layer, how several of Baumann's prints were painstakingly created, with the results of each pressing shown progressively toward the finished artwork. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the woodblock technique, Baumann, and Arts and Crafts printmaking.

This book and the companion book, Gustave Baumann: Nearer to Art, by Martin F. Krause et al (1993, Museum of New Mexico Press)detail the life and work of one of the great printmakers. Baumann's works are exquisite and this book details his working methods and graphically displays his multi block technique. I have read and re-read these books several times, if for no other reason than to know more about the life of a simple artist going about the straightforward work of making timeless and breathtaking works of art.

Living in the Southwestern Chihuahuan desert, I am always on the search for sources of information regarding local flora and particularly ethnobotanical uses of plants. This is an excellent guide originally published in 1947 and edited by Michael Moore who I consider to be an expert on herbal uses of native southwestern plants. For anyone interested in this subject, a fabulous resource to have in your library!

Laura Curtin lived and worked among the curanderas and Native Americans of Northern New Mexico during the early part of the twentieth century. She fell in love with the plants and their lore, and later, at the prompting of a friend, decided to record them. Healing Herbs was first published in 1947, at a time when interest in traditional healing in Northern New Mexico was in decline. It helped preserve traditional information for a new generation -- when editor Michael Moore arrived in Santa Fe in the 1960s he found copies of Curtin's book as a prized possession in many traditional households. The book is unique in the literature of ethnobotany in that it was written essentially by an insider in the tradition, rather than by an observer doing interviews.

Reviewer: A reader from Southern Colorado - Northern New Mexico. An excellent aid for those of us researching our family roots in New Mexico. This book does much to explain and date the migration of our Hispanic/Indian ancestors in and from the Rio Grande Valley during the past 400 years.

In this book Nostrand describes the cultural geography and history of the "Hispano homeland" -- a region in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado with a distinct and interesting history and culture. He also traces the connections between this region and outside influences, from the early Spanish settlers, to the Pueblo Indians and Anglos, to relations with other Mexican Americans in the U.S. today. This book is useful in understanding borderland influences further away from the more often represented U.S./Mexico border. Covering over 400 years of history, it shows how border influences change and last through time. It's well written, extremely thorough with good maps tracing "intrusions" of other cultures into the region, and good tabular information, too. I found this book invaluable for my own work in northern New Mexico, but this book may also be useful for those interested in rural development, community studies, and sense of place, as Nostrand articulates well what the Hispano Homeland means to the people who live there and why it becomes necessary for some to leave. It is a good complement to Carlos Velez-Ibanez' Border Visions, which is less geographically based and focuses more on cultural place closer to the U.S. - Mexico border.

I loved this book! Having just finished my own American pilgrimage, and non-fiction book: HOLY PERSONAL, looking for small private places of worship, Indiana University Press, Fall 2000, I found HOME ALTARS OF MEXICO one of the best books on the subject currently available. It touched me deeply. The color photographs are wonderful, somewhat formal considering the informality of the subject matter, and the contrast is intriguing-- no SOHO artist could improve on these spiritual assemblages. The text is a series of very well-written and inspired essays. Salvo looks at the altars of one small town in Mexico, so the book is highly focused. A truly aesthetic collection that brings light to a subject that is too often triviaalized and trendy.

I love this book and need to look at it periodically to remind myself of timeless values. The villagers who opened their homes and hearts to the Salvo family and the readers of this book bring their love of God, Christ, the Virgin Mother and all the saints to life through the photos, statues, and items both religious and secular that they collect in their sacred spaces. One picture features two Coca-Cola bottles as candle-holders. One altar-shelf has a chair below it featuring the handiwork of the lady of the house: the neatly folded sheets and laundry bring the fruits of her labors to God in a very concrete fashion. Thank you, Dana Salvo, for sharing these photos, and thank you, authors, for your thoughts on them. Above all, thanks to all the people in the pictures for sharing their lives and spirit with this book's readers.