New Mexico Books

From Introduction:

"This book covers the plants growing in an area bounded on the east by western Nebraska and Kansas, on the west by Central Utah, and stretches south to central New Mexico, north to the Black Hills of South Dakota and central Montana. We have tried to write for botanists and non-botanists alike. The plant descriptions are in nontechnical language, but we have tried to make them strictly accurate. The botanical names are given for those who may want them but may be ignored by the non-botanist.

The illustrations include not only a sketch of the mature plant in flower or fruit but also enlargements of those special parts that botanist consider to be diagnostic.

When we formally started this project in 1960, our colleague, Professor Claire Norton, and in addition to Dr. Edward Castetter...very generously turned over their extensive bibliographies on useful native plants. Among these items were many on the subjet of ethnobotany, which deals with the use of plants by the Indians of the region. This aspect of the matter is important in a study of this kind since the Indians in the past had learned to use many species of plants, particularly in times of extreme food shortage. Because of the change in lifeways of the modern Indians, much of the detailed knowledge may well be lost entirely unless someone puts it on record. The same thing can be said for the information on edible plants once known to the white pioneers of the Rocky Mountain area.

Some native plants are palatable and nutritious; unfortunately, others are bad tasting or actually poisonous....The very best way to learn plants is to develop the ability to identify them in the technical floras and manuals covering the region."

This is one of the nicest of the NMBM's "Scenic Trips to the Geologic Past" series. This 1991 edition is a major revision of the earlier "Scenic Trips to the Geologic Past #2" guidebook (which was just a short pamphlet, and is long out-of-print). The present guidebook is a substantial short book (137 pp.), and is much improved from the old pamphlet. It now includes both the "Enchanted Circle" drive and another loop drive to the mountain villages south of Taos. Many neat historical photos have been added, as has a nice section of color photographs. There's a short historical sketch of Taos, and quite a bit of general natural history in addition to the geology. This is the book you want for geological tourism around Taos.

Unfortunately, it's now out of print, and expensive used. You may want to check it out from your public library. Memo to NMBM: get this book back in print!

Happy reading--
Peter D. Tillman
Consulting Geologist, Santa Fe

I'd already read this extraordinary book in the original English edition and decided to check the Spanish one (sometimes they do terrible Spanish translations). Fortunately, this translated version captures perfectly the spirit and scope of Mr. Richardson's vision of America, and his wonderful history of achievements, all put in such excellent Spanish it feels as if one was reading the original work. I hope this inspiring story will help many Hispanic citizens know better a man highly qualified to guide the USA during the 2008-2011 presidential term.

This goal of this volume is to present a variety of perspectives on cultural heritage issues to a broad audience, from archaeologists to collectors, museum curators to the general public. As editor of this volume of essays originally published in 1989, and author of the 1999 update, I believe it is extremely important for all of us to be part of an ongoing dialogue about how to preserve the past for the future. When the University of New Mexico Press approached me to update the original volume, I was struck by the changes that have occurred in the last decade. In the United States, the passage and implementation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, or NAGPRA, has had a major impact on the treatment and disposition of American Indian objects of cultural heritage. And the world wide web has had a major impact on the kinds of information that is readily available to anyone, whether for the trade of antiquities or for tracking down stolen artifacts. At the same time, the problem of illegal and unethical destruction of the past continues--and in some areas of the world, has worsened. I hope the reader will find the essays thought-provoking and the appendices, including an overview of U.S. and international laws, statements of professional ethics, and a listing of resources and organizations, to be helpful in developing one's own stance on stewardship of the past.

Thoughtful and engaging - this is a smart book that examines our relationship with the natural world -- and it takes on the question of how to find solace in times that can seem bleak - how to feel ALIVE in an age of extinction. This is a searching, seeking sort of book -- and it's a pleasure to embark on such a journey with the author.

For all its historical riches, the nineteenth century, particularly the first half, is a period in Mexican history neglected by historians for far too long. Almost forty years ago, Nettie Lee Benson lamented the lacunae when she stated that much was yet to be learned about what actually happened during the period between 1810-1857. Fifteen years ago the refrain was much the same when Eric Van Young called this early national period a "hueco." Four years later, Josefina Zoraida Vázquez focused on the lack of attention to nineteenth century Mexico when she characterized this period the "forgotten years." As late as eight years ago, Professor Vázquez exhorted the historical community to apply social and economic histories to clarify who the actors were and what role they played in the political life of nineteenth-century Mexico instead of shrouding the political realities behind the themes of foreign aggressors and pronunciamentos.

It would be misleading, however, to interpret the introductory paragraph on this review as characterizing a complete void in historical studies of the period in question-much has been done in the last forty years. Seemingly as a response to Professor Vázquez, Mark Wasserman, whose book is the subject of this review, masterfully synthesized a suite of extant historical works-books and articles-which previously had to be consulted collectively to order and place in perspective this neglected period of Mexican history known erroneously for its chaos and disorder.

Everyday Life and Politics in Nineteenth Century Mexico demarcates the nineteenth century into three periods, from the formation of the nation-state until the disastrous war with the United States; Guadalupe Hidalgo through the internecine wars of the Reform ending in the triumph of Liberalism and the Tuxtepec Revolution; and the Profiriato until the dawn of the Mexican Revolution. Wasserman introduces each period with a biographical sketch of the leading figure of the period, in this case being Antonio López de Santa Anna, Benito Juárez and Porfirio Díaz. Additionally, the author provides a brief but useful timeline that orders the period in question.

The overarching theme that the author provides for nineteenth-century Mexico is that it was a time of pervasive wars, the most disastrous one for Mexico being the war with the United States followed by the Reform civil wars. And it is this constant warfare that resulted in the nation's economic stagnation and hence inability to develop fully. Furthermore, this constant warfare reverberated in the social space by creating demographic shifts, particularly of women. War and the resulting migrations also irrevocably altered gender relations as women fought wars with greater frequency than had been thought, and migrated to industrialized urban centers and became workers.

This book is clearly meant for the introductory survey level, hence its limited bibliography and lack of footnotes. While the bibliography is limited, many more studies were consulted in constructing this synthesis as evidenced by the acknowledgement section of the book and the footnoted acknowledgements at the beginning of each chapter.

Everyday Life and Politics in Nineteenth Century Mexico provides a much needed synthesis of nineteenth-century Mexico with an excellent balance of political economy, social and gender history that will surely become the de rigueur introductory survey for students of Mexican history in general and nineteenth-century Mexican history in particular.

This is actually one of the better studies of the gestation of Darwin's theory from his early travels and researches from the 1840's to the publication of Origin. The author brings out the way in which Darwin's thinking crystallized before he had the foundations of knowledge to put forth his thesis, and his hesitations, doubts, and uncertainties are clear from the record. In fact, the lack of evidence for his thesis was central to his difficulties. He was forced to argue not so much for the correct theory as the least objectionable one. And in fact, among other reasons due to the prodding of his sudden competitor Wallace he was forced to publish too soon. Lots of interesting details from Darwin's notebooks, a useful and cogent study.

No problem has given rise to more disagreement among economists than that of economic and social change. Is it a mechanical static concept concerned mainly with economic equilibrium, or an evolutionary dynamic, one concerned with growth, development, and expansion? Hamilton argues that how one answers this question is the fundamental point of difference between classical economics and evolutionary or institutional economics. Hamilton defines classical economists as all those in the economic mainstream, from Adam Smith to John Maynard Keynes, and institutional economists as only those who are followers of Thorstein Veblen. He traces the origin and development of the two points of view by showing how economists have dealt with the problem of change since the time of Smith. He discusses the Newtonian and Darwinian frames of references: change and human nature, change and social organization, and change and progress. For Hamilton, economics as a science is part of a continuum with the other social sciences, one capable of incorporating the major sociological, as well as the economic issues of the twentieth century. It is in theories of dynamics, he charges, that the classical theoretical structure is without foundation, because it accepts a mechanical and essentially static concept instead of a cumulative cultural outlook.

In reviewing Evolutionary Economics, in The Economic Journal, S. G. Checkland said that it should be read as a vigourous attempt to relate economic to general thinking and as a challenge to those who are practitioners of elaborators of narrowly prescribed techniques. The work is of particular interest to social scientists interested in economic development, where the static concepts of conventional theory seem least applicable and where an adequate concept of social and economic change is vital.
--- from book's back cover

In 1845, with war with Mexico immanent, the US government authorized three expeditions to explore the boundary territory between the two countries: two of them were relatively famous (Kearny's survey along the Oregon Trail to South Pass and Fremont's expedition to California), but the third (Abert's exploration of the Canadian River in New Mexico, the Texas panhandle, and Oklahoma) was much less known; this interesting and well-annotated book is the official report of that expedition.

Leaving Bent's Fort near the end of August, with the legendary Thomas Fitzpatrick acting as guide, the command of about 30 men made their way through Raton Pass, then southeast to the Ute River, which they followed to where it enters the Canadian near present-day Logan. Turning east, the men marched through the Canadian River Valley across the panhandle of Texas, where Abert reiterated Stephen Long's opinion that this part of the West was a "great American desert." Fearing the Indians at first, Abert writes of pleasant, friendly encounters with the Kiowas and Comanches. After making an unintended detour when the North Fork of the Red was mistaken for the Wichita River, the party got back on course again and by the third week in October had reached their destination of Fort Gibson in eastern Oklahoma.

Abert was a clear, observant writer, and he describes much of the natural scenery encountered, including plant and animal life; he also writes intriguing accounts of the Indians and traders he met along the way. H. Bailey Carroll's excellent and detailed annotations made for the 1941 reprint (which this version copies) are a chief highlight of the book. The only things wanting in this book are good, detailed maps (only one rather cursory map is included). But as an early first-hand description of this part of the country, Abert's official report is magnificent.

These are reprints of the observations of The Marvelous Country: Samuel Cozzens' accounts of his experiences in New Mexico and Arizona Territories during the mid-1850s. My review of that book is lengthy and every word of it applies to this one as well.
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The Cozzens experience describes an ancient land during the final years before discoveries of gold, Apache wars, the Civil War and a focus of interest from California and the east changed it forever. He visited Zuni, Acoma, Laguna, Mesilla, Tucson and Sacaton and describes them as they'd never be seen again. He saw the Zuni Mountains as an old-growth forest. He met and stayed spent a long while in the Apache camp of Cochise, where he had dealings with Mangas Colorado.
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I love reading Cozzens because I love history and I love the southwest. If those interest you, even a little, I believe you'll love reading him as much as I do.