New Mexico Books

In the early summer of 1967 a small band of Spanish Americans raided the courthouse in a dusty town in New Mexico to publicize their claim that much of the land in the state had been stolen from their ancestors. The author, who happened to be in New Mexico at the time, was drawn into the events and set out to discover what had happened during the raid, why it had happened, the legitimacy of the raiders' claims, and what sort of person was their leader, Reies Tijerina.

This fascinating and important book presents a moving picture of the impoverished existence of the Spaish Americans whose folk traditions have brought them into direct armed conflict with the state and national governments. Interwoven with the details of the current "war" are the history of the land grant controversy, the life of Tijerina - an evangelist preacher with little formal education but a great vision - and the relationship of the Spanish Americans' actions with the growing militancy of other minority group in the country.

Mr Gardner's personal involvement helped him gain the confidences of the local people on both sides without sacrificing objectivity in chronicling this confounding yet heroic event. He has shown how a revolution begins, and has thoroughly documented the claims and grievances that underlie the struggle of the Spanish Americans and Indians of the Southwest.
--- from book's dustjacket

This book is simply the best book out there on the subject of growing food in the mountains of the Southwest. Author Lisa Rayner is a real perfectionist who goes the extra mile to get her facts straight. In this third edition of her now-classic permaculture text, her attention to detail is beautifully combined with the helpful illustrations of Zack Zdinack into a well-organized guide that has become even more indispensable as the need to grow more of our food locally has become more intense. This book not only explains how to grow food in an arid, high-altitude climate, but also how to do so in a way that works with nature using permaculture techniques. Even if you have never heard of permaculture, you will learn how to follow nature's examples to succeed at growing food in a harsh environment. As with Rayner's other book The Sunny Side of Cooking - Solar cooking and other ecologically friendly cooking methods for the 21st centurythis book on growing food is well researched and contains an extensive list of resources. In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that I am the author's husband.

Elliott West has written a highly entertaining book packed with historical information about children's development in the American Far West. West chronicles how children had a different perspective about the West than their parents, how children's contributions allowed for the settling of the region, and how children were shaped by the West in ways that their parents, grounded in traditions from Back East or Europe, never achieved.

Chapters cover children's "First Impressions", their lives "At Home", "Child's Work" and "Child's Play', "Growing Up", "Family and Community", "A Great School House", "Suffer the Children", and "Children and the Frontier." In each, West gives extensive examples and quotations from primary sources left by children to illustrate his points. In "A Great School House," for example, the author describes the creation of educational facilities in the West to show how hungry western pioneers, both adults and children, were for this formal learning.

The conclusion, "Children and the Frontier", summarizes many of West's previous themes and makes broader conclusions about the children's experiences. Unlike parents, sons and daughters were bred for western conditions, whether raising livestock, planting crops, or prospecting for minerals. Their lives reflect the influence of the West on the new generation, as well as showing how the older influences of American life (home, culture, music, education, games) endured.

All in all, I would heartily recommend the book to anyone interested in the western frontier experience, as an antidote to the men-laden images of many western accounts.

Extremely good research and veridic in all aspects, it has helped me in a very extensive way in my own research about my country. My congratulations and thanks to the author of this book Mr.Peter Gerhad
Jose Casas

As an avid student of the U. S. Civil War in the Southwest, and a frequent visitor to the battlefields and other skirmish sites in the "Territory of New Mexico," I found P G Nagle's work on Guns of Valverde just as riveting as her previous work entitled Glorieta Pass. Ms. Nagle has carefully researched her subject matter as shown by her attention to historical facts and then masterfully woven them into a story bringing this period of time to life. The fact that I'm so familiar with the factual information helped me enjoy both this latest of her works and the previous one tremendously. I was able to absorb more of the fictional account without having to stop to confirm or contest the factual elements. But whether or not the average reader is knowledgeable about the Civil War in New Mexico is unimportant since Ms. Nagle continues to impress me as a superb storyteller.

Ever since The Killer Angels by Shaara and Ulysses by Skimmin were written I have attempted to read more of these historical novels, finding the majority of them to be extremely well written, factual to my satisfaction, and entertaining. Guns of Valverde, like Glorieta Pass, definitely fit into this category. I look forward to Ms. Nagle's sequel entitled Galveston which, I understand, is a work in progress.

In central New Mexico lies the mostly dirt La Madera Road. The woods road. It winds along red rock bluffs, high cliffs, wide valleys, adobe ruins, and a black and bristling view of the Ortiz Mountains.
La Madera is the greatest dirt road of all time. (At least it was until someone started sneakily paving small sections of it. Where will this end?)
Along La Madera Road, there are all kinds of amazing ghost towns: Hagan (this map's namesake), Tejon (an old Spanish town with an unbelievable history), Coyote, Tonque (a brick factory), Una de Gato, and La Madera itself. Nearby it is also the still inhabited Puertocito, and several ruins that may have never had names. There are two old cemetaries, thousands of arroyos, giant cottonwoods, a waterfall, gorgeous views, abandoned mines, tamarisk groves, and much more.
This map is a detailed key to all of them. It's got a dot for every ruin--though we've found several that aren't on here--and good topographic outlines for ever mesa and bluff.
If you like Hagan, get this map for sure. It's never out of print if you go right to the USGS.
(...)

This is not just a picture book, though the photography is truly fine. Author Barbara Van Cleve opens up a subject that for all the many books about ranching is typically slighted - the roles that women have played as ranchers themselves. The title, Hard Twist, refers to (a) a tightly twisted lariat rope and (b) a small, tough, physically strong person, a survivor. And the women whose stories are told here, often in their own words, are surely survivors, who have worked fiercely to preserve a way of life that they love, many of them on ranches that have been in the same family for generations.

In the 120+ black and white photographs collected here, we see women at work and, for a moment, allowing themselves to be photographed at ease. Considerable depths of character emerge in these photographs, and in the personal profiles that accompany them, we read stories of not just amazing life experiences but also affirmations of traditional values, families, and relationships.

While male-dominated western literature typically falls somewhat short in its appreciation of the women who help make ranching possible, these accounts reveal the central role of marriage and child-rearing to the success of a family-owned operation. Like Linda Hasselstrom's fine ranch memoir "Windbreak," this book explores more deeply the emotional bonds between men and women on the ranches they run.

And not all the women introduced here are ranchers' wives. Some are single, divorced, or run the ranch while their husbands pursue other occupations. In addition to ranching, one woman also rides rodeo rough stock.

Themes of land conservation, environmental issues, concerns about government intrusion, and the lack of understanding by city dwellers run through many of the interviews. Most of all, the daily life of ranch work is not glamorized but represented for what it is - very hard work with rewards that are soul-satisfying though not significantly monetary. Included in the book are essays by the author's father, Spike Van Cleve, and western art historian, Michael Duty. An excellent addition to any bookshelf of western literature.

A picture is worth a 1,000 words! Just goes to show that behind every successful cowboy is a hard working cow woman. Beautiful, incisive, sometimes poignant; a wonderful expression of the working ranch women. Thank you Barbara for your extraordinary photos.

Harry Callahan was the most influential and important figure in photography throughout the last half of the 20th century. This edition of his work shows chronologically how Callahan's approach to the medium evolved and changed, while his vision remained ever faithful to modernity. The book begins in Detroit, where Callahan worked for Chrysler while pursuing photography as a serious hobby. It was also during this time that he married Eleanor Knapp, who would later become the subject for many of his strongest images. The accompanying essay by Sarah Greenough is succinctly written, blending biographical information to the photographs Callahan took throughout his long, photographic journey (Callahan died in 1999). Callahan's outlook on photography changed dramatically after having met Ansel Adams, at a photography workshop in Detroit. Taking some of Adams' philosophy and refining it, Callahan created his own style of photographing/printing, made apparent by such images as `Weeds in Snow' and `Detroit, 1942'. In these images and throughout the rest of his life, Callahan easily turned the simplest subject matter into monumental works of photographic art. The book provides powerful examples of this, in both black & white and color. After leaving his job to pursue photography full time, Callahan moved to Chicago and taught at the Institute of Design. Continuing the experimentation he began in Detroit, Callahan worked and refined his style during his Chicago years, utilizing double exposure, collage, close-ups, and the use of positive and negative space. The book then turns to Callahan's New England period. It was during this time that Callahan taught at the Rhode Island School of Design, in Providence. The book captures this period vividly, with images of varying contrast and mood. Here we see Callahan's ability at adapting to his environment by producing increasingly poetic images of nature, as well as urban and suburban street scenes. In his later work from 1972-1992, the photographs in "Harry Callahan" document the photographer's travels in other countries, with an increased attention on color. It remains clear by the images shown in his later years, that Callahan continued to explore photography by constantly challenging himself and the medium. Where most photographers are known for one particular style or body of work (Cartier-Bresson's `decisive moment' or Robert Frank's publication of The Americans), Callahan is known for many different styles and bodies of work. The photographs in "Harry Callahan" prove this with each turn of the page. Callahan was a photographic artist in the truest sense, if we choose to believe an artists' goal is not only to create but to constantly evolve. Callahan was, continues to be, and always will be an influence to those photographers who seek not only perfection in the creation of their photographic art, but also change.

Mr Torres's book provides and insightful and accurate introduction to the folk healing traditions of Mexico and the American southwest. The book is well-organized and scholarly, but very readable to the non-academic. It covers the history and personality of the Curandero(healer), the various types of aliments they typically treat, herbs and plants employed and even provides short biographies of several famous healers. I would highly reccommend this book to anyone wishing to begin their study of theis sacred heaaling tradition. Well done Mr Torres!