Arizona Books

I greatly enjoyed this book. It is a good read and would make a valuble addition to the collection of any student of Arizona history or of the workings of the United States Senate. Most of all, it is a tome about the importance of loyalty and decency in politics and in life written by one of the fine public servants in Arizona history and one of Arizona's premier historians. It is particularly revealing about the ethical conflicts inherent in political campaign fundraising. For southern Arizonans it is also very illuminating about the political anthropology of that region.

Ruth Y. Okimoto, Ph.D, researched and uncovered the evidence which lead to the Office of Indian Affairs' decision to offer Poston, Arizona as one of 10 desolate relocation campsites for over 18,000 West coast Japanese and Japanese-Americans during World War II following President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942.

You will not read this type of factual information in any textbook. Learn about the uniqueness of the intermingled history between the Japanese and Japanese-Americans and the Colorado River Indian Tribes, who were forceable relocated from their homes to this Arizona desert. Learn how their desert home was pre-destined to become today's prime agricultural land.

This report was the driving force behind the creation of the Poston Restoration Project, sponsored by the non-profit organization, Poston Alliance, Inc.

A Short Reference Grammar of Gulf Arabic is excellent, probably the best academic work of the author Hamdi Qafisheh, and indispensible for doing the exercises in the latter's Gulf Arabic Intermediate Arabic (in which grammatical explanations are sometimes insufficient and grammatical models even absent). This Short Reference Grammar focuses on UAE colloquial Arabic, particularly that prevalent in Abu Dhabi, though linguistic variations in Bahrain and Qatar are not ignored. However, this short reference grammar appears, at times, too short and not sufficiently systematic; for example, the perfect form of the verb "ya" (come) is given in tabular form but not the imperfect. More complete treatment of hollow verbs specifically and verb conjugations in general would have been appreciated. Pages 2-35 are actually concerned with phonetics rather than grammar proper. There is no index so the reader has to surf through the table of contents for a specific subject-matter, which then requires flippng though several pages of text to find a particular item like, for example, the perfect of "ya." Nonetheless, these are minor quibbles. Buyers should note that this tome contains no grammatical exercises; it is a pure reference although, somewhat gratuitously, the author has foisted on pages 247-259 a series of essays and sayings with Engish translations. Although based on research conducted by the author some 35 years ago, with application of modest effort, it is possible to learn a lot of contemporary Gulf Arabic grammar from this book. The Short Reference Grammar is quite readable not being unduly mired with technical linguisitc terminology. The author deserves great credit for writing this volume. It is likely to serve as the leading primer on Gulf Arabic grammar for the foreseeable future.

I thought the book was wonderful and I truly feel for Arizona. I am a distant cousin of hers and I truly enjoyed the book. My grandfather was a Wiggins from the same small georgia town.

This book has 45 tours in 4 areas of Arizona--Northern, White Mountains, Mogollon Rim, and Southern. 136pp. Introductory material on ski history in Arizona, winter hazards, preparing for your tour, ethics and touring, and night skiing. Each tour is covered with a topo map, and is rated by terrain, time, distance, and lists topo maps required. The descriptions describe the route and what you see along the way. Sturdy paper cover. Sadly out of print, but used copies are floating around.

After reading this book you will never again have to simply shrug and stare off into space when queried about your phobia around heading out into the remote desert in the small hours after midnight, the less moonlight the better, to hunt for potentially lethal rattlesnakes or other exotic specimens such as a large toad that urinates profusely upon being picked up by an eager collector. Trust me, your fears will now stand upon a firm foundation.

On the other hand, my bet is you'll also develop a deeper appreciation for some of the more reclusive of God's creatures. While there are a few times you might get mad at certain characters who, in their stupid cruelty, haven't even evolved near as far as their reptilian victims, for the most part this book is good for much merriment. My favorite among the string of tales and anecdotes involves snake-killer Ranger Rick who gets his payback in way that makes you wish you'd been there. He's not permanently damaged by the experience but he sure learns to have a little respect for wild things.

I was very much reminded of Edward Abbey's story-telling style when reading "Snake Hunting." Even though they are easy-going, sitting around the campfire stories, there's an exciting undercurrent due to the potential for disaster at the turn of page. These tales are very human, filled with foibles, phobias and a wee bit of what's termed "foul language." Parental discretion advised? Well, only if you keep your kids in a closet where they never hear the radio, watch TV or connect with the internet. It's pretty tame by modern standards. And, after all, it's about two wild and crazy guys out hunting deadly snakes in the freaking desert in the middle of the night ... I mean, don't judge it by tea party standards.

While this isn't an academic book, Richard Lapidus reveals himself as a brave and serious naturalist in the course of this humorous series of stories. The patient reader will be surprised and rewarded by the information absorbed over the course of reading it. And I wouldn't be surprised if over the course of vicariously trucking along on these adventures and misadventures, you come to feel like you've found a friend. A quirky friend all right, but aren't they the best kind?

If you enjoy stories by the likes of Carver, this book is definitely for you. These stories are like quiet explosions, sneaking up on you with a surprising punch, even though the language is spare and low-key. The segues are a particular treat, tying the stories together into a coherent whole. More than just a collection, this book is a complete piece of work that works together beautifully. "La Luz" and "A Place in France" are my best picks.

Founded on the high tide of the Enlightenment during the last quarter of the 18th Century by armed revolution, the United States was, by the middle of the 19th Century, riding the great waveof the industrial revolution of which there is perhaps no better exemplification than steam locomotion.

Although a transcontinental railroad was first proposed in 1844, the United States did not then have clear title to lands west of the Rockies nor any title at all to the lands it subsequently acquired by annexation of Texas, the Mexican cession, and the Gadsden Purchase. But by 1853
the situation had changed dramatically and serious interest in building a transcontinental line had developed as had sharp disagreement in Congress and elsewhere about its location.

In terms of climate and terrain there was much to recommend the southern or 32nd parallel route running from Shreveport to San Diego advocated by Southern interests, including Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War. Undertaking to finesse the fact that Congress would not agree to a particular route, it was decided to survey all feasible routes and let science make the decision.

Four parties were sent into the field in 1853 to reconnoiter the routes that had dominated congressional debate: a northern route from St. Paul to Seattle, a central route from Kansas City
through the central West to California, a route along the 35th parallel from Fort Smith, Arkansas to Los Angeles, and the southern route along the 32nd parallel from Shreveport, Louisiana across Texas to San Diego.

"Soldier-Artist of the Great Reconnaissance" is the story of the survey along the 35th parallel as told by Eugene Tidball's distant relative, John C. Tidball, in his memoirs, diary, and marginal notes in his copy of the official report of the survey, augmented by the official and private journals
of Lt. Amiel Weeks Whipple, the leader of the expedition, the journals of certain other members, and the official report of the survey. John Tidball had then recently been promoted to First Lieutenant, married in the East, and stationed sans bride at Fort Defiance in New Mexico Territory.

The 35th parallel expedition pushed off from Fort Smith in July 1853. It comprised 110 men,including four commissioned officers, a dozen civilian scientists, enlisted escorts, herders, teamsters, drivers, packers, cooks, and orderlies, but not including Tidball who was then with his company at Fort Defiance, the most isolated post of the United States Army.

The progress of the expedition was relatively swift and uneventful over the flatlands from Fort Smith to Albuquerque, where it arrived on October 5. In Albuquerque Whipple heard unsettling stories about the territory ahead and requested an additional escort of 25 calvary. He was notified
that he could not have dragoons but could have mule-mounted infantrymen instead. The expedition moved on to Zuni which proved to be in the grip of an epidemic of smallpox. When it
left Zuni on November 29 several of its members were infected. The contagion afflicted members of the party for a time but appears to have run its course without serious consequences and is not mentioned in the official report of the expedition.

Lt. Tidball left Fort Defiance on December 3 with 25 infantrymen mounted on mules and a packer and caught up with the expedition on December 12 on the Little Colorado River east of San Francisco Mountain. The remainder of the trek from the Little Colorado to Los Angeles was considerably more arduous than had been the earlier part from Fort Smith. The expedition was now in uncharted hard-scrabble mountains in winter. Nevertheless, often on short rations, without water, and concerned about Indians, the members continued to do what they were there to do. They continued to study and sketch the flora, fauna, and geology, to collect specimens and to scout, measure, and sketch the way for a railroad. Balduin Mollhausen, the official artist of the expedition, was joined in the production of sketches and illustrations by Albert Campbell, engineer and surveyor, and by Tidball. Although most of the illustrations appearing in the official report are Mollhausen's, some are Campbell's and some are Tidball's, neither of whom was charged to produce art but both of whom were arguably better artists than Mollhausen.

Because its location was so poorly described, the expedition had difficulty finding the Bill William's Fork that it proposed to follow to the Colorado River. When the Colorado was finally
reached the rank and file of the party were extremely disappointed as they had been led to believe that California was a land of milk and honey and now the California side of the river appeared just as bleak, barren, and inhospitable as the New Mexico Territory side. But the prospect improved
remarkably the nearer they drew to Los Angeles.

Tidball left the expedition on the eastern side of the coast range and proceeded to the Army post at San Diego where he turned in his equipment and mules and from which he returned via Panama to the East Coast and his wife of less than a year. After an extended furlough, he was six days out from Fort Leavenworth, this time with his wife, on his way back to Fort Defiance when he received orders seconding him to the Coastal Survey. He spent the next five years on the East Coast during which time his company was reassigned, relieving Tidball of the anxiety of having to return to Fort Defiance.

The 35th parallel survey party, which had left Fort Smith with 110 men, 13 wagons, two carretellas, and 245 mules, having traversed 1,845 miles and lost but one man, arrived in Los
Angeles on March 21, 1854, with no wagons and one carretella but still with many of the mules.

Eugene Tidball poses the question whether the Pacific railroad surveys were a success. He points out that, while they found all the routes feasible (and robbed the southern route of its claim of peculiar suitability to the chagrin of Jeff Davis and company), they did not immediately result in the construction of a transcontinental railroad nor in allaying controversy about the appropriate route. The first transcontinental line was not finished until 1869, roughly on what was styled the
central route in 1853. Much later, the 35th parallel route became the Rock Island line from Memphis to Tucumcari, New Mexico, and westward from there the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa
Fe Railway to Los Angeles. But the success of the undertaking, Tidball asserts, is the reports of the surveys published in 12 volumes composing a lavishly illustrated encyclopedic compendium of western geography, geology, botany, zoology, archeology, and ethnology.

"Soldier-Artist of the Great Reconnaissance" is a valuable addition to the history of an undertaking that rivals in importance the explorations earlier in the century of the Corps of Discovery to our understanding of the American West in the 19th century. A great story of adventure, duty, dedication, and endurance.

I expect to read about Stuart Brannon in a western history book some day. He's been such a role model in my own life and Bly has made him almost a household name in all his westerns. Get a kick out of finding his name in every Bly novel. Must be the author's favorite character too! This last of the series was a real treasure to find and read and savor.

This book brought back many fond memories of stories, songs, and my cherished familia. A must have for the busy Muchacha who can still taste the warm tortillas with butter from her Nana's kitchen. This is Mexican Albondiga Soup for the Soul!