New Mexico Books

A friend of mine just moved to Albuquerque so I sent him this
book. He really enjoyed reading it and mentioned that the
author had some interesting insights into the growth and
modernization of the city. If your moving to this area of New
Mexico, or are interested in the growth of southwestern cities,
this is a good choice.

This is a wonderful book for anyone trying to make sense of the Duke City. It covers past history and politics. It gives you a sense of the city's future. It is a must read for anyone living in or moving to Duke City.

Polly Brown and Jane Bernard are the Thelma and Louise of Documentary photography, shooting their way down the Mother Road with eyes and hearts wide open. Steinbeck, Kerouac, Mick Jagger, and Elvis would all love this book, and so do I.

Jane Bernard and Polly Brown are accomplished, widely-published Santa Fe photographers who spent three years on American's most legendary trail. American Route 66: Home on the Road (172 p., Museum of New Mexico Press, 2003, $45) "winds from Chicago to L.A." These superb color and black-and-white photographs merge with their subjects mini-oral histories and the photographers' journal entries.

We discover that an elongated Lake Woebegone populated by people such as Charles and Gazelle Stewart, who have surrounded their petrified wood store with towering folk-artsy dinosaurs designed to make kids demand to stop the car. Gazelle recalls how Jerry Seinfeld came in one day with his bodyguard, "a little bitty man...with such a huge gun he could hardly keep his pants up." Seinfeld wanted a $3,000 meteorite, but the power was down, so they couldn't run his credit card. They trusted him anyway.

"We'd make more money," Charles says, "if I'd stop making so many dinosaurs."

This book has tons of color and B&W pictures and some of the best pictures of the southwest ruins you are ever going to find. It also has numerous site maps illustrating the ruins and their vicinity. The pictures are not just your everyday tourbook photos. They are spectacular. The author mixes numerous aerial shots that show you overviews of the sites and mixes in a generous amount of detail shots to help you see what the sites look like when you are there. There are also sketches and conceptual drawings which tell about the history. Just because there are a lot of photos, do not think the text is lacking. The book has all you would ever need to know about the sites including history, archeological finds etc. It accomplishes this amazingly enough without boring the reader. The most important thing about this book is that it is comprehensive. An example is its description of Mesa Verde park which is 44 pages of text and pictures. The section includes a detailed description of the stops you can make off ruins road as well as maps and pictures of sites you can't even access. Overall, this is the book you want to have when you plan your trip and the one you want on your coffee table to show your friends and family where you have been. A must have for anyone fascinated by the Anasazi culture.

I have found this to be an excellent resource for finding sites of interest and a faithfull companion for exploring the site once I have arrived. The information provides a nice addition to any anasazi library

I have read several books about the contemporary Maya, but the majority seem to consist of crackpot New Age theories. What Hart does is to ask the Maya themselves what they believe and how they practice their spirituality, and the result is both fascinating and profoundly respectful of those beliefs. We needed someone who avoids putting their own worldview and paradigms onto another culture's belief system, and that's what we have here.

The book provides a unique set of testimonies, mainly of contemporary Aj Q'ijab', or spiritual guides in the communities, speaking on many intertwined elements of Mayan spirituality - the Calendar, sacred places, the calling to the priesthood, healing, the contemporary social context in which the ancient faith is maintained, and many others.

Highly recommended.

Mr. Hart presents a superb overview of Mayan spirituality in a modern context, and does so with a depth of knowledge and sensitivity that is extraordinary. So far and above the usual disservice done to the subject by countless guidebooks and magazine articles, the many interviews are woven together to show a beautiful tapestry. Un muy buen trabajo, senor sacerdote!

In this diverse and masterly compilation, New Mexican Jewishpoets explore their Judaic identities as set against a backdrop ofarroyos, chili plants, and arid turquoise skies. Many of the poets are relatively recent transplants from elsewhere in the country, while a few have long made their homes in the Land of Enchantment. One of the Spanish-writing contributors is descended from the first Jews to arrive in New Mexico, fleeing persecution from the Spanish Inquisition in 1598. The theme of exile and searching permeates many of the works, with several poems inspired by the painful past-the Holocaust, the Inquisition. Other writers probe the wonder and strangeness of newly embracing their faith in this unlikely land. There are also numerous reflections on ancestors, family and religious holidays-one poem describes casting bread into the Rio Grande on Rosh Hashanah morning. Libraries serving communities with sizeable Jewish populations should consider this anthology a must purchase. Also recommended anywhere where interest is high in Western or Jewish culture, or just fine poetry.

Excerpts from a longer review by Judith Fein in HADASSAH Magazine August/September 2000: The book is sprinkled with Spanish, Hebrew, Ladino, and Yiddish. It is puctuated with love, questioning, humility, bravado, honesty, longing and anger.... At first the words seem tender and nostalgic and clever, but they begin to gain power as the diverse voices proliferate.... Of all the poems in the book, the Converso section elicits the most excitement. "I think this is because the phenomenon works both historically and metaphorically," Logghe says. "I ask,'What in your life have you kept hidden?' We all have hidden aspects of ourselves. The book is a vehicle for opening up dialoge with Jewsand non-Jews so we should find some common ground and hearts." Read the whole two page review and you will know why this book is a treasure to share.

Years ago, when preparing for my three-year 50-state road trip I'd purchased a load of travel guides to help plan what to see in each state, and was fairly satisfied until I stumbled upon my first ART OF STATE book in Iowa. This unique book made all other travel books pale by comparison. Although small and slim the books throughout this series are packed with meaningful information. Beautifully designed and written, they are thoroughly engaging and a joy to read--like finding an ancestor's scrapbook or diary in the attic and reading a fascinating family heritage while viewing images of a buried past. Each author in the ART OF STATE series must be a native or a deliberate transplant, for each state story is lovingly told with a deep appreciation of the state--and not just its good features, but the blemishes, too, described evenhandedly and complemented by photographs of architecture, landscapes paintings, crafts and memorabilia. Each book presents the state's history, climate, landscape, traditions, symbols, recipes, must-see destinations as well as a statewide calendar of events. I've since purchased all the books in the series (20 of the 50 states as of 2008). If your budget won't allow you to buy all 20, at least buy two: one of your home state and one of your adopted state. You'll be amazed at what you'll discover.

I apologize for raving so much about THE ART OF STATE series, but it was such a find for me, like discovering a diamond in a sea of glass. I can't help but gush.

Each book's frontispiece has a wallpaper design: a background color, unique to the state, dotted with a state motif. I've begun playing a game with each new book I purchase in this series trying to guess what the wallpaper motif will be before opening the boo. Sometimes I correctly guess the motif, but rarely the background color. For New Mexico, it's bright red chili peppers dotting a Yucatan yellow background. Sweet.

Now, about the New Mexico edition ... On the dark side, New Mexico served as the hideout for two killers: Billy the Kid and the atom bomb. But that's the only shadow on this sun drenched land. Read about the various Pueblo, Mexican, Spanish and American influences in this state of fabulous landscapes, luscious cuisine, turquoise jewelry, and clay art, architecture and crafts. The vast desert vast terrain and limitless sky not only attracted artists, but aliens, too, in the town of Roswell, where aliens landed and a museum marks the spot. The fabulous land of mountains, deserts, mesas and pine forests attracted writers and artists to Taos and Santa Fe which became celebrated artist colonies, by accident. In the 19th century two traveling artists broke a wagon wheel en route to California and stayed in the glorious state, founding artist societies in each town. Famed New York artist Georgia O'Keeffe spent the second half of her 90 years painting the doom of the New Mexican desert bones, abandoning her typical bold blooms. Writer D.H. Lawrence said: "I think New Mexico is the greatest experience from the outside world that I ever had. It certainly changed me forever. Curious as it may sound New Mexico liberated me from the present era of civilization..." No wonder the state nickname is "Land of Enchantment."

I loved the book. I have lived in N.M. for 27 years and find this book the best short history thru Art I have ever seen. It has everything you would want down to the UFO's.

An incredible writer, so far ahead of most contemporary novelists, and yet he lies forgotten. This book will last beyond literature.

The Bamboo Bed was published in 1969. Eastlakes vision of the Vietnam war is dominated by its absurdity. These two facts intertwine to support my summary that the book is the mother of all Vietnam war fiction.

Eastlake, a WWII vet, went to Vietnam and published some dispatches from there for The Nation magazine. His vision of the war as an absurdity long ago became a cliche in fiction and movies, but in 69 it was a revelation.

That alone hardly makes the book great, or even worth reading. What makes it so is wonderful prose and wonderful characters.

I love most of Eastlake's work but I am aware that his (what I call) over the top style is unbearable to some or at least disqualifies his work from being mentioned in the same phrase as literature. I of course disagree. The Bamboo Bed is a landmark of modern American fiction.

Go discussion of the non main stream battle of the War Between the State well research.

Jim Lynch

I really enjoyed Alberts' well researched account of the climactic battle that doomed Southern ambitions in New Mexico and Confederate ambitions in the West. The book is well written and easy to read. Alberts is very familiar with the battlefields and uses maps to show troop positions and movements in the battles in Glorieta Pass. The book includes a good introduction of the campaign and troop movements to the area as well as the aftermath and southern retreat to Southern New Mexico. An Order of Battle and extensive end notes are helpfull and he even gives brief accounts of the fates of the major players in the campaign.

Carlos, who rides the hinge of time into old Mexico as centuries change from the 19th to 20th Century, narrates his story and you soon realize he is a haunted man in a haunted land. He is a young man on a quest, on a search for meaning that leads him to a dwarf, to Chavez, a guerilla chieftain, and to Joaquin Mueller, who abuses the land and its people as he grabs more and more land and power. The times are brutal and they turn Carlos inside out and let him see who he really is, and let him decide if he likes what he sees. Few people get to know how they will measure up in such a time, and you will thrill to a story well-told of a mission that is both raw and emotional.

I admit that this is a very biased review because I helped W.C. Jameson with the editing on this stunning story. However, Beating the Devil is such a memorable reading experience that no one can go away from this tale without being profoundly touched by young Carlos' adventure deep into the Sierra Madres. This is prose at its best: lyrical,fast paced, and succinct. Though often violent and gut-wrenching the underlying beauty of a man in search of truth, justice, love and himself is a strong and worthy saving grace. I highly recommend this novel without reservation. Laurie Wagner Buyer

This map is great for helping you locate those out of the way gravel roads that are not included on most maps. This is not a good map for city driving. My main dissapointment is that it does not include all of those little lakes in Washington such as all of the seep lakes near Potholes Reservior.

I moved to Washington recently and needed to get some good paper maps of the area. Though I have all the USGS maps of the pacific NW, I find the "landscape" style mapping of these types of maps extremely useful and more up-to-date than many USGS quads. I debated between the well-known Delorme and Benchmark. Benchmark won with better detail, easier to read maps, better recreation details, and the fact they're a Pacific NW company.

This map book has large-format maps for the entire state, US map, a full state map, and a pacific NW map. Map details are complete including roads, "off" roads, trails, mountain elevations, place names, political lines, and others. It also has great sections for recreation (camping, hiking, fishing, local attractions, and others), climate data, and other nice details about the areas. Navigation with GPS is made easy by 7'30" latitude and longitude sections.

I do wish the scale was a little smaller - finding trails and off-the-beaten-path roads can be difficult in particularly busy areas. I also desired more accurate elevation details - the scale seems to clump 8,000' and 14,000' peaks together. Overall, these are excellent maps and should help any outdoor lover find their way.