New Mexico Books

Compiled and edited by Nasario Garcia (Professor of Languages, New Mexico Highlands University), Comadres: Hispanic Women Of The Rio Puerco Valley is a unique and ground breaking survey of Hispanic-American women and their manifold contributions to the evolving culture of New Mexico, especially during the first ten years of statehood. Ranch life, the evolution of Spanish dialects, the struggles to birth and raise children, and so much more are accessibly covered in this unique anthology of vignettes, anecdotes, and revealing glimpses into New Mexican daily life. Black-and-white photographs enhance this outstanding collection of brief yet personable tales, each of which is rendered in both Spanish and English. Comadres is a very strongly recommended addition to Women's Studies, American History, and Southwest Regional Studies academic reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

Compiled and edited by Nasario Garcia (Professor of Languages, New Mexico Highlands University), Comadres: Hispanic Women Of The Rio Puerco Valley is a unique and ground breaking survey of Hispanic-American women and their manifold contributions to the evolving culture of New Mexico, especially during the first ten years of statehood. Ranch life, the evolution of Spanish dialects, the struggles to birth and raise children, and so much more are accessibly covered in this unique anthology of vignettes, anecdotes, and revealing glimpses into New Mexican daily life. Black-and-white photographs enhance this outstanding collection of brief yet personable tales, each of which is rendered in both Spanish and English. Comadres is a very strongly recommended addition to Women's Studies, American History, and Southwest Regional Studies academic reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

Comida Sabrosa: Home-Style Southwestern Cooking is a spiral bound compendium of outstanding recipes celebrating New Mexico's culinary heritage and traditions. From New Mexican Hot Chocolate; Nana's Green Chile Sauce; Southwestern Tamale Pie; and Beefed-Up Chile Casserole; to Taco Frijoles para los Ninos; Zesty Appetizer Meatballs; Dorito Casserole; and Arroz Dulce (Sweet Rice Pudding), Comida Sabrosa will prove a family favorite of easy to prepare, mouth-watering, appetite satisfying delights. A glossary is included, as are very useful instructions for microwave adaptations.

WIth no previous experience cooking Mexican food, I've become an expert flour tortilla maker - not to mention that my family devoures the cheese enchiladas. Thanks!

Hey amazon! There's a new edition of this book (actually there have been 2.....) The newest comes out in February, with completely updated info and pictures. You should order it!

My husband and I were traveling by motorhome through the Southwest this winter. I bought this guide and it made our trip to New Mexico so much more meaningful. It provides exactly the kind of cultural and historical context I like to have in a very user friendly format. I have used other guides including Insight, Smithsonian, Mobil, etc. If the others in the series are as well done, this will be my guide of choice. It also has beautiful photos and helpful maps.

We've used this guide to New Mexico on a number of trips; the Review of the book by C. B Collins Jr. is superb, and I really have nothing to add, except that Nancy Harbart is an excellent writer. Her essays on Georgia O'Keeffe, Indian pueblos and Indian pottery are particularly noteworthy.

It's regularly updated; check to be sure you have the most recent edition.

Robert C. Ross 2008

The Compass American Guide series is excellent and I found the guide on New Mexico to be a great resource. New Mexico has a rich history of native peoples and Spanish exploration and colonization. The guide offers a brief but useful history of the area, including the chaotic period of struggle between Mexican and Anglos before statehood.

The book has a separate section on Albuquerque and the surrounding environs; a section on Santa Fe and Taos and then the rest of the book is divided into 5 large geographic areas. This was especially useful on our trip where we spent 3 days in Albuquerque, 3 in Santa Fe/Taos and then spent the rest of the time going to more remote sites to explore this beautiful state.

Albuquerque is a mixture of old and new and the guide helped us navigate in Old Town as well as find our way in the suburbs that move from downtown to the bottom of the Sandia Mountains. Old Town is a shopping delight, especially if you are shopping for Native American jewelry, weavings, masks, and pottery. I found the lay-out of the central square to be very pleasing and central park allowed a place to sit and watch.

We visited the Rio Grande Nature Center which offers shady walks along the river. We also visited the Petroglyph National Monument, which lays on the edge of town, and is a great hike with interesting rock drawings etched into the mountain.

There are two ways to reach the top of the Sandia Crest; either in a gondola lifting you high above the city, or you can drive around the mountain and take the twisty mountain road up through the evergreen forrest to the top. We selected to take our car and the drive around the base of the mountain and through the forrest was wonderful. The views from the top are spectacular, especially at sunset.

We drove the back roads between Albuquerque and Santa Fe which was very interesting. Santa Fe has a tremendous art market and there are 50 or more art galleries that represent nationally known artists. The downtown museum was informative regarding the history of New Mexico. There is a museum complex on the edge of the city however that should not be missed. First there is a museum of colonial Spanish history with beautiful furniture, carvings of saints, weapons, costumes, decorative arts, and paintings. The museum is elegant and serene in design. Second is a museum of folk art collections from around the world. This museum is a must see. There were collections of African American artists, Asian, South American, etc. The collection was extensive with thousands and thousands of items on display (I am not kidding - in one large display room with dolls from every country, there were over 10,000 items all on display). Third is a museum of the Native Americans of New Mexico. The museum was obviously designed and maintained by Native people, the displays were very respectful and educating. The restaurants in Santa Fe are superb.

We moved on to Taos where we visted the homes and studios of many of the artists who moved to New Mexico after World War I. The home of Oscar Blumenschien was built 250 years ago and the home contains many of his works. The Fechen museum was incredible containing many of his paintings and displaying the amazing home he built himself, carving doors throughout the home.

We took a side trip to Abiquiu to go to Ghost Ranch. The terrain gradually becomes more and more red as you drive from Santa Fe to Abiquiu. When we arrived at Ghost Ranch, a very polite lady told us that the vast area had been donated to the Presbyterians. When we asked to see Georgia O'Keefe's home,she told us that someone lived there and they did not give directions so as to preserve this person's privacy. She offered us maps to around 15 hiking trails. We hiked the Chimney Rock trial high above the Ghost Ranch valley. The view from atop the mountains was spectacular and worth the drive from Santa Fe.

We drove to the Jemez Muntains and Bandelier National Monument. This is another highlight of New Mexico. One trail in the park will allow you to see the cave dwellings of the early native people. The climb up the long wooden ladders into the shallow caves was great fun. We then decided to take a second hike after lunch and went down to the Rio Grande river, another enjoyable afternoon!

The Fodor guide was excellent, we did not have to buy other guides or books because so much of New Mexico was detailed in the guide. There are many maps, photographs, essays, and travel ideas.

Fuentes revels in language and creating imagery that astounds, intrigues and leaves the reader in a land of limbo that is both magical and real. In this seemingly different collection of short stories or novellas the masterful literary pupeteer Fuentes draws the reader into his web of stories that covers centuries of history over various continents. Whether the stories take place in Spain, the United States or Eastern Europe the end result is a timeless portrait with universal themes with evocative resonance. The five stories in this collection have recurrent themes as in the clever classic novel by Fuentes entitled "Christoper Unborn," which is also highly recomended. Of particualar interest in the collection of novellas is "La Desdichada" where two students steal a manequin and fall in love. The storyline borders on the absurd but in reality it is a poets vechicle of expression for love. After all a woman of wood will be faithful to a man but will a man of flesh and blood prove he is worthy of fidelity ? All of the stories are excellent but of particular note was one I found very interesting entitled "Viva Mi Fama." This is a story that leaps from the present to the past by way of a Goya painting of a matador of fame by the name of Pepe Romero. The journey through Andalusia finds the reader tranported to Goya's Spain traversing the countryside from Bordeaux to Madrid and all lands in between. IMO there is no better story teller in Latin America and surely none as prolific as Carlos Fuentes. This is a beautiful collection of stories that are especially good for the person who is new to the visual , visceral and sometimes erotic literature of Fuentes. Great stuff for new and old readers of the magical world of Carlos Fuentes, one of the preeminent man of letters in Latin America.

This collection of novels is a beautiful and intellgently written volume, one that is an interesting read. If one wants comparisons, it could be compared to Garcia Marquez's style--very dense, very descriptive, very mysterious. There are copies of it available used... Buy it!

This is a great book to get the feel of what life was like in colonial NM...It is a bunch of short essays with a WIDE range of topics relating to life in NM.....Marc Simmons has a pretty nice style of writing too....I liked the part about the New Mexican "tube" socks!!!

As usual, Mr. Simmons takes you back in time and brings the everyday life of early New Mexico to life. He has done extensive research to enlighten us. This book covers everything from homemaking, dressing, Inidans and food. A must have for historical researchers.

This is my favorite book on the topic of the Spanish explorations into what is present-day America. In particular, this book covers the journey by Coronado through what is present-day Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado & Kansas. The book is a fantastic historical account but also a very interesting read. The author does an admiral job of painting a fair picture of Coronado and thus doing his part to reject la leyenda negra!

Even though the book is now more than 50 years old (!) it remains a very timely piece in Spanish Colonial history in the southwest.

Dr. Bolton has modified my view on Coronado considerably after reading his wonderful biography of the famous conquistador. Many people ideate Coronado as a bloodthirsty, overpowering man who unwontedly killed every Native American in his path for riches. Not so according to the unbiased research and scrutiny this author puts forth.

After hearsay of gold, silver and wealth to be found in our present-day southwestern U. S., the Viceroy of Mexico sends Coronado with over 300 men, several hundred Mexican Indian allies, more than 1,000 horses and mules, sheep, etc. to the north in search of these fabled fortunes.
Although the expedition as far as locating vast amounts of riches was a flop, Coronado's knowledge of the Indians and geography helped future generations of Mexico to settle and establish themselves in Arizona and New Mexico.

One adventure after another awaits the Coronado Expedition and this is what makes the book a page turner. There were battles fought no doubt, but basically when no alternative to peace could be reached among the Native Americans. As Bolton asserts, Coronado was the "gentlemen's conqueror" and compared to Pizzaro, De Soto, Cortes and others his exploits were gentle and mild.

An enjoyable and perceptive read.

I smiled and finally laughed out loud reading this wonderful book by Princeton-educated historian Philip Ashton Rollins (1869-1950), who grew up in the West and knew early cowboys firsthand. He organizes his encyclopedic knowledge of cowboys into 18 chapters covering such topics as cowboy character, what the cowboy wore, equipment and furnishings, diversions and recreations, the day's work, branding and round-up. At 383 pages in its 1936 edition, there's a lot of reading here for the Western enthusiast.

The subtitle of the book, "an unconventional history," alludes to the less than objective, tongue in cheek tone that Rollins often assumes. He obviously admires cowboys but also sees the latent humor and ironies in a hyper-male culture, where men on the open range bonded into a fierce fraternity of individuals. I laughed out loud at the point where he describes the boredom that led cowboys to memorize the labels on canned products (condensed milk, peaches) and then recite them in unison for amazed outsiders.

For readers fascinated by the minute details of the cowboy's daily life, his beliefs and customs, values and attitudes, habits, quirks, and prejudices, this book is a gem. You learn how cowboys wore their Stetsons differently in different regions of the West. Because Rollins is fascinated by language, you learn a great deal about cowboy lingo and how it also varied regionally. He also gets as close as he can to describing the particularly florid and inventive cursing of cowboys. You learn that cowboys wore vests but not denim. You learn the received method of one-handed cigarette rolling and lighting a match on the seat of one's pants. You learn how guns were worn and used. You learn plenty.

I'm happy to recommend this book on cowboy culture to anyone with an interest in the old west and the life of cowboys as it was actually lived. It was written and published in 1922, then revised in 1936, and is a classic that belongs on anyone's bookshelf of western literature.

This book is absolutely outstanding in its explanation of the cowboy period. It is the unvarnished truth about the twenty-odd year period we think of as the cowboy era. Yet while it is historically accurate regarding the nature and life of the cowboy it is also very readable and not at all like a dry history book. Anyone that wants to go beyond western movies and fiction to discover what being a cowboy was really all about should read this book.

This study of contemporary santeros working in northern New Mexico is illustrated throughout with color photographs. Kalb examines the role and meaning of tradition in the work of a number of artists, both living and deceased. For each of these artists, the meaning of tradition varies, and the issues of self-representation, cultural expression, preservation, innovation, and market demands are all complex, powerful, and delicate. It is both troublesome and rewarding to be able to support a family on the sales of religious images to Anglo buyers. The mainstream fine art world, tourism, religion, and ethnic politics all play roles in the creation of traditional works in a contemporary world. For all the santeros, the tangle of religious, commercial, political, and aesthetic forces requires complicated choices far beyond the basic relationships between themselves and their saints. Laurie Beth Kalb tells a fascinating and revealing story about a unique art form and its significance

If you are interested in wood carving and the tradition of the wood carvers in New Mexico this is a must have book. The secular and non-secular images displayed are excellent and inspiring works of art. The book is easy to read and entertains in a quasi-sholarly way. The glimpses into the various artists featured are interesting as they share insights into the way of life of these Santeros. The various profiled artists are unique, diverse, deceased or living and extremely talented. The section on Patrocino Barela and his family is fascinating and worth the cost of the book alone as it features some of his works which are extremely rare. This is a book that you will enjoy reading but more than that you will love looking at the works of art. Add this book to your art or religious section of your personal library. Be warned, you may not shelve the book as you will want to look at it over and over.

I thought this was a good book. My son who is more educated in Creek Indian culture differs in opinion. He felt that it wasn't authentic enough. My personal feelings are that it held plenty of knowledge for my interest level. It was a quick and fun read. I leave it in the guest room for visitors to browse. I had a few visitors who have stayed up too late because they got caught up in reading it. I would classify this as a book that might get you interested in knowing more. The author doesn't claim to be the last and only expert in this area.

If you are descended from any of the Nations that are from the SE of the US, you should read this book. It is a great book that gives a first person account of traditional Mvskogi medicine traditions passed through a particular family of the bird clan. Ok, there was an anthropologist involved...but he keeps his distance and admits his shortcomings. I really commend him for that. The account is what the medicine person himself wanted to say...