New Mexico Books

With beautiful photographs that even young children will relate too, this book works on so many levels -- how pots are made, how one modern American Indian family lives and works together, and a little bit of the history of the pueblo potters.

The pictures and the text provide a thorough view into a unique way of living based on the traditions of many generations in the desert southwest.

Children love to seeing pictures of children working with clay. It shows so many of the steps -- actually going out and digging for the clay to firing the pots. My daughter still asks me if we can go dig for some clay so she can make some pots.

Use it as a travel guide for children especially if you are going to New Mexico and will be visiting pueblos and are interested in the adobe structures and pots.

It pairs well with Grandmother's Adobe Dollhouse.

I found myself getting absorbed into this book about Chile peppers. Now I know so much more about them. This book came with a textbook set, Into English, for ESOL students. I highly recommend it when learning about different cultures and important foods. Personally, I love Chile Peppers!

I am new to Santa Fe and bought this book to learn about some of the beautiful traditions here. It exceeded my expectations with lovely photographs and detailed explanations of many traditions you would expect from this wonderful city. I especially enjoyed the recipes! If you live in Santa Fe or dream of living here like I have for many years, this is a must have!

The book heavily relies on letters from men who fought in the war and goes much past the history of the military action. It goes into what happens behind the scenes such as the daily life of the soilders, their view of Mexico and its people and how they viewed each other. STRONGLY recommended for any history buff of the Mexcian American War and Civil War. The attitudes and beliefs are those of America going into the Civil War.

This oversized book is a most interesting and scholarly examination of the role of architecture and theater as tools that the sixteenth century Spanish missionaries used to convert the Mesoamerican natives to Christianity. The original missionaries; twelve Franciscans in 1524, twelve Dominicans in 1526 and seven Augustinians in 1533; noted the similarities between European Christian thought of the time and the Aztec beliefs they found in New Spain. Although fundamentally different, coincidental similarities abounded: both cultures thought the world was about to end; both used architecture for rituals and pageantry, both loved theatrical presentations using large casts of people. The early missionaries took the notion of building a New Jerusalem literally and the mendicant compounds were built with the plans of the ancient Temple of Jerusalem in mind. These complexes included open altar areas and architectural details such as a short tower or a row of three arches that could symbolize Jerusalem. Drama became a catechetical tool and the missionaries knew the natives responded favorable to the sights and sounds on the altar, be it the liturgy of the mass or a religious play. Both cultures loved crosses and Aztec crosses would include an obsidian mirror at the center, reflecting the sun. This sunlight could be linked to Jesus, the light of the world, or to the Canticle of the Sun of St. Francis. Likewise, the Aztec blood sacrifices seemed to make possible a fundamental acceptance of the life-giving sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. A culture familiar with rituals of cutting out a sacrificial victim's heart might embrace the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This book is very scholarly with 50 pages of notes and a 29 page bibliography, but it is not only for the scholar. It is oversized, beautifully designed and richly illustrated with hundreds of color examples of Aztec relics, early missionary buildings, rare manuscript pages and remarkable building decorations, many photographed by the author on site. A superb demonstration of how the mendicant friars "changed the root metaphor and Christianized a continent."

I am not a big fan of Romance Novels; however, Ms. Bechko may have changed my way of thinking. This Historical romance was so entertaining and enlightening that I read it practically in one sitting. The facts pertaining to the Spanish overrunning the Indian lands and the cruelty of that particular period of time were wonderfully balanced by the spirit and light of the heroine. Because I am a resident of that part of the world, I was especially appreciative of Ms. Bechko portraying her characters with great accuracy. They are not super-human. They are all just trying to survive the best way they know how.
I am looking forward to reading more of the author's works. Her dedication to facts, as well as her creative imagination, make for enjoyable reading.

Coal Camp Days is of course a story about memories but also about hope, family and friends that make all those memories worth while. This fictionalized autobiography is a must-have for any serious reader of Chicano literature; especially those interested in northern New Mexico Hispano culture.

Following Matias, the fictionalized protagonist, Garcia weaves a tapestry of stories that blend local customs, traditions, and dialects as both the young boy and diverse community he lives in, grow together during one of the most chaotic times of United States history.

The textýs readability is an outreach from Garciaýs easy going style, attention to detail and ability to capture the moment in a language that is at once focused, yet relaxedýcolloquial even. The text also serves as an ethnohistory of a specific time and group, and is an uplifting recollection about a simpler time when people of distinct backgrounds learn to live, love and face sorrow together.

What was it like for young men, out of work and money, during the Great Depression? Professor Melzer has written a sensitive, very thorough, yet readable, book on the boys who worked the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in New Mexico, 1933-1942. It is obvious that Melzer interviewed many of the CCC boys (many have passed away by 2006), read the New Mexico newspapers, researched in the archives. I especially appreciate his liberal use of quotes from the men themselves, from their letters and the reports they wrote. Highly recommended.

We have visited the Santa Fe area several times over the past 30 years and have recently decided to buy a second home there for my wife's health. We have really enjoyed using Top 10 Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Taos (Eyewitness) on our trips.

We found the 5th edition of the Compass American Guides: Santa Fe during our last trip, and it added an entirely new dimension to our guide book experience. Written originally by Lawrence W. Cheek and seamlessly updated by Andrew Collins, this volume provides all the normal guidebook information, but also achieves Fordor's objective for the Compass Series: "Evocative text that captures the character of a place."

Cheek/Collins write: "This is not a conventional guidebook to Santa Fe. This is the work of a visiting journalist whose decades-long relationship with the city has flitted among love, fascination, amazement, aggravation, and exasperation. This is a guidebook in which no subject is out of bounds, one in which Santa Feans tell their amazing and preposterous stories about work and art and love and trying to build fences."

Excellent photographs, an excellent bibliography of books, publications, websites and other sources of information, and much, much more. We gained a real depth of understanding from this book, and we are sure we will continue to do so.

Robert C. Ross 2008

the book was in the shape described, and the transaction was very smooth and fast delivery.