New Mexico Books

A moving critical study on those silences that confronted women artists in the West, focusing on professional, non-professional, and traditional women artists' struggles to find voices and to cope with markets for their work. Jensen discusses several artists whose careers were shadowed or distorted by husbands, some of whom were themselves artists or collectors. She also treats extensively the history of a Native American basket maker's struggles with market forces, traditional cultural artmaking and art-using practices, discrimination, and family forces. Covering late pioneer days through the rise of Hollywood and spanning painting, photography, literature, dance, and crafts, the book surprised me with its concise and compelling portrayals of many societies and art worlds. Jensen communicates immediate and personal interpretations of the "lifeways" of silenced and near silenced women artists, as well as some who succeeded--at their great cost--in finding a voice.

Zane Grey's Open Range is a colorful, action/adventure western novel of a youth on his journey to manhood. Set in the rugged open range of the old American Southwest, our strong-hearted hero finds himself pitted against an unscrupulous family, and only a valley filled with prized wild horses can tip the balance against them and for him. Open Range is enthusiastically recommended reading for the legions of Zane Grey fans.

oracles offers insight into a world unlike any other fictional landscape encountered. The combination of culture and science fiction makes for a breathtaking slip into the lives of these characters and the modern challenges they face.

What an exquisite book! Not only is it an informative and interesting read, but it made me want to move to Taos and take up oil painting! In fact, I'm signing up for painting classes this week! The plates are magnificent, and the subject matter, Taos, and Taos Pueblo Indians, are filled with beauty and dignity from a time gone by. Highly recommended for all lovers of the Southwest, native cultures, and landscape and oil paintings.

Grasslands continue to disappear throughout the U.S. to the determine of the ecosystems and habitats where they are an essential part of a healthy and self-sustaining environment. "Otero Mesa: Preserving America's Widest Grassland" focuses upon one specific grassland with an impressively informative text by Gregory McNamee, an enlightening foreword by Governor Bill Richardson, and impressive photographs by Stephen Strom and Stephen Capra. This seminal work of meticulous scholarship brings to light the vast beauty of Otero Mesa and its alarming present day reality. Otero Mesa is in danger of becoming a drilling haven to one hundred new oil wells which will pollute the environment, decimate and contaminate groundwater and endanger the wildlife. Presented in four compelling chapters: The View from an Aplomado; The View from a Missile; Oil and Otero Mesa; and the Fate of the Land, "Otero Mesa" is certain to enlighten the non-specialist general reader and environmental activist who recognizes the value of wide open spaces and the habitat that occupies it, and clean water so necessary to plant, animal, and human life. The fate of Otero Mesa is still unknown as the case fighting to preserve it rests in the federal courts awaiting a decision. A clarion call, "Otero Mesa" is urgently recommended for all personal, community, and academic library Environmental Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

Mr. McCord has captured the special essence of New Mexico, which is nominally part of the USA, but really almost a separate country and culture all to itself. One could put the case that N.M. is really 2 countries:
1. N.M. in the summers and 2. N.M. in the winters. Both of these countries have a special charm like no other place and deserve a visit with care toward preserving such a vital resource. Buy the book!

This book is just alot of fun. Definitely the best of Bly that I have read. The plot is interesting and keeps you guessing. From the mischievous ten-year-old Paco to the mysterious, smooth talking Delnorte, Bly's characters are original and real. You can't help liking them. This book has a sweet love story that doesn't take over the book, as in most christian fictions, but is just enough for you romantics. This book also has amazing dialogue! Bly has a way of making you feel like you are sitting there right beside the character during a conversation. The heroine, Julianna, manages to weave the gospel message into her conversations without making it sound like a sermon. It was a pleasant surprise to read a christian fiction book and not get that deja veu feeling like you had read it before under a different name. In a world of christian fiction dominated by authors like Gilbert Morris this book is a breath of fresh air.

Outlaws & Desperados: A New Mexico Federal Writers' Project Book is an anthology of vignette essays, biographical sketches, and fascinating true tales about outlaws and desperados of the New Mexico Territory in the American West. Colorful figures featured include Black Jack Ketchum, the Apache Kid, Curly Bill, Devil Dick, Billy the Kid, the Dalton Brothers, and much more. They robbed stagecoaches, trains, prospectors, and settlers; their often murderous exploits were feared by many and glamorized by a few. Between 1936 and 1940, field workers in the Federal Writers' Project (part of the government-funded Works Progress Administration, or WPA) collected and wrote down numerous testimonies to provide an authentic account of outlaws in New Mexico. Now the original documents are published for the first time. A candid portrayal of New Mexico's unruly condition, as plagued by banditry and retaliatory hangings, as invaluable a primary source today as it was over six decades ago. Highly recommended especially for college and university libraries.

Paintbrushes and Pistols is the story of an unusual alliance that changed the American West and American art at the turn of the century. It was an alliance between Ernest Blumenschein and other immature, naive men of great artistic talent who became known as the Taos Society of Artists, Fred Harvey, a genius in the field of food and lodging, and the promotion-minded men who operated the Atxhison, Topeka, & Santa Fe Railroad.

Together, they helped to create the westward migration that resulted in the vast cities and smaller towns that exist today. And together, the highly eccentric members of the Taos Society of Artists - the last artists who would devote themselves to capturing the dying West on canvas and in sculpture - radically changed styles of American fine art and commercial illustration.
--- from book's back cover

Total quality reference and educational resource. Quality writing and good graphics. Excellent overview reference on the Mogollon Mimbres.