New Mexico Books

After reading the book cover-to-cover, my mother, Toni Roller and I are proud to recommend this book to anyone who enjoys and collects the works of the descendants of Sarafina Tafoya and her daughter, Margaret Tafoya. There were a few minor errors (names in the geneology) but as a whole, this is a view of a wonderful collection of Margaret's finest works and the retelling of great stories regarding pottery design and the passing on of one family matriarch's legacy. Charles King wisely interviewed many of Margaret's children and grandchildren and includes family stories that are a joy to see in print. This is a wonderful biography we intend to hand down to upcoming generations. Thank you, Charles for a faithful rendering of the stories!
I believe the release of the book will be followed up sometime in September 2008 with an exhibition of the photographed pieces at Carnegie Hall/Museum. Thank you, John & Carol Krena for allowing us to see the collection! -- Susan Roller Whittington

Bounty Hunter's Moon is an old-fashioned, clean cutmystery/western. Hogan does a realistic job portraying Shawn Starbuckas a lone jack-of-all-trades looking for his long-lost brother in New Mexico Territory. Although finding his lost brother has been his goal for many years, his sets aside his quest (I'm not so sure it's as settled as the opening page claims) in order to do what needs to be done, in the code of the Old West. Hogan's characters leap off the page, and the text flows well, more like a B&W movie than a book. The book has a surprise ending, as do all good books. And it has the heroic gunplay requisite to all great Westerns.

Although Starbuck's brother is alegedly dead according to the opening line of this book, I hold out hope that there is a mistake about the message, and there will be another Starbuck adventure. Of course, if there is, it's probably already written as Mr. Hogan is rapidly approaching 100 years old....

"And because you have made me out of unselfish love you have touched me with life"

This is a transcript of a story that was verbally passed down through the generations of the Zuni. It was recorded in 1883 by Frank Hamilton Cushing. He had become a chief Priest of the Bow society of the Macaw Clan. The story is based on a drought that happened to the Ha'wi-k'uh about 1300; before the coming of the Europeans (1539-1540).
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The basic tail is of a people that treated food like mud, and were extremely rude to their corn sprits that were in the form of two old ladies. Only two children and a discarded old woman paid them any respect. This was very bad as the Zuni is part of nature and therefore nature and strangers are to be treated with respect.

Thus the story is of the drought that sent the people away and leaving the two children and old lady behind.
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The version I read was illustrated by Lazlo Kubinyi. It is out of print so I am ordering the one illustrated by Janet Grado. Other things I found interesting is that some of the places and things we read about in this story became titles of Hillerman books.

This book is great.
It's probably one of my very favorite books on the Albuquerque area, and it's a breeze and a joy to read.
The book tells the story, in one man's own words, of growing up in early Albuquerque, of spending time at Ellis Ranch in the Sandia Mountains, of visiting the Tonque brick factory near San Felipe, of drinking bottled water from Coyote Springs near Carnuel, and of the Great Albuquerque Volcano Hoax.
It's illustrated with drawings by the author and (in most editions) with old photographs from the Museum of Albuquerque.
I highly recommend this book to anyone from Albuquerque or the towns of the Sandia Mountains. It's light reading, yet very informative, very well indexed, and a pleasure except for the mournful sense of loss it sometimes involuntarly causes.
Kenneth Balcomb wrote another book, which I've always meant to read, about working on an early New Mexico road near Cimarron, and (I've heard) his son is still alive and living in New Mexico. I'd like to talk with him sometime.

The book presents the basics of the complex histories of New Mexcio. From the anicent Anasazi to Billy the Kid, the book brings to life the reasons these places have been entitled monuments.
This would be a great text for a high school history class - and the field trips would engage the students.

Almost every belligerent nation of World War II organized massive scientific efforts to develop weapons that they believed would alter the course of the conflict. The Germans, among other projects, built and launched several thousand V-2 rockets against London and other European cities. The Japanese worked on an ill-conceived and unrealizable "death ray." Only the American effort to build the atomic bomb, however, fulfilled the promise of a truly revolutionary weapon that had the potential of changing the war's outcome. The history of the Manhattan Project--as well as both the significance and terror of the nuclear weapons that emerged from the effort--has been exhaustively documented since 1945.

While most knowledgeable readers are aware that there were also efforts to develop nuclear weapons by other nations, notably in Germany, the making of the atom bomb has largely been told as an American story with the far-ranging efforts of the Manhattan Project taking center stage. But atomic science was an international endeavor and even the Manhattan Project was more of an allied effort than most have traditionally understood. As a result, Ferenc Morton's Szasz's "British Scientists and the Manhattan Project" serves as a useful corrective to many earlier accounts that have all but buried any knowledge of the British role in the project.

Beginning in December 1943 the British government sent to the remote New Mexico site of Los Alamos, where J. Robert Oppenheimer was presiding over a cadre of physicists and other scientists and technicians to design an atomic weapon, a small group that eventually numbered about 30 scientists to assist with the project. They worked long hours side-by-side with the Americans, witnessed the explosion at the Trinity site, and viewed the success with the same horror and amazement as their U.S. colleagues. Most of their names are unknown to all but a few specialists in the history of high energy physics, and the one that is not--Klaus Fuchs--is remembered only as an atomic spy for the Soviet Union. This short book does much to rescue the group from obscurity, as well as to set the record straight on Fuchs. It is an important addition to the literature of Los Alamos and the Manhattan Project.

Most authentic cook book for New Mexican food, the Chili is by far the best, and I know chili. A must for anyone who wants easy, superb recipes for Mexican cooking that is not your usual Tec Mex. Just like what you would get in New Mexico at a real Mexican restaurant.

Denver defense attorney Luis is hired by a wealthy land-owner and rancher to defend his son, arrested on felony arson and murder charges, and also finds his case lies at the heart of water wars where private landowners go up against big water companies. When the son is killed in a jail riot, the plot thickens with unpredictable twists and turns in Brown-on-Brown, a riveting story blending social issues and mystery.

The Bugman On Bugs: Understanding Household Pests And The Environment presents the practical wisdom of a board certified entomologist concerning dealing with common pests such as cockroaches, ants, flies, spiders, fleas, bed bugs, termites, and more. A simple, basic guide for the lay reader with bug problems, The Bugman On Bugs does not go into excessive detail but simply offers solid advice, including tips when a bug problem can be dealt with on one's own and when one should call a professional. Also highly recommend is the previous volume in this series, "Ask the Bugman."

As a sixth grader I know a lot about the Holocaust I think Hittler was an evil man.He made the Nazis put Jews, Gipseys, exc.. in camps.This gives you lots of information.The name is "The resistance world war 2.