New Mexico Books

For my children's literature class, I made pumpkin empanaditas from the Josefina Cookbook I got when I was 11 or 12. They turned out wonderful! So now I'm eager to make everything from this book!

Except, I don't know why the book is nearly $20 through Amazon. ??????

Josefina's Cookbook has a variety of foods that are common in the traditional New Mexican diet. New Mexican food is unique to the region and includes items that are not even in the Hispanic diet in neighboring states. In a state whose State Question is "Red or Green?" (as in "Do you prefer red or green chile?"), caution must be taken in trying new foods if you are sensitive to spicy-hot foods, as many children are. If you are unfamiliar with what is HOT in the New Mexican diet, going out and buying a New Mexican cookbook to introduce your children to this type of food may meet you with watering eyes and children reaching for tortilla chips to neutralize the burn.

Josefina's Cookbook is a much better choice for children because it is filled with child friendly recipes that still represent the New Mexican diet. Some of the recipes are for small items, like home-made tortillas, hot chocolate, soft cheese, and pinto beans. Empanaditas (little empanadas), posole, green chile stew, and carne adovada are more meal oriented recipes. Just remember the sopaipillas if you are cooking with chile!

The format of this book is a joy to look through even if you want to learn about New Mexican cooking without preparing the more adventurous items. The ingredients and cooking equipment are listed at the beginning of each recipe and the recipes themselves are well written and illustrated. It won't be hard for a girl to find something that she'll want to try.

This is another well written, intense and interesting novel by Kate Horsley. She pulls readers into her stories and keeps them there. You may not always agree with what she has to say but you must agree that it keeps you thinking. I am buying the other Kate Horley's that I haven't read yet, today!

Horsley's revisisionistic view of the period provides historical insight into a period of rampant exploitation. Beyond that it is one woman's story of redemption. The story centering around a woman searching for her children who have been taken on a "nature trip" in the mountains soon comes to realize that no matter how horrible the acts of man, if the powers that be support the actions the perpetrators either individually or collectively can get away with the most heinous of crimes.

"L of BH" is one of the best books I've read in a long time. Great topic, good sense of suspense, interesting characters, insight into an unusual(and, may I add, still contoversial)period of Southwestern history. All of Claire's novels are very very good, this was the best. I just returned from a trip to New Mexico, went thru Bernallilo, stayed at Tamaya, so I could totally get into the atmosphere, evoked quite well. Van Giesen has such a good way of writing intelligent and provocative aspects of Albuquerque/New Mexico tales and keeping the mystery, energy and intrigue up, especially thru the view of a "book-loving" main character. More!!

Archivist Claire Reynier works at the Center for Southwest Research at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. One day Isabel Santos informs Claire that she tripped over a loose brick on the floor but when she investigated it she found a wooden cross with a note hidden in it. Isabel made a copy of the document and shows it to Claire who believes it was the last note written by a Jewish mystic before he was killed in the Mexican Inquisition.

The document should be placed somewhere safe but when Claire tries to convince Isabel to give it to the university, she tells the archivist she has to think about it. The very next day Isabel is murdered in her home and the document is missing but the cross is found On a hunch, Claire asks the police to dig around the area where the cross was buried and they unearth a skeleton over four centuries old. The police think Isabel was murdered in a robbery gone bad, but Claire thinks the modern day homicide, the document, and the skeleton are all linked together and she intends to prove it or die trying.

The protagonist is an independent thinker who does not allow herself to be sidetracked when she thinks she is right. She is a woman of the new millennium one to be admired and emulated. Judith Van Gieson tells a creative and fascinating story intermingling the past with the present and educating the reader in a period not widely studied. The who-done-it is fascinating but it is the mystery of the past that holds the reader's attention.

Harriet Klausner

Published by the vaunted Red Crane Books of Santa Fe, New Mexico, this three volume set on religious art and wooden artifacts of New Mexico is a rare, rich visual and intellectual repast. It would be a treasured gift, one to which collectors and aficionados will return time and again.

Larry Frank is remembered for "The New Kingdom of the Saints" (1997), while Skip Miller is curator and director, Taos Historic Museums.

With 842 stunning color photographs and 848 pages A Land so Remote surely holds the most comprehensive and accessible information on this subject. Many of the photos included are of rare objects gleaned from nine museums and a number of private collections. Carefully selected for the part each plays in this artistic corpus, photos are accompanied by concise essays that enhance knowledge while still piquing an interest to know more.

Volumes I and II beautifully present the growth of religious art during a period of over 125 years. It was a time when in order to undergird their faith Spanish settlers turned to santos, visual representations of saints. Thus was born an art form unique to America which once was of great import in churches, communities and homes.. Santos were, if you will, incarnations of the hopes and dreams of these immigrants.

"Rightly understood," author Frank remarks, "santos are a kind of `liberation theology' written in the language of wood, plaster, and paint, an understanding of Christianity that empowers the poor to free themselves from unjust socioeconomic and cultural structures in the larger world and within themselves.

Volume III centers on wooden objects, such as tools, furniture, toys, and domestic utensils. These objects testify to the influence of the Spanish on the traditions of the indigenous inhabitants of this region.

Photographer Michael O'Shaughnessy described his task as a "...wonderful, often awesome, experience of having such close contact with material that radiates the love and importance that their makers brought to their creation."

Such is the case with readers as they leaf through the pages of these landmark volumes.

- Gail Cooke

A LAND SO REMOTE

Prior to the holidays, I received a great gift, a copy of the beautifully produced three-volume study A Land So Remote, authored by Larry Frank and Skip Miller, and published by Marianne and Michael O'Shaughnessy of Red Crane Books, Publishers, Santa Fe.
Creation of a successful publication of this magnitude can only be accomplished by many who work in concert, in this case scholar, editor, publisher and, of course, those who are willing to share their treasures with anyone wishing to turn the pages in this landmark study. Frank and Miller have devoted a large percentage of their lives carefully studying and painstakingly handling objects-some of religious importance, powerful images that were the subject of daily devotion, while other objects that served a useful function in the lives of hundreds of thousands attempting to make their lives easier. To the Hispanic, Native American, and the Anglo, these objects were an integral part of daily life-whether as an expression of their spirituality, their intense religious devotion-- or to enable them to perform certain physical tasks-- cutting wood or baking bread.
The authors, in concert with photographer Michael O'Shaughnessy, have treated each object sympathetically, whether it be a santo or bulto, or packsaddle or carreta wheels, with the same level of care, even reverence. The real joy is in seeing so many diverse objects fashioned out of wood and other materials in significant numbers. How often have we had the opportunity of examining page after page of images beautifully organized and described. The authors, of course, treat us to a display of work by lesser known santeros, as well as the most celebrated, notably José Rafael Aragon. Volume two devotes pages 288 to 377 to some of the most powerful religious images by Aragon and his followers that the reader will ever experience.
Since 1974, I have been a frequent visitor to New Mexico and have written a few books on the Anglo painters. After reading Miller's and Frank's essays, I said to myself, "I wish I had written these words. Both scholars write with conviction and authority. They also write in a style I have labeled "an easy read." They have organized their material so that it makes sense. You understand why the objects were created, who created them and importantly, how they were created. Happily, these objects, some still in the churches in Ranchos de Taos, Chimayo, Taos, and chapels throughout the Southwest, others in museums and private collections, have been "gathered" and presented to the reader and viewer in a beautiful and effective manner (I was tempted to use the phrase elegant but refrained).
All reviews of the publication praise A Land So Remote for its visual appeal, handsome photographs," fascinating account of the history and culture of Hispanic New Mexico," scholarship, a major contribution to Hispanic studies. One critic even suggested that, before being placed in a glass case [with other rare books], it might serve as a coffee table book. Never! If anything, it will be a banquet table book, and will be the scene of great feasts-visual and literary. But their words, like mine, fail to express the impact this handsome three-volume study will have on you-the participant. This study will, like the objects that it treats, transcends time. Secure your copy. I can assure you that it will never gather dust (although it will go out-of-print).

Dean A. Porter, Ph. D.
Director Emeritus, The Snite Museum of Art
Professor of Art History
University of Notre Dame

Davis Ford has compiled a labor of love, this by capturing the thoughts, ideas and personas of an era that is quickly leaving us. Just as Tom Brokow has referred to those who participated in WWII as members of a great generation, so are those whom Dr. Ford memoralizes in his book. You can almost hear the campfire crackle as the cowboys discuss their lives in a time soon to be remembered only by the false pictures generated by Hollywood of men who are truely of the ages. Everyone who has even sat astride of a horse, or watched John Wayne in action, needs to read this book to hear the true story of the American west and the men who made history, and won a country, in their own quiet way. This book will be read 100 years from now by those who want to know the true story of the American west and those that left their own personal brand on our country.

In his excellent book, The Last Cowboy, Davis Ford creates a colorful mosaic not only of Leroy Webb but also of many other authentic cowboys - as well as the development of an entire region. The format of the book enhances the story with quotes encased in barbed wire, action pictures, regional maps and appropriate quotations interspersed in the text. The Last Cowboy is an outstanding chronology of an era told through ancestral history, geographical details and economic facts woven into telling the life story of Webb. It is a pleasure to read this well-researched and well-crafted history, augmented by humorous anecdotes and the personal observations of the author.

If you like literate fly fishing books, pickup this one along with Gordon Wickstrom's 1st book. The author opines on sundry topics trout and fishing related. Shakespeare. Yeats. Fly Patterns. A very idiosynchratic book. If you like Frank Mele, Ted Leeson, Bill Barich, Mcguane at his most academic (in the best sense of the word) - you will like Wickstrom. Highly recommended.

In several of these essays, Wickstrom has stepped out of his niche as a writer on fishing to a position as a writer who uses fishing as a ledge to stand on whilst observing life its own self. I felt myself in the company of a first rate mind that has lived vividly and (much, much more important) thoughtfully in the great world beyond the banks of the stream. Melville knew that we are all drawn to the water, and that it needn't be a grim November to find us standing at the edge of whatever island we're on, looking out. Bill at the Canon City flyshop says that we go fishing because we need to stand in a river. And I think he's right. But most of us go stand in the river so as to build a cocoon of focus that excludes the great world, and so find rest and solace from its busy wounding and exhilarating interference. Wickstrom, from his ledge in the river, looks out on that great world and makes up thoughts about it. Those thoughts are refined and purified by the action of the river and his passionate attention to its denizens, but never do they use the river as a palliative or hiding place. Instead they use the river as a source of clarity and gravitas.
"Gravitas, the heavy tread of moral earnestness, becomes a bore if it is not accompanied by the light step of intelligence." So says the Oxford Dictionary, and they ought to know. Wickstrom's light step draws us in to relish and consider of his ideas.
What a fine book.

This novel is very realistic, I loved the story! The smallest details of his life come to life for the reader and you feel like you are there with Billy as he walks into court.

There is so little details about what really happened during this trial, but Boggs is very imaginative at filling in the blank spots, to put this historical event in a tangible perspective for those of us that weren't really there to be able to see how it was. He even does a good job letting the reader know what is fact and what is pure speculation, so you come away with a good sense of what really happened, all the while having read an interesting and entertaining book. Any Kid afficionado should read this one.

It's is a great book that transports you to a world full of adventures some happy and others hard, but always finding the bright side of life and of things. It made me feel the same things Renate felt and made me laugh when she enjoyed life. I think this is a superb book but also the story of her life is an example for everybody, to learn that there is only one life and one must live it to the fullest.

From Rosemary Boyd, Editor, Laurel Press: "Renate Horney is one of the most vibrant and energetic, yet 'mellow,' people I've ever met. An octogenarian who radiates youthful enthusiasm, she is constantly on the go. One could read her memoir simply to absorb the attitudes suitable for enjoying a gratifying and fruitful older age if the book weren't so much more. The following excerpted comments from some of her readers express how much more."

From Sara Reimer, writer for the NY Times: "Once I started reading "Lazarus, What's Next?" I couldn't put it down. I wish it had been twice as long--I wanted more. You've had the most extraordinary life and I loved the warm, funny, and honest voice you found to tell your tale. It was happy and sad and profound all at once. I laughed out loud..."

From Jeanne W. Frank, writer: "The book is wonderful. It has all the elements of a page-turner: spontaneity, thoughtfulness, honesty, and the joy of life."

From Laurie Linda: "I've read countless biographies and memoirs, but I found yours to be absolutely spellbinding. I literally could not put it down, enjoying every moment."

This is part 2 of Arthur Kopecky's published journals written while a member of the New Buffalo commune in the highlands of New Mexico some 35-40 years ago. It is an incredibly enlightening story that holds many a lesson for us today. The question is: will we be able to ultimately live together on this planet? At New Buffalo, the world seemed to be represented in microcosm. All the joy, sadness, achievement, failure, agreement, conflict... everything that life holds, was experienced by a group of courageous, hard working, loving (and sometimes embattled) participants in a daring social experiment. The narrative is incredibly real and filled with the kind of human detail that makes for the most compelling reading. I couldn't put it down and was profoundly impressed. Arthur's introduction and epilogue provide a point of relevance to today's world. Many of the same issues that confronted these young people are hanging over the heads of today's youth. It's just possible that we may be able to make a change by applying again some of the ideas represented in these writings... By all means, read both books, New Buffalo and Leaving New Buffalo!

At the Bolinas commune, I couldn't figure out why Arthur Kopecky was under the covers with a flashlight every night writing in his diary when everyone else was sound asleep. A couple years later when I caught up with him at New Buffalo, he was still at it. As the decades passed, I wondered if anything ever came of it. In 2004, I googled the recently published *New Buffalo, Journals of a Taos Commune,* which was published to great critical acclaim. This second book is a real cliffhanger: How will the visionary leader end up leaving New Buffalo? Arty was always criticizing everyone else for lack of commitment. He must get kicked out, but how could the world's most committed communard be forced off the farm he had coaxed up from a patch of Taos desert? Who will the bad guys turn out to be? Yes, a nail-biter, but more important, a vindication of the 60s. It is disheartening that nearing the end of oil, the media continues to denigrate the important accomplishments of the back-to-the-land movement. Arthur Kopecky's journals are living proof that the "hippie trip" had a point, and in fact was often very focused. They show that city folk, with a lot of hard work, can survive on a self-sustainable farm without food stamps (if the government will leave them alone; with the wars on drugs, terrorism, and immigrants and possibly a new draft, the government will be even more an issue in the future). As we approach the end of oil as cities become increasingly unlivable, many will by design or destiny find themselves in a country way. The successes and failures at New Buffalo are instructive, and they are entertainingly and heartbreakingly described in these journals. Most important in the demise of New Buffalo was the lack of initial structure. But this book is not a primer on how to structure a commune. For that, google the 40-year-old Twin Oaks and hundreds more at the Foundation for Intentional Communities site. Read these journals for the joy of the ride: for the beautiful descriptive passages of the land and its inhabitants and the hilarious anecdotes, for the exhausting and elating interpersonal relationships, for the late night runs across the moonlit mesa, for a high-fashion Halloween party in the kiva after the day in the dairy, for the almost-forgotten appointment at the clinic kept covered with goat cum. Read it to your children to laugh together and give them hope for the future. Who knows what the future of Arthur Kopecky, a.k.a. Answei Livingproof, will bring? I can't wait to find out, and I hope there will be more journals to read. (You don't have to read the first book to "get" this one; it briefly recaps the first.)

Being a direct descendant of Rafael Chacón -- his granddaughter Ernestina was my maternal grandmother -- I admit to the possibility of a biased opinion, but I truly think this is an absolutely wonderful book. Although the memoirs themselves are quite extraordinary, Jacqueline Meketa's additional biographical research and information is exceptional.

I think Meketa's own words will give you the best sense of the importance of this book -- the following is an excerpt from the last part of the Introduction, pages 8-10...

The Chacón memoirs are unique and must not be underestimated. He was an important figure in nineteenth-century New Mexico who, until now, has been overlooked. But, with the publication of this work, Rafael Chacón will assume his rightful place as the voice of literally thousands of Hispanic New Mexicans who, muted by illiteracy and overpowered by an invasive Anglo culture, were unable to communicate their values, tenets, and sentiments to both their contemporaries and to those who were to come after. By sheer strength, the English-speaking Americans were able to superimpose their own standards and mores on the Hispanic culture, which had been in place for centuries; even worse, some Anglos allowed neither their position as foreign newcomers nor their ignorance of the native language and customs to dilute, to any degree, their prejudicial judgments and attitudes.

Although a few open-minded Anglo visitors to New Mexico in the last century did give a fair rendering, in diaries, articles, and letters, of the native people, by far the majority were blinded by their own backgrounds. This typically Victorian attitude of white supremacy not only inflicted much pain but also perpetuated many untruths. Perhaps now the distorted portrait of New Mexico's earlier colonizers, seen through a glass darkly, will be corrected through the rare Hispanic perspective preserved in Chacón's account.

Rafael Chacón's captivating eye-witness accounts of life before the arrival of the Americans paint a picture of a people who, although lacking many of the advantages and trappings of a more industrial society, lived with dignity and contentment. Their very isolation and somewhat primitive circumstances had given birth to a way of life in which simple pleasures were much appreciated. Courage, self-restraint, sharing, courtesy, a willingness to work hard, and mutual respect were highly valued. And overriding everything was a deep bond to the Catholic religion, which thoroughly permeated the daily thoughts and actions of the Hispanic populace. Though they were frequently deprived of the sacraments because of the shortage of priests and the requisite cash donations, they maintained an ardent attachment to their faith.

Rafael Chacón's account of his life is a singular gem for a number of other reasons. Its very length, scope, and sweep make it unusual, but, in addition, the author was an educated man of talent who was, as far as is known, the only man present at so many critical events paramount in shaping the course of New Mexico history during the tumultuous nineteenth century. Chacón's writing is rich in anecdotes, personal insights, and stories that cannot be found in official documents or formal histories depicting the events about which he writes. It contains detailed and pertinent information, much of which was previously unknown. Even more interestingly, in several instances Chacón voiced opinions or made charges that subsequent research supported, exposing some clay feet and contradicting certain items which had been accepted as incontrovertible by many researchers and writers.

Inevitably, any written account is filtered through its author's sensibilities and must be judged thus. But the premier characteristic that Chacón's peers attributed to him was integrity, and so it seems safe to observe that he was a man of honor and scruples who tried to set down honestly and without prejudice what he remembered of past events. Research has shown that Chacón did make some errors, mainly in the area of specific dates and numbers, and these have been pointed out where known; but, overall, he did an absolutely amazing job. How many of us, in our mid-seventies, could look back over an entire life and recall events as accurately as he has done?

It was indeed providential that Rafael Chacón was blessed with a long life, for his longevity had the effect of enhancing the value of his knowledge of bygone events once time had elapsed and his contemporaries no longer survived. Unfortunately, it is often human nature to trivialize current events while still, paradoxically, assigning great value and interest to happenings of earlier times. Thus it was that after the turn of the century much more importance was attached to Rafael Chacón's memories by both historians and family and friends. This was the impetus that finally moved Chacón to labor for six years to complete his written account. It is expected that this, the most complete picture ever drawn by one man of the Mexican and early territorial periods of New Mexico history as seen through the eyes of a Hispano, will be of interest to many future generations.

Rafael Chacon (1833-1925), personally witnessed the end of the Mexican Period and was an active participant in commercial, military, and political events during the early decades of the American era from territorial status to statehood. Legacy Of Honor: The Life Of Rafael Chacon, A Nineteenth Century New Mexican is unique in its detail, anecdotal style, human interest and presents one of the few existent Hispanic points of view on the era and events surrounding the creation of New Mexico. Chacon wrote his memoirs in his seventies to record for his family the drama, adventure, and sorrow he had experienced, including his later service in the American Civil War. He fought at the Battle of Valverde, fought Indians under Kit Carson, escorted the first officials to the new established territory of Arizona, and was one of the few Hispanics to attain the rank of Major, commanding Fort Stanton at the end of the war. Chacon went on to serve several terms in the territorial legislature before homesteading near Trinidad, Colorado. Legacy Of Honor is a superbly informative, biographical contribution to academic American history collections, and fascinating reading for American history buffs.