New Mexico Books

New Mexico, and the Taos area in particular, has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. John Nichols captures this beauty perfectly in his first of the Taos series, "If Mountains Should Die." Accompanied by heart-grabbing photographs, this book describes his first few years in Taos as a transplanted East-Coaster. Nichols not only captures the raw beauty of the land, but also the people that occupy it. Along with this, he describes the disturbing and continous struggle to keep it alive and free from suburbanization. His personal and touching accounts of his own struggle with the place and the people bring it alive in unexpected ways. There is also plenty of respect here, along with a deep anger for what is being done to the land, the people, and the unique way of life found in Taos Valley. As this is a very special place in my heart, I found it easy to cry and laugh along with him.

In Iguana Killer there are several stories of young boys and the growing up they have to do usually without too much financial security and the constant challenges that they meet in a bilingual as well as a bi-cultural setting. Rios has a gift for interpreting what goes on in young boys minds, and the stories themselves make for very good reading.

This a beautiful book that does an excellent job of visually documenting the hexigrams of the I-Ching.

In a Dybbuk's Raincoat is a hardcover anthology of collected poetry by California lyricist and poetry teacher Bert Meyers (1928-1979). Most of the free-verse poems are brief; their eclectic diversity shines with polished, original flair and range in subject from gentle reflections on aging to a blunt summary of the good, the bad, and the ugly of Los Angeles. Some of the collected poems were previously published in literary reviews or journal entries; others were previously unpublished. A smattering of prose works round out this outstanding anthology of lifetime achievement. "By the Sea": Across that loud scroll of water / fishermen still sail out / to earn a living, / a boat leaves for Peru... // And always, a multitude / unpacks a paradise / of Sundays on the sand / to celebrate the passage of its blood.

This book has been my "bible" for over 10 years. I returned to purchase more for my friends and found it out of print. Shame! This is for those who belive life is more than the the DOW or NASDAQ and that there is a world waiting to be explored and savored outside the office...

This is a beautiful book with stunning colour lithographs,line engravings and halftone engravings. The paper quality is superb and the colours in the lithos is deep and true. The colour plates & line drawings are by the author. I have rarely seen anything as stunning on this subject. Of course musch of the anthropological and historic information is outdated.

In his new book, Indian Country, Sacred Ground, Native People, photographer and writer John Annerino has once again captured the spirit, history and beauty of the American West. Traveling through the sacred land of the Navajo, Hopis, Apache and Pagago people, Annerino bears witness to the majesty, mystery and the spiritual magnificence of this land. His photographs capture awesome vistas and mountain ranges as well as Native ceremonies. He "sees" the light of this land in a way that conveys the deep emotional and spiritual attachement he has to both it and it's people and his words express and explan the history and beliefs of the areas tribes with respect and reverence. This is trully one of his finest works to date. Indian Country is a testament to the sacred history of the West and a lesson that these lands and traditions must be preserved and honored.

This is not a standard listing of Indian wars when describing what happened to the Native American Indians but what happened to them from the encroachment of several nations. The Americans, British, Spanish and French all had effects on the natives creating different policies and treaties. The book starts from the end of the French Indian War when the French become neutralized opening westward expansion. But the book delves immediately into the Spanish attempts to conquer the west particularly Texas, New Mexico and California. Using missions and the Catholic Church to create Missions or Presidios, the Spanish make attempts to subjugate the natives by forcing their religion on them and virtually making them slaves. Many tribes withdraw into the interior and the effects of disease are devastating reducing the populations tremendously. Hurt notes the enterprising trading of the Chinooks and how they were able to deal with the multiple cultures of Europeans. The author notes that Jefferson originated the plan to move natives west of the Mississippi. President Jackson manipulated breaking treaties on technical grounds arguing that State's rights could nullify Federal treaties forcing the removal of the Creeks, Choctaws, and Cherokees. Chickasaw and others. Fascinating that the author pinpoints how government leaders created divisions between full bloods and mixed bloods and among the splinter groiups of tribes to get legal signings that did not always represent the majority. Also, the author speaks of the attempts at confederation of several tribes such as the Shawnees, Miamis, Delewares, Wyandots, and Ottawas etc. to defeat white expansion. Success is shocking initially to the Americans as General Arthur St. Clair's army suffers a far worse defeat casualty wise than Custer's troop as he loses 623 dead and 250 wounded in 1791. Inevitably, the flourishing attempts of resistance are put down requiring natives to move further west causing their own conflicts with the plains Indians. In addition, the book covers accounts of tribes in conflict such as the Comanche who fought the Apache and the some unique forms of tolerance. An example is the New Mexicans tolerated the Comanche raiding Mexico for horses passing through New Mexico as long as the Comanche didn't attack them. Certainly stressed Mexican and American relations. Gruesome account of how the Mexican government attempted to use rewards fostering professional scalp hunters to eradicate the Apache who preyed on their undermanned frontier. This book sets the course of understanding how the natives were force to move or in some cases eradicated due to disease from white contact. This is an excellent book for a platform into the Plains Indian conflicts.

What a find. This is a small book, but I think anyone who makes pots would value it for life. The author, Toni, outlines the entire, traditional process of making Pueblo pottery. And I mean, she starts with collecting the clay and adding grog and goes all the way through the wood-buring, smoke firing process that produces those wonderful black, burnished pots!

She takes you through the process to create just ONE black pot, which turns out to be a prize-winner! There are lots of pictures throughout that show the pot during various stages and the text gives pretty detailed information on the process. She does leave out some things, maybe assuming the reader already knows them, but you could probably create your own Pueblo pot using this book.

I found the description of burnishing using slip to be most valuable, as well as the firing process, which I'd never seen before.

I highly recommend this to potters, especially handbuilders who use the coil method to build pots.

Polly's book is great in that it tells not only about the rock art and the styles but also tells about the cultures that have created it. I have a small rock art tour company in central Utah, and have read both this book and Rock Art of Utah. They are both great and have been a great help to me in my field.