Southwest Books

WOW! What a delight to receive this book as a gift and to find two of our members of Whispers of the West published in this great collection of Cowboy Poetry. Debra Coppinger Hill and Gerry "Casey" Allen are among some of the most respected Western Poets writing today. Though this was published in 1998, the works represented here are excellent and stand the test of time. Good illustratrations and a nice presentation. When can we look for the next collection to come out?

This is a nice selection of contemporary cowboy poetry, with a wide range of subjects and some very good poets. There are too few collections like this, and this is a welcome addition to any library.

If wanting to learn all about the cowboy side of life, this book offers it all. It's serious side shares the heartaches of life on the range, while the lighter side tickles your funny bone. A very enjoyable read. When's the next one due out?

I always wanted to be a cowboy when I was a kid! This is a great collection of poems that will entertain you and make you laugh. You will definitely laugh! This collection provides a glimpse of the romanticized image of these rugged individuals. The "Spirit of the West" comes alive through the words, and the illustrations are a hoot! Great read for all of us "wannabe" cowboys! The glossary is an excellent touch. Thanks.

I suggest reading this book before reading "Ride the Wind". It serves as a chronicalled historical foundation before reading the novel "Ride the Wind" that will definitely prepare you for an unimaginable journey into the world of the American Indian of 150 years ago.

This is a compact history ... but it does just what you want - gives what history is known of Cynthia Ann Parker. This is an excellent resource if you are wanting to know about Cynthia Ann Parker from the settler's perspective - the people she left behind, the family she had come from, and the search for her that continued throughout her 'captivity'. The author seems to steer clear of any area of conjecture, such as why Cynthia Ann got shuttled between family members after her return or what may have happened to her pension, and sticks only to documentable history. She also avoided sidetracking into the history of Cynthia Ann's famous son or the other people in her life except for as far as they pertain to Cynthia Ann's life. Focus is very tight, very informative.

On May 19th, 1836 nine-year-old Cynthia Ann Parker, a member of a group of religious families occupying Fort Parker in Texas, witnessed the massacre of friends and relatives by combined bands of Caddos, Kiowas and Comanche warriors. Abducted by the Comanches, Cynthia was raised for the next 25 years as a tribal member and became "fully" Comanche, giving birth to Quanah Parker, the last Comanche Chief and one of the most influential intermediaries of his time, a representative of both the Native American and White cultures. Abducted a second time as an adult by a well-meaning Texas Ranger, Cynthia Ann was forced to return to White society, but mourned deeply for her Comanche family, ultimately starving herself to death out of grief.

Much lore and legend has grown around the story of Cynthia Ann Parker over the years, and it has often been difficult to separate the myth from the reality of her dramatic story. However, Margaret Schmidt Hacker has done just that. Over a period of five years, Ms. Hacker painstakingly researched the archives in Texas, Oklahoma, California and Washington, D.C. and objectively weighed all the accounts of Cynthia Ann's life. The result of her efforts is what is considered the most authoritative book on the subject. Although scholarly, it is at the same time, a gripping drama of the Texas prairies, and very readable by anyone with an interest in the Old West. Highly recommended reading.

Countless folk tales and sagas have focused on the story of Miss Parker, a captive of the Comanches for more than 15 years. Many of them deal only with her years as the mother of the famous Quanah Parker. Author Margaret Schmidt Hacker devoted five years to researching the life of the Cynthia Ann to reveal the history behind the myth. This is the tragic story of the abduction of a nine year old girl who returned reluctantly to white society when she was 24. A fascinating portrait of her life among the Comanches on the Texas frontier.

It's hard to believe that no one knows who killed Kate Morgan. Or was the dead woman even Kate Morgan? Well researched and penned in a highly readable and entertaining way, Dead Move, showcases John Cullen's talent as a historian and writer. A beautiful young woman dies dramatically and tragically on a stormy night on the back steps of the Hotel Del Coronado. Presented as one of San Diego's most intriguing ghost stories, the narrative travels countrywide and even globally, introducing historic characters whose intricate relationships could easily be found in a classic whodunnit. Was it murder or was it suicide? John Cullen has dug up a true Victorian mystery and offers a convincing alternative solution to a death that has puzzled authorities for decades.

Cullen does a great job of building the theory of Kate Morgan and the other characters in this twisted plot of the 1890's. I was able to attend a presentation by John Cullen in Coronado at Bay Books earlier this summer and I was thrilled by his knowledge and his theories about what happened at the Hotel Del Coronado. I will order more of his books. He is obviously a very talented local writer.

In a meticulously researched book, Cullen comes up with an intriguing solution to a 19th century mystery. This is a fascinating story with many twists and turns. Who was Kate Morgan? Did the mysterious visitor to San Diego kill herself? If so, why? Over the years, many people have tried to guess what really happened. This book may have the answers.

Dead Move: Kate Morgan and the Haunting Mystery of Coronado, Second Edition (Nonfiction)Dead Move: Kate Morgan and the Haunting Mystery of Coronado

Here's a ghost story and a mystery with a REAL twist. I've enjoyed many a ghostly tale and have a passion for mysteries, too, but rarely have I seen the two combined as well as this. It's not just speculative fiction; looks like John Cullen sorted through a lot of history and combined it with some reasonable speculation to spin this tale. I got caught up in it from page 1 and couldn't let go. Definitely a winner and a worthwhile read. I recommend it highly!

This is a book that is easy to read. It beautifully explains many of the Navajo stories of their creation. There is humor, pathos and much wisdom.
If you read it, you will see parallels to other stories of creation.
A lovely book to read any time, but especially if you are planning to visit the American southwest. You will appreciate New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado in a heightened way, seeing sacred spots to the Navajo and understanding why they are to be respected.

This book is about the creation of life. How human beings evolved in a world that had kaos. This tale includes many different worlds, in which life was discovered. Many gods have created human life to bring forth to what we arrived to today, but the only thing to destroy us is kaos. Hatred among both sexes causes the seperation which leads to longing for one another. Among the humans, anxiety was brought to the world and the gods who created the world, got angey. So the gods took action and destroyed the world by pushing all forms of life out almost killing everyone, but the humans were the smartest and emerged into the next world which is known today

There are several versions of the Navajo Creation Story known but Paul Zolbrod has captured the most plausible and accepted rendition in print. Most Navajos that I know accept this text as adequate and feel that the author's treatment of the subject matter is fair and sensitive to a very vital element of Dine' culture. Many Navajos, especially elders will say that the material printed in this book used to be reserved for the sweat hooghan and special times between family members but understand that now things have changed and accept the publication of very special and sensitive aspects of a great peoples' religion, as long as it is done under the auspices of the Navajo Nation. Perhaps in time others will publish material more to the needs of Navajo scholars but to this day this book is the literary standard of the creation stories.

Paul Zolbrod does a fine job of collating his own transcriptions of Navajo oral traditions with the records of other scholars from decades past to create a seamless narration of the Navajo story of creation. This is a valuable contribution to a deeper understanding of a specific native American culture.

Some books are written. Others, like this one, are dug out from archives and special collections and less obvious sources to form a unique biography of an early California renaissance man who might've done more for his inchoate state than anybody not residing in the governor's office. As Nat Read reminds us, Don Benito Wilson has his name on countless street signs and schools and other places all around Southern California because at one time he just about owned half of LA as it today, including Pasadena and downtown LA. Indeed, had it not been for his work to establish an American govt. as the County's first clerk (think about that), who knows how different the region's might've turned out. This bio is not for everybody. There are passages of sweet wordsmithing and high drama, as when DBW fought to near death with an Indian, taking a arrow in the shoulder (among many other rugged injuries) and sections so dense with parcel info. and geographical specs. it's almost footnotish. Which is not to say it's not interesting, and orginal because it is. Read, a local PR man with a helluva colorful history himself as ad-man, Navy officer and writer, should be congratulated for working in his offhours to produce such an extraordinary effort. You almost can feel him carving out Wilson's legacy just as Wilson carved out his vision of the Republic as landowner, frontier man and early gov't. servant. For the most part, this is a very readable story, not flamboyantly overdone nor dishonest, and because of the nature of the subject, took oodles of digging, cross-referencing and ordering to knock into story shape. Hold the book up the light and Read's obsession to get everything he could radiates back. As it should. If you're interested in Southern California history -- really interested that is, and not just dabbling in Kevin Starr, this should be on your shelf with lots of dog-eared pages. It's sitting on my own that way.

(For the record, I'm a writer and freelance reporter myself, and I've crossed swords with Nat before in working on 710-freeway pieces. I'd never known during all those stories I was on the other side of the table from a fellow writer with some serious chops.)

A key player in Los Angeles History, very informative book with enough human interest to keep those of us who are more interested in people's stories than just dates and facts, interested.

Benjamin Wilson lead an astonishing life, and was the perfect man to arrive in Mexican California. Though he is largely known today only through the eponomous "Mt. Wilson", he created much of what we now see in Southern California. This book is a spectacular vista into that world, and on one of the men who shaped it.

Having to leave home as a teen, he became both a merchant and a mountain man, learning both commerce and the trapping skills of the Indians. Fleeing Santa Fe at age 30, he arrived in California with the first overland settlers in 1841. Intending to become a merchant in China, he failed (thrice) to make the boat from San Francisco, and instead bought a ranch near the San Gabriel mission - owning what we now call Riverside, California.

His adventures do not merely parallel the development of California; largely, they MAKE the development of California. He spanned both the Mexican and American eras, in marriage, politics, agriculture, commerce, railroads, Indian affairs, and especially real estate.

Though never taking Mexican citizenship, he married the daughter of a local don, became alcalde of the Riverside area, and finally joined the last Mexican government of Los Angeles. He was elected the first clerk of the new American Los Angeles, and its second mayor. As a state senator, he represented ALL of Southern California -- only a few thousand people.

The state was unbelieveably tiny. Many of the few hundred that voted in his elections in Los Angeles were drunks and Indians, rounded up the night before and paid (liquor or coin) to vote (as many times as possible). The center of the state popultion was *north* of San Francisco, as men poured in to the state to mine gold, and the few ranchers of Southern California raised the cattle to feed them.

On the land that B. J. Wilson owned, one million people now live. He created the first "gated community" in California -- when he fenced in the ranch that we now call Beverly Hills. He made much of what is now Pasadena, Altadena, and San Marino, both establishing the his vineyard at the foot of Lake Avenue, and dividing and developing his property for both Huntington (San Marino, Huntington Library) and for the Hoosiers (Pasadena). His real estate hands were in San Pedro (with Banning, owning the landing, developing the railroad, providing the US Army barracks), the Ballona marshlands (Marina del Rey), and downtown LA (especially the 12 acre site on the central plaza where Union Station now is). The road he cut up "Wilson's Mountain" for timber has later led to hotels, a major astronomical observatory complex, and to the home of nearly all Los Angeles's TV broadcast antennae.

His legacy is largely California itself, as his son failed into suicide, and the son-in-law to whom he turned over his vineyard lacked Wilson's imagination and vision. His one famous descedent was his grandson, Gen. George S. Patton, a man who shaped twentieth century events with the same gusto his grandfather had in the nineteenth.

Wilson's true legacy was the bussling city he helped create, developing it from dusty backwater adobe to thriving market town, atwitter with telegraph lines and railroads.

This book is not so much a single, chronological, narrative story as it is a collection of vignettes, anecdotes, and short stories about all the aspects of Wilson's life, with chapters on his mountain days, politics, the vineyard, Pasadena, San Pedro, the Mexican-American War, properties, railroads, etc. The material was extensively researched, from both first- and second-hand sources, and extensively footnoted. (Much of the research was done at the Huntington Library, just east of where Wilson's vineyard ranch-house stood.) This will be, for the twenty-first century, the definitive biography of a creator of nineteenth century California.

This is a beautifully crafted narrative which describes the struggles associated with California's coming of age through the lens of one of its first mayors. Don Benito lived a colorful life, and the author presents it in a series of vignettes and carefully researched anecdotes. By providing context to Don Benito's personal story, the author presents a concise history of California, from the first Spanish settlers and their missions up to references to modern L.A., and how it was shaped by the movers and shakers of the 19th century. Although it is hard to put down, you can pick it up again, easily, without fear of losing your place in the story, since the chapters are short and self-contained. The writing is clear and compact, and it is a fascinating historical document. This is the perfect book for anyone who loves a good story.

It is with some awe in my own breast that I write a review for this remarkable little book, which is a "Historical Diary" and therefore of importance to those who would study history from the human element rather than strictly through footnotes. I offer a quote taken from her that struck me as one of the most unique I have heard uttered - flowing from the mind through the pen and on to posterity from of one of the Pioneers; the raw honesty springing from the personal epic she never designed for others other than family to ever see:

"There is such Independence, so much free, uncontaminated air, which impregnates the mind, the feelings, nay, every thought, with purity. I breathe free without that oppression and uneasiness felt in the gossiping circles felt in the settled home."

The writer is not polished; but her work was never intended to be published. What makes it so intriguing is that she managed to capture the moment, the time, complete with names, descriptions of the country and the peoples as she was thoughtfully living it, something most of us would either not think of doing, or be distracted in the monumental tasks of everyday work in such an environment. Which brings me to the crux of the matter in a hurry: this woman, though very young, was educated, had married a mature, much older man man who had a thriving, though fraught with danger Trade business established on the fringes of the frontiers. She was pampered throughout the journey; yet never seemed to take it for granted. As a result, she could write enthusiastically of events and gather wildflowers at will, almost as a scientific mode arising unintentioned from the moment; this free, unencumbered freedom from heavy responsibility obviously was one of the things that allowed her to devote her time, energy and full attention to matters of the day that were happening around her, while her servants did the mundane work. This alertness is felt throughout the book, even in the midst of the terror of Mexican and Indian attacks that came within miles of their supply train. I don't know how much of this she went back and wrote with a steadier hand, but it appears that she was in full self-control at all times, even during these times of high stress.

Her devotion to her husband is genuine, and is felt in a way much different than many diaries I have read. It seems as though their union was one of love, companionship; yet comprised of a strong sense of individualism, another idea that was rare within that era of female domination. She describes the grass, the cold, sweet limestone water, the suffering of the animals when lack of feed and water arose - it made no difference - the wagons must travel on.

In short, she wrote what is possibly one of the most accurate, historical accountings, unembellished of the Santa Fe Trail at that time simply because she didn't know she was doing it.

If you love old Southwest history, American Frontier History of any kind, you will enjoy this book.

Many journals of travelers along the Santa Fe (and Oregon and California) Trail have been published, but Susan Magoffin's ranks among the best of them. Susan Magoffin was born of a wealthy family in Kentucky and had recently married the successful Santa Fe trader Samuel Magoffin. They had spent six months on a honeymoon trip to New York and Philadelphia (about which Susan also kept a journal, though to my knowledge it has not been published), and now, two months after their return to Independence, Missouri, she was to accompany her husband on a caravan transporting goods along the Santa Fe Trail to northern Mexico. She was 18 years old.

Magoffin is as charming as any 18 year old could be, and it's a joy for the reader to share her sense of adventure. She is obviously having the time of her life, despite the inconveniences of broken wagon bows and stormy weather. We also get a view of what life was like for typical travelers on the trail. There is also intrigue to a degree: Samuel's older brother James was on a mission for President Polk preceding Stephen Kearny's troops during the initial stages of the Mexican War, and news about James enters the journal at certain points, including once where he was robbed by the Apaches but somehow escaped with his life. After the trading caravan reached Santa Fe, the Magoffins contined on into Mexico, spending time at Chihuahua. The journal ends on September 8, 1847, and does not include her contracting yellow fever at Matamoras where she also gave birth to a son (he died a few days later). The couple then sailed across the Gulf of Mexico to the Mississippi River and to Susan's family in Kentucky. (Susan would live only another eight years, dying of childbirth at age 27.)

It's a wonderful first-hand account. My only complaint is that I wish editor Stella Drumm had identified locations (camping sites, geographic sites, etc.) mentioned by Magoffin in the journal. Other than that, it's a chronicle that can be read often and always seem fresh and exciting. A must-read record of an important and lively adventure.

I am an author. I am writing a novel based on my grandmother's life. I'm using this book as a guide to writing her story. She was born in 1863 in Clinton, Iowa and traveled west. The route she took is not know but this book gives a vivid account of the trail and its tribulations and high points.

Magoffin was a name familiar to the Mexicans who had trading relations with Susan's husband for years before he married her and took her with him from the states on an expedition to Chihuahua, Mexico. She kept a diary from which she drew her information for the only book I know written by a woman, young and pregnant, whose fate it was to die in her 26th year, at home. Accounts from her perspective at such a crucial time in relations between the United States and Mexico, in a venacular peculiarly her own, make her work one of considerable importance to the serious student of the time. Revealing also are individual encounters with men, some from her own country, and her opinion of Gen. Stephen Watts Kearny, commander of the U.S. Army of the West stationed in Sante Fe. Susan was a young lady of class the exercise of which makes the reader proud, and whose elegance charmed all who came to know her.

Painstakingly compiled and with an expert, knowledgeable commentary by Shelby J. Tisdale, Fine Indian Jewelry Of The Southwest: The Millicent Rogers Museum Collection offers an impressively informative history and survey of the southwestern Native American jewelry that is represented in the collection of the Millicent Rogers Museum as the result of art patron and passionate collector Millicent Rogers who assembled a spectacular collection of Navajo and Zuni silver and turquoise, Hopi silverwork, and Pueblo stone and shell jewelry during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Of special interest is the chapter devoted to "The Origins of Indian Jewelry in the Southwest". Profusely illustrated and a very strongly recommended addition to personal, academic, and community library Native American Studies reference collections, Fine Indian Jewelry Of The Southwest is enhanced for scholars and non-specialist general readers alike with the inclusion of a glossary, references, and an index.

I HAVE ORDERED SEVERAL BOOKS FROM AMAZON AND THEY ARE EXPEDIENT AND HAVE A GOOD BOOKS AT A GREAT PRICE. AVAILABILITY GREAT. I WILL CONTINUE TO DO BUSINESS WITH AMAZON AND THEIR SERVICE. THANK YOU, BECKY DYER

This is a glorious book of Southwest Indian Jewelry with interesting info on Millicent Rogers, who herself was a work of art.

A must-have for collectors of Southwest Indian Jewelry.

If you like Indian Jewelry but can't get to the museum in Taos this is a great first book on the subject. If you do go to the Millicent Rodgers Museum, this is the book to help you savor that grand experience for many years to come. And it's a great reference work if you are contemplating investing in Zuni or Navajo jewelry.

Wilford's Trading Post
Gallup, New Mexico

If anyone has been to the Four Corners area, particularly the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley, you will appreciate the author who takes you well beyond those more obviously known pleasures and takes you into more remote and attrarctive parts of the large four corners area giving the reader an introduction to geology while explaing in the initial chapyers how the land and continent was formed. The books goes on to discuss each area, its rock formations including mountains, plateaus and valleys and the vegetation that makes each area unique. The author includes interviews with numerous specialists throughout the book along his own personal journey through these ares that he hikes and camps and spends time in some very remote areas. His discussion of the people that once lived on the land and the ones that currently do provides a human linkage to present day. The mystery of the Anasazi is quite fascinating as these ancient cliff dwellers disappaered around 1400 AD but may have become part of the present day Hopi tribe. The description of their cliff like fortess dwellings and the archelogical studies is one of the most interestiung parts of the book. Why did they live along a cliffs in large communities and what happened to them? The book is not a quick read but one that deserves patience to appreciate the indepth descrptions that Brown provides. The only downturn, which is very slight, is that the author has little tolerance for tourists that in his opinion, along with the specialist he meets, strongly feel that tourists overwhelm these sensitive sites. However, for one who loves to travel these wonderful places with great respect for the sensitivity of the environment, we must all do our part to try to rein in those few that unfortunatey create a negative impact no matter where they visit or live.

As a native of Utah and a student of the geology and natural history of the Colorado Plateau, this is without a doubt the best available summary of the fascinating heritage of the Four Corners region. I've read the paperback edition from front to back twice and parts of it three times. I recently managed to find a copy in hard back in excellent condition that I've added to my collection of keepers, and I'll read it again before I make my next trip to southern Utah. It astonishes me that I have yet to find this book at any of the national park bookstores. This book is very highly recommended for anyone with an interest in or planning to visit the most remarkable region of the continental United States. It's a great introduction to so many facets of this awesome area! In my opinion, it communicates the flavor of the country as well as John Wesley Powell's classic documentary of the first formal exploration of the Colorado River. Don't miss this one.

Michael Shea, MD

This book deserves a less prosaic name. With an engaging writing style, Kenneth Brown provides a knowledgeable and highly readable introduction to the natural and human history of the Colorado Plateau, including the geology, forests and biological life zones, and the Anasazi, Pueblo, Navajo, Spanish, Mormon, and recent Anglo influences. I'd highly recommend Four Corners to anyone with an interest in this fascinating region.

This is a fascinating account of the land and people of the Four Corners region of the southwestern US. Brown is as interested in the geology of the region as he is in the settlers of it. The book is basically divided into five large sections, one for each major point on the compass and a fifth entitled "Center." He begins each section with a thorough discussion of its geology. From there he proceeds to the peopling of each section, from the early hunters and gathers to the Anasazi, Spaniards, and Mormons. His long sub-section on the Anasazi is especially good. One thing Brown makes clear is that, unlike the "politically correct" view held by many today, the Americas were not a Garden of Eden before European contact was made. Native tribes fought ferociously with one another over land and resources; even slavery was practiced among the tribes. And after the disastrous Pueblo uprising of 1680 that virtually emptied the country north of the Rio Grande of all Spanish inhabitants, the Spanish realized they would have to cooperate with the Natives to insure security and success.

Brown is an excellent writer and captures the uniqueness of the desert Southwest well without going into rapturous (and phony) doggerel. He is a "loner," however, relying on historical records or scientific textbooks for most of his information, and rarely brings along another geologist or historian to hash out information. (This being the case, it's surprising that there is no bibliography included.) Even his own personal observations, other than a few camping/hiking scenes thrown in here and there, are kept to a minimum. Some might object to this impersonal approach, but it didn't bother me at all. The book is interesting and informative - an excellent overview of the desert Southwest.

I have not counted the number of books and papers regarding Geronimo's surrender but they are many. Here are the facts, easy to read, accurate, and presented in a very enjoyable read. The author has done an excellent job presenting to the common man the story of bravery, death, and hardship of the early American soldier, and the betrayal of the American Indian. Many thanks to the author and publisher. Where are the awards for them?

If you don't feel capable of wading through the Western history in this book, I suggest you see the movie "Geronimo." It's an excellent, slightly-fictionalized story of the Apache war chief Geronimo played by Wes Studi and Lt. Charles Gatewood played by Jason Patric.

Gatewood, the U.S. army's foremost expert on the Apaches, persuaded Geronimo to surrender in 1886. Both Geronimo and Gatewood were betrayed by the U.S. government. Geronimo was sent to Florida to prison; Gateway was sent to oblivion, remaining a lieutenant until the end of his military career.

Geronimo is remarkable as a cunning, cruel guerilla leader fighting to keep his freedom from the encroaching Whites; Gatewood is remarkable for the integrity he brought to his job as an indian agent and soldier. It's comforting to see Gatewood's qualities are remembered in book and movie long after more conventionally successful men have been forgotten.

This book maintains a high standard of accuracy and scholarship. It tells one of the best stories from the old West.

KLIATT, November 2000 Reviewed by Raymond L. Puffer, Ph.D., Historian, Edwards Air Force Base, CA

Most historical accounts of Geronimo and the lengthy struggle of his Apache warriors against white settlement have focused upon either the Chiricahua leader himself, or the two U.S. Army generals usually credited with forcing their bitter surrender. George Crook and Nelson Miles were indeed instrumental in planning and leading the campaigns that hounded the remnants of the Apache people into their inevitable subjugation. Neither, however, could convince the holdouts ot lay down their arms and put themselves at the white man's mercy. That role fell to a weary cavalry lieutenant, Charles B. Gatewood, who had won the Indians' grudging respect through hard fighting and his sympathy to their plight. In the course of a final meeting, which was as poignant as it was historical, Gatewood at length persuaded the exhausted "renegades" to lay down their arms to General

Miles, and to accept his offer of farmland and aid. When Geronimo did so, the last native resistance to federal hegemony came to an end. Ultimately, though, Geronimo and Lieutenant Gatewood were betrayed by the federal government.

Louis Kraft has written an important and historically significant study of the final phase of the Apache Wars. Unusual for such books, this one is as readable as popular history, and it will be enjoyed by those who have an interest in looking behind the scenes of history. The book is a fine reminder that earnest, hardworking and suffering people were responsible for the events in their textbooks.

Publishers Weekly, April 17, 2000

This recent addition to the parallel lives genre is a superbly told tale of the vicious Apache wars of the 1880s in Arizona, New Mexico and Mexico. Drawing upon a variety of original sources, Kraft (Custer and the Cheyenne) reconstructs the complex story of the famous Chiricahua leader Geronimo, a medicine man who came forward as a tribal leader and headed resistance to the coerced settlement of his people on reservations where they were to become farmers instead of nomadic hunters. Lt. Charles B. Gatewood of the 6th U.S. Cavalry was posted to Arizona in 1878 and became a respected leader of Apache scouts, who tracked Apache guerrillas for the U.S. The frail lieutenant, sent to administer the Apache reservation, seemingly treated his charges fairly, earning the enmity of civilians and army brass, which led to a stalemated career and a lengthy court case brought by a man whom Gatewood arrested for defrauding Apaches. After meeting at various times and maintaining a mutual respect, Gatewood and Geronimo came together again in 1886, when the former was ordered to track the latter to Mexico and convince him to surrender, even as columns of American and Mexican troops searched for Geronimo's elusive group. The tension and frustrations of what was Gatewood's final mission are palpable, as he convinces Geronimo to allow the tribe's "relocation" to Florida. Gatewood, who gets much fuller treatment here than his counterpart, never got his due for brilliant service in tragically misguided cause, and Geronimo never again saw his homeland or many of his family, from whom he was separated.

"Gatewood and Geronimo" by Louis Kraft documents the heroic deeds of a man of unheralded greatness, of one Charles B. Gatewood. Many lesser men rose to the rank of general while Gatewood died holding the same rank he held when he played the key role in efecting the surrender of the formidable Apache warrior, Geronimo. The surrender of Geronimo effectively ended the American Indian Wars. Kraft's volume brings focus on the long neglected importance of Gatewood's role in American history, and on the long term effects that one ordinary man's moral integrity can have on human history, even though it was ignored, and even despised while Gatewood was alive.

I have been looking for this kind of book for years and this hit it right on the spot. The condition and price were also spot on. thanks

This book is terrific! As a foreigner, I learned a lot about the history of geology by reading this book. Highly recommended.

The title of this book says it all. The story begins two billion years ago and follows the formation of the continental crust of what is now the southwestern US. It then follows that chunk of land to the present, as supercontinents form and disintegrate, island chains collide, and mountains rise and fall. Unlike so many books about the geology of the southwest, Baldridge focuses on the plate tectonics behind the processes. This approach allows the reader to understand the "why" behind advancing and retreating seas, uplifts, faults and volcanoes. The geographic area studied is the southwest, although the Colorado Plateau seems to gather the most attention. It is seen in a broad geological context that includes what happened in places like Death Valley, the Rio Grande Rift and Southern Rocky Mountains. Baldridge places his explanation in standard geologic time, but his chapter breaks are in locations driven by the regional geology, not the standard hierarchy. For a Grand Canyon example, the Chuar and Tonto groups are a single chapter, a fresh (and justifiable) perspective. The story that comes through is a "life story" of the southwest, in which a reader can see the region's geology evolve, illustrating how events in its past shape its response to new conditions.

The book's broad scope means that the history of individual rock layers are often not there - indeed, many layers are not even mentioned (although the fame of Grand Canyon's rock column is evident, most of ours are). The layers serve to illustrate a "story line" driven by the forces acting on the land, they do not break the story into pieces because of what is (or is not) preserved in today's exposures. In developing this evolutionary presentation, Baldridge has to sort through many, often conflicting, hypotheses. He does a good job of finding common threads. In many cases, he presents different mechanisms but concludes with the salient points that seem to be areas of agreement or with the conditions that a solution must explain.

This book is not for the geologically faint of heart. It assumes a pre-existing general understanding of plate tectonics and other geological principles. It is not the place to learn how plate tectonics works, but is the best place I have found to understand how plate tectonics worked on the Colorado Plateau. It will not tell you how the Grand Canyon was carved, how Monument Valley formed, what makes the Supai Group red, or other specific questions. But it does provide the vast historical panorama against which such questions can be asked. From a degree of technicality, it is less technical than Beus and Morales' Grand Canyon Geology, but certainly well beyond Price's Introduction to Grand Canyon Geology. In the preface, Baldridge says his target audience is "upper level undergraduates and graduates." I would expand this to include anyone with a real interest in the Colorado Plateau, and who wants the "big picture" only hinted at in most treatments of the region (like Baars' The Colorado Plateau: A Geologic History). For readers with a more casual familiarity with geology, it could be a difficult read, but the rewards are great for a comprehensive understanding of the area's history.

I liked it - a lot!

An excellent introduction to the geology of the American Southwest, including most of the Colorado Plateau in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, as well as parts of California (in particular Death Valley), Nevada, and Texas. All chapters devote considerable space to a discussion of the plate tectonic settings and paleogeography of the geologic period under consideration. The tectonic settings and processes are of central importance in understanding the amazing and extensive rock record being described. This book contains a host of useful maps, stratigraphic and correlative diagrams, and crisp images of many rock formations discussed in the text. For example, a figure on page 170 I found particularly useful displays a cross section of the famous Jurassic sedimentary rocks spanning the Arizona-Utah border (which is equally applicable to southwestern and far western Colorado), showing schematically but clearly the complex horizontal and vertical relationships, including unconformities, of the major Jurassic rock units present in what can be at times a confusing area of geological terrain. The geology of many of the National Parks and Monuments in the American Southwest, particularly Grand Canyon National Park, is interwoven very nicely with the overall theme and level of the book. All in all, a very useful reference covering 2 billion years of Earth history in this part of the United States, particularly appropriate for undergraduates and graduate students studying geology and the Earth sciences. An extensive bibliography, cited frequently in the text, provides many points of introduction to the supporting literature, and opportunities for further exploration. Undergraduates who plan on participating in a geology field camp in the American Southwest will no doubt benefit by reading this book before their departure.