Southwest Books

I really enjoyed this book. I am an adult beginning/intermediate Spanish student and am always looking for opportunities to practice my limited skills. This books is filled with wonderful folk tales which are a joy to read, and the English translations provide me with immediate assistance.

This is a very entertaining collection of folk tales in bilingual Spanish/English format. The stories range from funny anecdotes of life, to tales that teach the wisdom of the people of the Southwest, to tales of witchcraft.

The translations are sometimes even better than the originals. No wonder because one of the translators, Rudolfo Anaya, is a best selling author and superb writer.

This book offers an opportunity for people who want to improve their Spanish. Read the original Spanish first and refer to the English translation when you get to the parts you don't understand.

The book is great campfire or bedtime reading for kids. Both you and your kids will come out wiser for it.

This lavishly illustrated, large-format "coffee-table" book would make a good showing in anyone's living room--even if it is never read. On the other hand, it provides the most succinct and informative descriptions of the Desert Southwest's major prehistoric native cultures that I have ever read. With this single volume, anyone interested in the ancient cultures of North America can acquire a basic understanding of the Southwest's major five: Anasazi, Mogollon, Salado, Hohokam, and Sinagua. Cheek provides all the information a person needs to know in order to begin learning about these fascinating groups of people.

Descriptions of each culture, along with major archaeological sites representing each, as well as respectable interpretations of major archaeological findings blend to form an indispensible resource for any student of prehistoric North America. I wish I had found this book years ago.

I just thought I'd say a word about my liking this book very much. I am very interested in the indians from the thirteenth century, and this book did a wonderful job of presenting the information extremely well.

Well,I had heard of this book before I saw it in a local bookstore,but I thought it wouldn`t be good,as the desert book "Western Horizon" was said to be better.
But I was wrong at this time. Already when I first looked inside it,I knew it would be amazingly suggestive for me. And I bought it. It was rather cheap for beeing such a book.
It features all kinds of deserted landscape from the US.
Some times,it doesn`t look much like desert,mostly in the Mojave,which the first chapter is about. Deserts are not at all lifeless places - in fact,it is full of wild palms,beautifull flowers and cacti with artistic shapes.
The second chapter treats the Sonoran Desert,and it,too,contains more of the diverse flora,especially the red cactus flowers.
In the third chapter,called Colorado Desert - Life on the Rocks,there are lots of such pictures too,but there is one special image that catches your attention immidiatley - pressure ridges in a salt pan,which looks like the finest crystals ever found!
The fourth chapter shows other kinds of desert. For you who like rocky deserts,this is something. It has fantastic sceneries from hundreds of feet high rocks,as well as a picture of dunes with white sand. That is the most lifeless of all deserts and the quietness is sometimes even frightening.
The fifth chapter is about The Great Basin Desert,and that is the largest desert of North America. Many pics in this chapter contains really fantastic views,and you`ll even find SNOW here!In a desert!Just amazin,isn`t it?Some of the most inspiring pictures are found here,and therefore,this is my favorite chapter. The special with those pictures are the mud formations at dusk.
The sixth chapter is "Painted Desert",which is also very inspiring,and here there are some pictures of the Colorado Plateau,which is fantastic rock formations where fossils of my favorite animals can be found (dinosaurs!). Many of the formations here are well-known from Western Movies. In this chapter,amazing pictures of Grand Canyon can be found as well.
I have now realized that this is my No.1 inspiration source for my animal stories. When I am drawing them,I am always looking at pictures of this book to find a suitable background for my dinosaurs. I am combining the best pictures. And then it is just to add the dinos. When I read this book,I pretend that I am trying to create a good dinosaur movie when looking at the pictures. It is incredibly inspiring,and ABSOLUTELY something for anyone who likes painting or look at landscapes.
You could spend (money) for "The Western Horizon" or (less) for this one. The choice is up to you. But I have made mine. Get inspired and save a lot of money by buying this one!

Jeff Gnass and John Murray have managed to convey with in the pages of this wonderful book the incredibly diverse and colorful landscapes that makeup the desert regions of the south western United States. Their photographic images are with out a doubt some of the best ever put to film. Tne text is entertaining as well with personal insights relating to visiting a particular area photographed. I never grow tired of looking at the images- they are as close as you can get without actually being there. Highly recommended for lovers of the desert regions or for those that would like to experience them but cannot get there.

This book is EXACTLY what I was looking for. Perfect condition and rapid delivery. Excellent service.

This was also added to my design collection of southwest decorating at its best. This is a very enjoyable book I always look at this for more items for another project. Or just to enjoy what someone else has done to make their living environment lovely.

Lucien Niemeyer and Thomas Lowe Fleischner's Desert Wetlands is a 'must' for any collection focused on ecology and desert environments. 'Desert wetlands' may seem an inconsistent term, but there are indeed wetlands in the desert, as photographer Lucian Niemeyer and environmental scientist Thomas Fleischner demonstrate. While Niemeyer photographs such wetlands in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico, among other states, naturalist Fleischner provides stories about water and his encounters with desert wetlands during his field research in the southwest.

All our states have wetlands. But the wetlands in the Chihuahuan, Great Basin, Mojave and Sonoran deserts play a much more important role than wetlands in the east. For northern birds and mountain animals migrate down south to these deserts for food, mating and water. They can't count on water from rainfall. The area's so hot rain dries back into the air. That's exactly why they're called deserts. The original word in Latin means abandoned or forsaken. And deserts have been abandoned or forsaken by water.

But that's in terms of rain water. In fact, these deserts have water. The water's found in areas called wetlands. Wetland water comes from three sources. One's mountain snow melting in spring and fall. Much of that water stays in mountain bogs, lakes and ponds dammed by beavers. But some always trickles into the deserts during the summer. Another's the underground water table. That's becoming a problem. More cattle-grazing also means more cows drinking water. More people working, playing and living in the areas means more Americans using water.

The last source is area rivers, such as the Rio Grande and the San Pedro, San Juan, Escalante and Colorado rivers. All the great area rivers start out as source number 1. For they trace back to melted snow of the Cascade, Rocky, San Juan and Sierra Nevada mountains. River water's also becoming a problem. More cattle tanks, dams, reservoirs and stock ponds change river water levels and routes. Changed water levels and routes will change living conditions for area plants, bugs, birds and animals.

Specifically, two main types of plant communities grow up along southwest rivers. One's a mixed broadleaf of willow, walnut, sycamore, cottonwood, ash and alder. That's usually found along rocky streams. The other's a forest of cottonwoods and willows. That's usually found on flooded sand, gravel and clay plains. But non-native Russian olive in the north and tamarisk in the south are giving native cottonwoods and willows a beating. White pelicans and sandhill cranes see native trees as familiar landmarks of desert wetland homes. In fact, cottonwoods and willows are homes to more breeding birds than anywhere else in North America. Breeding birds and their babies find the healthest foods, full of proteins and vegetables, in cottonwood and willow leaves full of insects.

Desert wetlands make up only 3.5% of total U.S. lands. But after tropical rainforests, they're the world's second largest supporters of plant, bug, bird and animal life. Also, they're homes to 50% of all our endangered animals. It all comes down to link after link between native plants, bugs, birds and animals built up over time in one area.

Photographer Lucien Niemeyer and writer Thomas Lowe Fleischner have come up with an impressive book. The writing's clearly organized. The photographs are stunning. The examples are to-the-point. The last chapter's followed by a list of all plants and animals covered by the book. The book ends with a helpful set of notes and a current bibliography.

Without drama and with supported facts, this team has given us what we need to know about that problem area where people and nature are closing in on each other. It's what Virginia Tech master gardening calls the wildlands-urban interface between people and nature. That's the big concern nowadays. And it's not going to go away.

This carefully researched and well written book will be appreciated by anyone with an interest in the history of the American west, the desert Southwest, the old emigrant trails, or historic Route 66. Beale's Wagon Road, which followed the route that was later to become the famous Route 66 across the Southwest (generally followed now by Interstate 40), was actually a faster and safer route to California than the much more popular Gila Trail to the south through Apache territory --- but it was avoided by most emigrant parties after news spread of the tragedy that befell the first party that attempted to follow it. Although almost forgotten now, the disaster was so notorious at the time that it wasn't until the opening of a railroad along the route, followed by the development of the automobile, that this historic road became widely used.

That ill-fated journey by the Rose-Baley wagon party is the subject of this book, along with useful background information on the Hualapai and Mojave Indians, the Santa Fe Trail, and the Sitgreaves, Whipple, Aubry, and Beale surveying expeditions across northern Arizona in the 1850s. This is a pioneering work on an important but largely forgotten event in the history of the westward migration in the 19th century, and it is surely the definitive work on the subject to this point.

This book is beginning to attract quite a bit of attention from historians, history buffs, and general readers alike. While there are a multitude of books recounting the history of the California, Santa Fe, Mormon and other historic trails, surprisingly little has been done on a little known Trail that originated in Ft. Smith, Ark., traversed southern Oklahoma, crossed the northern tip of Texas into New Mexico and Arizona and ended at the Colorado River crossing on the California-Arizona border. I predict it is the first of a flurry of studies looking at an amazing story this is largely untold.
In 1857 the War Department, eager to find an alternative route to the main California Trail that was considered risky given the mounting pressure to subdue Mormons in Utah, and the lengthy Southern Route that ran through Apache territory, commissioned a survey that resulted in the Beale Wagon Road. It was to be the first federally funded interstate road to traverse the rugged southwest desert, canyons, and rocky terrain obtained from Mexico at the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848. Edward Fitzgerald Beale, a retired Navy Lieutenant, was chosed to survey and construct a road that was to attract emigrant wagon trains and save an estimated 200 miles and thirteen days of travel. Not only was the mission unique but also his crew of 50 men traveled with a most unusual contingent of pack animals: 22 camels from the Middle East were used to carry the supplies and equipment for the expedition.
The book traces the history of the Beale Road in general terms and specifically recounts the experiences of the first emigrant wagon train to attempt the crossing in 1858. The story of what came to be known as the Rose-Baley wagon train, comprised of a group of Missouri and Iowa emigrants that met in Albuquerque, is an exciting and tragic account of an effort to arrive in California and the "land of plenty." To say the attempt was a disaster is perhaps charitable. The road was not as passable as the civic leaders in Albuquerque stated; water was much more scarce as originally thought; the so-called experienced guide was lacking in knowledge and directional aptitude; the peaceful Hualapais Indians were more hostile than advertised; and the reception encountered at the Colorado River crossing, instigated by the Mojave Indians, was deadly.
In a highly readable, narrative style Baley recounts the story and reviews its aftermath and legacy not only for the Rose-Baley emigrant party but also for the Mojave's and Beale's Wagon Road. There is an index, bibliography, appendix, extensive endnotes, and helpful maps and photos. This is a major contribution about the first emigrants attempt to traverse what was then known as the 35th paralled. Most now know it as old Route 66 and I-40. Highly recommended.

Even if this book sucked, I couldn't rate it lower than five stars, if for no other reason than that this book is IT.
It's the only record of this particular part part of the Southwest from before the area was overrun by Spanish and Anglo settlers. It's the book that guided decades of explorers and missionaries, and that has mercifully survived to offer us hints of what life in the West could be like BACK THEN.
It's the story of Francisco Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, two Spanish friars, who were tasked in 1776 with the goal of forging a route from a mission in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to a mission in Monterrey, California, and of locating sites for new missions along the way-to convert Indian "heathens," "barbarians," and "infidels."
Domínguez was in his mid-thirties, but Escalante was only about twenty-five years old. The two, with a small group of others, decided to avoid a northern route--out of fear of an Indian tribe rumored to eat light-skinned travelers--and as a result were among the very first to make maps and to record details of the Southwest's rivers and mesas. Their group started late in the year though, a sudden blizzard soon made progress impossible, and when they reached north-central Utah, they decided to head south and work their way back to New Mexico. They ran out of food, lived by eating their horses, and suffered unbearable cold, rebellious group members, and severe, frequent thirst. They reached the Colorado River around present-day Lees Ferry, southwest of where Glen Canyon Dam is now, and worked their way north along the river, looking for a way across.
They passed the often-photographed Castle Rock and Gunsight Butte, chipped steps into the slickrock to allow their pack animals to get down to the shore, lowered their belongings over a cliff with ropes, and after some scouting, found an ancient Ute Indian river crossing, where the water was slow and shallow enough to ride across. That place became known as the Crossing of the Fathers, and is right around where Lake Powell's Padre Bay is now.
Their trip made an approximately two thousand-mile-long circle through mostly unexplored terrain, took nearly six-and-a-half months, and explored more undocumented, unknown land than Lewis and Clark would later in their over two-year-long journey. When the fathers got back to Santa Fe, however, only their failure to reach California mattered much to anyone, along with their apparent waste of funds, horses, and supplies.
Escalante was practically exiled, and died within five years as the result of bad health obtained from his trials in the desert.
Domínguez was demoted, his possibilities of advancement destroyed, and he died anonymously as an old man, never recognized for what he'd done.
If you are interested in the West, or the Colorado Plateau, or Glen Canyon, you need to read this. There's just no way around that. It contains information you will find nowhere else, and it's actually a fairly enjoyable read. (I never would have thought Spanish priests could be so SARCASTIC....)

In all practical aspects, the Dominguez and Escalante expedition was a failure. The two Spanish fathers were unable to locate an overland route between the Spanish colonies of Santa Fe, New Mexico and Monterrey, California, and in 1776 it seemed that all the two men had done was wander aimlessly in the north for six months. The lasting impact these two men have had on history (and particularly Utah's history), however, are far greater than they could have known.

The expedition made a map, but it is basically worthless in its inaccuracy. Still, the description they left of their route, and most notably that of Utah Valley, was later a great resource for subsequent explorers of Utah, especially John C. Fremont. Their expedition, failed though it was, nevertheless is important as the first written record of the territory that would later become Utah. In addition, the journal did not outlive its usefulness in 1844, when the second of Fremont's expeditions was completed, or even later when Stansbury, Gunnison, and others surveyed the territory. This journal is important even today, because it provides us with a natural look at the Native Americans of the area, before they were disturbed and corrupted by hordes of encroaching whites. This journal is a great document in Utah's history, both as the first written account and as a fascinating look at Utah more than 75 years before it would be settled by the whites.

This is the first of two books about Wisconsin ghost legends written by this outstanding folklorist and author. I have to say that this and his "Northern Frights" are two of my favorite non-fiction books out there. It's not just a dusty collection of old spook-tales attached to lonely places, this is a volume of living legends. Mr. Boyer writes from a personal perspective, he amusingly recounts how he collected each tale and his own impressions of the place, the tale and the teller. You follow along with him as he travels through the driftless area of Wisconsin finding unique characters and listening to the stories they have to tell. Whether it be fearsome ghosts on horseback frightening motorists off the road or the eerie sound of a disembodied polka band, the spirits he encounters are the living spirits of this state, colorful and rich in culture and history. I recommend this book to anyone interested in Wisconsin folklore, ghost stories and culture.

This author always has a lot to say in a very creative way. The book is no exception. A fun read and another great book from this seasoned folklorist.

It was pretty cool to read the chapter in this book that told the story of my great-great grandfather (Henry Hartman)! He came from Germany to Texas in the 1800's, and many of his descendants (myself included) still reside in Medina County to this day. Great book.

Texas Indian Fighters is a fascinating, must read, book of the Old West. Whether one is interested in Texas Rangers, Outlaws, Indians, or just the Old West in general, this book is a must. I have more than a passing interest in it so I'll buy it. My relative, William Frederick Schmalsle, was a Buffalo Hunter, Indian Scout, Guide, and Courier for Lieutenant Baldwin and General Miles. All were involved in the Red River Wars and the rescue of the German sisters. Thus I find this book especially interesting, a great bedtime book, whether read in a house or by a campfire. Or just about anywhere one finds time to read and relax. This book is one that one can't put down easily, until it is read and reread thoroughly. It is well written and researched carefully, with an excellent dialogue. The author certainly has a knack for knowing his audience and produces an excellent tale, with verbiage which doesn't bore one and is in keeping with appropriate language.

This is an outstanding book with excellent content, tips and pictures. The 11 of us on the trek kept passing it around for helpful information.

I have a number of books on the Everest Region including Lonely Planets Trekking the Nepal Himalaya, Trailblazers Trekking the Everest Region and Berezuchas Trekking in Nepal. For details relating to route descriptions, photos, and practical info for the specific region I find this guide the best. It is very well written from its descriptions of the various main and side treks to the feel within the teahouse lodges. I have not been there yet so I cant verify the accuracy but Im very impressed. I have been posting to Lonely Planets Thorn Tree asking about various alternative trekking routes and have had some posters who had already been there say they didnt even know those options existed. The book is also smaller than some guides and the paper quality seems superior to the others. Its great to see some beautiful color photos. This guide clinched my decision to trek in the Everest Area. Hope this Helps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!