Southwest Books

Clare V. McKanna Jr. has been teaching Native American history at San Diego State University since 1987. In White Justice In Arizona: Apache Murder Trials In The Nineteenth Century, McKanne Jr. focuses upon how the judicial system of nineteenth-century Arizona denied Apaches justice. Apaches learned the hard way that their customs and methods for maintaining social control were drastically at odds with a new, alien, and mystifying legal system. Many did not know English, and the public defenders appointed to them were largely inexperienced or neglectful, as there was no money to be made representing indigent clients. White settlers and juries had been conditions to believe, through popular culture, word of mouth, and sensationalized newspaper headlines, that Apaches were the most dangerous and bloodthirsty of Native Americans; and so any Apache accused of killing a white person was likely to be treated as a blood enemy to be destroyed in the all-white courts, rather than innocent until proven guilty. A stark, sharply critical, and edifying look at the iniquities of false justice.

Murder cases against Apache Indians in the territory of Arizona in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century are recounted much as cases against blacks in the South have been done in other books and media. McKanna goes beyond the by-now familiar charge that the Apaches, as a minority ethnic group in lands taken over by white settlers, got no justice to speak of. His main concern is how the system worked against the defendants, even when circumstances and in some cases physical evidence raised questions about the murder charges. The author also views the acts of the Native Americans against the backdrop of ill-defined laws and jurisdiction in the recently-formed territory and age-old Apache culture, which was undergoing a combination of forced and voluntary transition. McKanna's accounts are like popular case-book studies of the cases against the Indians with a sociological factor brought in. He teaches American Indian history at San Diego State U. and has written previous books on the inter-related subjects of crime and race.

A series of short stories linked chronologically about a modern day lady prospector and her donkeys, mining and treasure hunting from Alaska to the Mexico border. Misadventures with characters like Soapy the mine dog, Klondike Mike, Texas Jack, and Sandilee the biologist. Great reading material for bathroom or outhouse.

A delightful read introducing elements of geology, mining, animal husbandry and especially high adventure and humor in the hard scrabble life of a female prospector.

Richard Maurer's new book chronicles Powell's second expedition through the eyes, words, and illustrations of Fred Dellenbaugh - a 17-year-old boy from Buffalo, NY who, along with some rowing experience on the turbulent Niagara River and a facility for drawing, had the gumption to make his dream come true. This story is very well written and quite compelling and will appeal to those who love adventure stories set in the Old West. The photographs and illustrations are remarkable. My hats off to the author!

I read Dellenbaugh's reprinted "Canyon Voyage" (the much abbreviated title) as a young man in the flatlands of western Kansas in the 1960's. The romance of the period of Dellenbaugh's youth, and the Powell Expeditions in particular (1869-72), stimulated in me an ongoing interest in the history of the region. I have read the edited and published diaries of most of the participants of the two expeditions, and continue to invest in an array of scholarly and coffee table books that even remotely address the subject. My annual crossings of the Colorado and Dirty Devil rivers to pursue research interests in southeastern Utah never fail to regenerate my own wish to have participated in such an epic adventure. Thus, when I saw the notice of publication of Maurer's book about Dellenbaugh on the second Powell expedition, with the expression in the title "the true adventures," I was expecting something on the order of D.D. Fowler's book about Jack Hiller's, another expedition participant. That is, a pretty serious biography of the man and a pretty faithful reproduction of the daily diary kept during his time in the field. Well, it might be the former, but it is certainly not the latter. Unlike the other expeditioners who kept diaries, Dellenbaugh's original diary has never been published. Perhaps this is because his 1908 "Canyon Voyage" was a timeline-based (albeit compressed) narrative and researchers may have believed there was nothing more of value in the original diary. While Maurer read the diaries of all the participants, including Dellenbaugh's, as well as Dellenbaugh's "Canyon Voyage" and the earlier "Romance of the Colorado River," Maurer's timeline is even more compressed than Dellenbaugh's. Consequently the book lacks the rich detail of Dellenbaugh's diary and earlier publications. For example, unlike the present book, the consecutive daily diary entries of "Looked for the Major today but of course he did not come; carried the rations over," "Looked for the Major again," and "Still waiting,"conveys a real sense of frustration at being in the same camp, on the bank of the Colorado, day after day, laying up under a boat to avoid the oppressive August heat, with nothing to do, waiting for the Major and Prof to come in so the party can continue the trip down the river through the Grand Canyon. Maurer acknowledged that in the writing of the book he "sometimes resorted to the methods of historical fiction to flesh out some of the stories" and that "footnotes would be out of place in a book like this." Thus despite having the best possible materials at hand from which to draw, this book was never intended as a scholarly work. In that context, the writing was a success. Maurer did locate some great historical photographs and drawings not published elsewhere, and that alone is an important contribution. More than that, though, the book was a really entertaining read. I can well imagine some person, like me once, never having heard of either Powell or Dellenbaugh, picking up the book and just marveling at what they did. And, interest aroused, they have an avocation.

This book chronicles the early life of my grandparents, Luciano and Juanita Platero in New Mexico in the early 1930's. After my grandfather Luciano Platero's untimely death in December of 1936, my grandmother eventually made the very hard decision to move from Canoncito to Albuquerque with my mother Rosita and my aunt Tonita. Her dream of eventually building a house out at Canoncito was realized. She remained in close contact with her Canoncito family after her move to Albuquerque. She saved money to buy a vehicle so she could go out to Canoncito at every opportunity. I have a very clear memory as a child of my "Shima" (my grandmother's mother-in-law). She did not speak English that I know of. She was a wonderful, gentle person who endured many hardships and had many joys in her life. My grandmother, Juanita, remarried in the early 1950's. My second grandfather is John Guerro. They moved to Alamo, New Mexico, which is one of the Navajo tribal reservations in New Mexico. My grandmother died in April 2000 at the age of 95. She was a wonderful person and grandmother and she lived an admirable life. Her influence on all her family was profound. We all miss her very much. Her friend, Shiyowin Miller was a wonderful and gentle spirit. They met in Los Angeles, California I believe in the late 1920's and remained friends until Shiyowin's passing.

Set in the 1930s, The Winds Erase Your Footprints by Shiyowin Miller, is the true story of Luciano Platero, a Navajo man who worked as an extra in the Hollywood film industry, and his new wife Juanita Platero, who was the first white woman the younger children of her husband's family had ever seen when Luciano and Juanita moved back to live on the Navajo reservation. Luciano's father had died and his mother and the younger children of the family (living in a hogan on the reservation) spoke no English. Juanita spoke no Navajo. The result was a struggle to find a balance between Native American traditions and what Anglo civilization had to offer as Luciano and Juanita eventual found work, created their own home, had two daughters, and raised horses. The Winds Erase Your Footprints with its fascinating, insightful, biographical narrative, offers a crystal snapshot of daily life among native ways and would make a unique and very welcome addition to any Native American Studies collection or supplemental reading list.

This is a revised edition of milestone essays first prepared in 1971 and published in hardback form in 1978. It was prepared through a research group from Iowa State University, reportedly one of the first American Indian Studies courses in the U.S. Many of the authors of the essays were Native American; several have since passed away. The chapters in this revised edition include updates in the preface, resources/bibliography, and two new essays on NAGPRA and the Ioway tribe. The chapters are:

-A new preface to the revised edition recapping the history of the program and the current (2000) situation in Iowa.
1. American Indian Literature: Contexts for Understanding (Fred McTaggart)
2. The Image of the American Indian in Film (Charles Silet)
3. The Unknown Past: Sources for History Education and the Indians of Iowa (L. Edward Purcell)
4. The Native American Perspective in Iowa: An Archaeological Perspective (David Mayer Gradwohl)
5. Mesquakie History - As We Know It (Bertha Waseskuk, Meskwaki)
6. The Red Earth People in 1905: A Photographic Essay (Duren Ward)
7. The Lion, Fleur-de-lis, the Eagle, or the Fox (Donald Wanatee, Meskwaki)
8. Urbanization of the American Indian: One Man's View (Reuben Snake, Winnebago/Hochunk)
9. Educated or Indian? (Either/Or) (Owana McLester-Greenfield, Shoshone)
10. Education, the Family, and the Schools (Adeline Wanatee, Meskwaki)
11. The American Indian in Sioux City: A Historical Overview (Michael Husband and Gary Koerselman)
12. The American Indian and Ethnicity in Iowa's Future (Joseph Hraba)
13. Reflections of an Indian (Donald Graham, Santee Sioux)
14. Give Me Back My People's Bones: Repatriation and Reburial of American Indian Skeletal Remains in Iowa (Maria Pearson, Yankton Sioux)
15. A Closing Circle: Musings on the Ioway Indians in Iowa (Lance Foster, Ioway)
-The American Indian in Iowa: A Selected Bibliography
-Selected Updated Bibliography

This is a reissue of a book that is currently the only book that covers the general story of the Indians of Iowa, from past to present. In addition to the original essays, there are two new ones, both praiseworthy. One essay, by Maria Pearson, Yankton Sioux, describes her fight to protect native burials in Iowa-- which established state law that was the basis for the national law to protect native burials and sacred objects, NAGPRA. The other essay is a personal musings on the native tribe that provided Iowa with its name, the Iowa tribe; it is by Lance Foster, a member of the Iowa tribe. Few people recognize the importance of Indian history in the state of Iowa.. this book will help correct that.

There are hundreds of books about the southwest. If you can read only one, this is it. If you have any inclination to write you must read this book and listen to the CD.

A terrific book on the meaning of writing & how some writers' go about it. Joy Harjo, Barbara Kingsolver, Edward Abbey, Alberto Rios -- these are writers with depth and some remarkable things to say. Part bio, part political, part inspiration, it's one of those books I've read way more than once.

I actually took classes from Professor Leonard while attending the University of New Mexico. I remember him as a warm and collegial professor who closely observed and cared for those around him. The same man is reflected on the pages of this book, which is filled with vignettes and poems about his experiences as a taxi cab driver. He is a strong writer and a keen observer of humans.

The stories and poems sometimes reflect the portion of Albuquerque that many of us choose to ignore when driving down Central or any of the other major thoroughfares, but the book's underlying theme is optimism. From the prostitute scoring one last fix before heading to rehab who dreams of becoming an accountant to the hopeful country music writer working for a carnival, the characters that inhabit the back of Leonard's cab reflect a very human potential for change. One can tell that some are perhaps lost souls who will never reach their dreams (and perhaps no longer dream). Others we can cheer, and hope that success follows their efforts. Regardless, the poems and stories, which range from humorous to ominously dark, elicited a reaction from me. They made me think and feel, and that is perhaps the greatest compliment I could possibly give any book.

I'm a 20+ year resident of Albuquerque and can recognize the locations Mr. Leonard cites in his book. What I don't recognize are the people, even though they are all around me. This books provides me with a little more understanding of the people and places in Albuquerque that I don't normally see. On top of that, it's a good read!

There is a growing movement of gay lesbian and gender diverse people to discover their own history, to learn what was taken from us. When we learn how vast our history is, how it has spanned the full reaches of time, we can challenge those who would deny us our beauty and purpose in the world.

Read this book, it is one of the classics to gaining this understanding.

For this book The Zuni Man-Woman William Roscoe received the 1991 Margaret Mead Award presented by the American Anthropological Association and the Society for Applied Anthropology; and along with the high academic award, he has written an extremely readable book. For those interested in the impact of the dichotomous world-view of Western society on an individual's role in that society, this book provides an eye-opening experience. "Gender", the role assignment or assumption that individuals undergo, is clearly compared with "sex" characterized by individual sexual practices.Based on a study of Zuni gender roles illustrated by the life of berdache We'wha during the Nineteenth Century, Roscoe leads the reader to examine a third gender choice available in that matrilineal society. This "third gender" provided an avenue for the expression of variations in both sex and gender which allowed individuals to make unique contributions to their communities. Their contributions crossed the barriers imposed by traditional views of masculinity and femininity. The social, religious and artistic contributions made possible by an accepted "third gender" benefitted Zuni society by increasing the pool of individuals who could contribute their talents to that society.Today American gender roles are shifting also, and this author gives us historical evidence that many societies have benefitted from uncoupling "gender" and "sex" in the public imagination. As a result of this author's research, it is possible to view the employed mother's syndrome of trying to "do it all" and the questions men have about their inclinations toward artistic ventures, nurturing activities, and service to others in a new light. The historian Roscoe provides rich examples from a variety of Native American societies that avoided the trap of either/or gender identities. Further he provided a detailed review of the impact of both Zuni and Puritan ethics on the well being of the Zuni and the "American" tribes and their individual members.If you are interested in Southwestern Native Americans, the Nineteenth Century politics of ethnic absorption or extermination, or the impact of gender roles on individual opportunities and on the strength of a society, then you must read the contribution of this historian.

100 Great Things About Texas is an enjoyable, pocket-sized trivia book filled with 100 "did you know?" tidbits about what makes the great state of Texas different. Some of the great things are based solidly on fact ("Texas still has the right to divide into five states. But if we did that we wouldn't be Texas"); some are historical lore ("The Texas Rangers trace their history back to 1823. Stephen F. Austin called them 'Rangers' because they ranged over such a wide territory protecting colonists"); and still others are a more subjective matter of opinion ("No matter what state you're traveling to, you're practically there once you cross the Texas state line"). A lighthearted, gung-ho, unabashedly pro-Texas little book, ideal as a welcome gift for Texas visitors or a souvenir for tourists.

Contrary to popular belief, Oklahoma's worst outlaws and bad men lived in the 19th century before Oklahoma was even a state. Lawless men frequented the area, sometimes using it as a hideout, sometimes just drifting through before it was formalized into what was called Indian Territory.

Not since Ken Butler has there been an Oklahoma historian that has delved deeper into the mystique surrounding the Oklahoma territories. It would take an attorney, which Mr. Yadon is, to penetrate the veil of the dime store novels that were written about the actual fantastic goings-on that happened in the territory that was to become Oklahoma and a newspaperman, which Mr. Anderson has been, to come up with an exceptionally readable series of profiles of people that no Chamber of Commerce would ever want to admit had graced what would become the state of Oklahoma.

Starting with the first chapter about a man who was indeed, "a man too bad for Hollywood," and continuing with sometimes whimsical looks at the best and the worst of the people who populated Indian Territory in the years 1839-1939. This book is well documented and annotated and is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of the wild and woolly western years.