Southwest Books

Defiant Peacemaker is a fantastic biography that covers the entire life of Nicholas Trist. Any one who enjoys a good biography will love this one. I find the subtitle 'Trist In The Mexican War' to be misleading. It is a true indepth bio of the life of a man who lost his father at a young age, married Thomas Jefferson's grand daughter, worked at various political appointed job which made him well known around Washington DC, also was Ambassador to Cuba. Trist is the only man in American history who single handedly ended a war. He negotiated the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo to end the Mexican War. He never held a political appointment after. A great biography details the changes of fortunes of a life, good times and bad times. Mr. Ohrt addresses these details so well, you leave this book feeling that you really know Trist and feel for his misfortunes, especially considering the contribution he made to his country, and to know his country never recognized his efforts.

The finest writing to come along in 50 years
The drama and vivid imaging are not to be missed

This book is a treasure. Mr. Van Dyke obviously has the soul of a poet, and within his graceful prose he paints vivid and soul-stirring pictures of some of the most beautiful places on earth. He describes in fine detail observations he made on a long trip, on horseback in 1898/99, over, around, and through the lower deserts of Arizona and California. He leaves no stone unturned as he describes the magnificence and beauty of each aspect of the desert, and pulls no punches in his criticism of man's destructive intrusions. To Van Dyke, the play of light and shadow, the star-pocked night skies, the ragged and jagged ranges of mountains, the perfectly adapted plants and animals, the sometimes shifting sands, and the silent river barrier known as the Colorado are each part of the unique sum which is, in its own harsh and angular way, a paradise of color, form, and life: "The Desert."

Speaking as one who has lived on and wandered through this same desert for nearly forty years, I can attest to the accuracy of Van Dyke's physical descriptions and, perhaps more importantly, I can note that I've found here both the magic and the majesty which he so ably describes. Still, this isn't a book for everyone. Those who prefer the gleam of glass towers and the roar of jet planes to flaming sunsets and yapping coyotes, save your money. Van Dyke wrote, "Not in the spots of earth where plenty breeds indolence do we meet with the perfected type. It is in the land of adversity ... that finally emerges the highest manifestation."

He was right, and he leaves us "The Desert" as evidence.

This book is simply amazing! Unbelievable spanglish dialect with deep punk political themes. Beauty of the desert and morose individual struggle brings life to the subject matter. A must have for any serious leftist. Folkcommielore at its absolute best!

There has been a rush on new books about desert gardening lately, but most of them don't contain the secrets required to be successful. A Desert Gardener's Companion provides practical, only-learned-through-experience knowledge. In the manner of a confidante, it relays the intimate wisdom gained from a close, day-by-day relationship with a garden in the desert climate. With ecological explanations of why things happen, the suggestive advice makes good sense. This book could only have been written by a Master Gardener with a real love for their garden and the earth.

The Desert is No Lady is a book of careful scholarship about a much neglected subject, and is also a work of love. The authors have gathered the voices of 19th and 20th century women -- Hispanic and Native American as well as white -- who found their inspiration and muse in the severe but haunting beauty of the southwest US desert. The voices that emerge here collectively invite the reader into her or his own "center of boundless desire" (p. 29). The voices woven together unify body, place, and spirit in evocative detail. This book is an academic resource, but is far more than that: it is pure poetry!

I have this book, but it was published in 1990. In other words, I do not have the revised and updated version.

However, if this one is anything like the copy I have, it is wonderful. The full color pictures are lovely and are used to enhance the text.

Although this book doesn't tell the history of these states, it visits historic places within each state. Much of the history of these four states (NM, AZ, NV, UT) is told through the landscape and historic buildings of each state.

I have enjoyed every place that I have visited and my visits have only been enhanced by using this book as a resource in my travels.

We camped for a week in the Davis Mountains in west Texas in a section of the Chihuahuan desert last summer. This was not our first desert experience - we have hiked and camped across much of the Southwest over the last twenty years or so. This was an unplanned trip as we were headed toward southern Colorado, but we became fascinated by the Chihuahuan desert and somehow we never drove any further.

We were similarly quite lucky to find a copy of the first edition of Peggy Larson's Sierra Guidebook in a bookstore in Alpine, Texas. She presents the deserts of the American southwest (and northern Mexico) in a literate and educated fashion. She manages to discuss individual plants and animals in some detail while painting a large scale, beautiful portrait of the four major deserts of North America. Detailed ink drawings - landscape, geology, plants, and animals - are scattered throughout the narrative and add considerable value. She knows her subject and shares her knowledge in an intriguing fashion. She effectively uses scientific names of desert plants and animals interchangeably with common (but less unique) names without intimidating the reader. This is not a novel and it is quite possible to skip to selected chapters of personal interest, but I highly recommend exploring all chapters, all topics. Peggy Larson's style is really quite good.

If you are already familiar with the American deserts, you will find "The Deserts of the Southwest" a rewarding visit with an old friend. If you are somewhat new to the deserts and possibly have only sampled the deserts from a highway perspective, I suspect that after reading Peggy Larson's book you will likely change your travel plans to include a personal visit to an American desert.

This book was a big help. My son and I were going to spend 5 days in Phoenix for a football game. We had no idea on what to do. After reading this book, we were able to have an unbelievable get-away.

This book has been very thoroughly researched and really explains the importance of WATER in the desert southwest. Very good.