Southwest Books

Thanks to Robert K. Dearment a little recognised brave Lawman comes to life. George Scarborough was my Grandmothers uncle and as an expat American with little knowledge of my family this book has been a wonderful experience and a great help to me.
Robert Dearment explains life and times in New Mexico and surrounding areas in such a way that you are transported back to that time. Many of the incidents which are only alluded to other Wild West biographies and stories have been investigated

and researched and written about in detail. As there are always two sides to every story both explanations are given in an unbiased way.
Anyone who is interested in Frontier and Wild West should make sure that they have a copy of this book in their library. The book also explains and tidies up loose ends on other stories which have done the rounds over the years.

Thanks to The Univ. Of Arizona Press the long-awaited anthology of contemporary writing abouth the southwestern desert is finally available. While not the first anthology of this awesome area it is the first in over a decade to feature the best efforts of over 50 new generation contemporary writers that see the area through other than green-colored glasses. The region known as the "southwest" is, and has historically been,difficult too precisely define. From the time of John Wesley Powell to the present scholars and writers have struggled to define the region geographically. To paraphrase author Anthony DePalma, "We know the Southwest exists, but we do not know the Southwest." The editor of this anthology ultimately decided to accept Wallace Stegner's definition as being an area where water is scarce: "aridity, and aridity alone, makes the various West's one." Thus, this wonderful collection includes areas in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Wyoming, Idaho,Montana, Washington, Oregon, and California. To be sure, it is a somewhat loose definition but what a collection this is. Organized around four themes or categories: "Watching Closely; Forays in Natural History"; Risking Experience: Adventures in the Wild"; "Living Close to the Land"; and "Taking a Stand: Voices of Conservation and Restoration," the reader is introduced to the Greater Southwest through fiction and nonfiction, field notes and poetry. The journey will take you to Chaco Canyon in New Mexico and a family farm in south Texas. You will visit a Nevada Test Site and take a white water trip down the green river than ends all to soon. The short story on the release of Bison in the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve near Pawhuska, Ok. was both delightful and inspiring. The story of the San Rafael Swell in southern Utah and it's place in the making of the atomic bomb, combined with an essay by T.H. Watkins titled "Not by Human Measure". will give the reader an idea of the magnificence of the region. The selections, in some 70 pieces and 400 pages, celebrate the grace, beauty and grandeur of a region little known and mostly misunderstood. These are wide-ranging efforts to explain the sometimes almost unexplainable in an area historically, and increasingly, under siege. There are those that argue such a book will only lead to more tourists and visitors to a region that has a fragile ecosystem and cannot tolerate much more "understanding." They argue that if to many heed the warning of Wallace Stegner: "you have to get over the color green; you have to quit associating beauty with gardens and lawns; you have to het used to an inhuman scale; you have to understand geological time," this treasure will go the way of Glen Canyon, parts of the Colorado River, the Rio Grande and other one-time natural wonders. At the expense of contributing to this possibility I must highly recommend this book. For anyone remotely interested in the southwest region or reading some of the best of the best contemporary nature writers published today, get this book. The University of Arizona Press is to be commended for this effort. It took a decade to get it published but was worth the wait.

This collection contains two books: "Ghost Stories From The Southwest," and "Ghost Stories From The American South."

Prepare yourself to quiver and quake - GHASTLY GHOST STORIES will make you shiver and shake. These delightfully frightening ghost tales mingle folklore and mysticism with a taste of the south and southwest. This shipe-chilling collection give you more than 225 thrilling ghost stories covering 200 years of ghost lore in America.

Many of these startling stories have been passed down through generations and are told here by local storytellers - and recorded in their own words. Professional folklorists have collected these tales and included appendices with extensive notes detailing the origins of each story. It's up to you to decide what's true or not!

This book will frighten and enlighten any lover of ghost lore. It presents hair-raising tales that are perfect for retelling around campfires, at parties, and in dormitories - especially on stormy nights. But keep a flashlight on hand - you never know when an unexpected guest might drop in!

This wonderful collection of 10 classic and new, suspenseful, multicultural, and sometimes humourous stories told by two great storytellers will be a great addition to the collection of lovers of tales of suspense. Great for those long commutes.
Side 1 The Pawpaw Lie
The Haunted Car
The Baby's Milk Bottles
Death and thee Curandero
Mary Clahound
Side 2 Dance of Death
Last Kiss
The Baker's Ghost
The Ghost at Chretienne Point
Dame, pues, mi asadura

This book was soooo good! I read it and thought that this guy knows his ghosts. I would also recomend books by Dainel Cohen. Both of these authors are very, very good. The pictures are also wonderful. This is a must read if you like ghost books!

Paul Wellman's "God, Glory and Gold", the three reasons why the Spaniards came to the New World, is a marvelous history book that should be read by anyone who lives in the Southwest or the West. Besides being historically accurate in even minor details, Mr. Wellman is the only author of history who makes it read like a fast-paced novel. His love for the Southwest and the West is evident! Read it - you won't be disappointed - and, you'll have a new appreciation for the "growing pains" of the United States west of the Mississippi.

I was impressed at the amount of history contained in this volume. The maps and information are very interesting and provide a great historical identity of Texas and its mapping over the years. Being a die-hard Texan and a map afficionado, it is a great addition to my collection. Only disappointment is the book isn't big enough! Would love to have seen it enlarged to a coffee table sized book.

Cy & Jeannie Martin give you a crash course in the history and practice of gold mining in the western U.S. (including Alaska), Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia. Sections of the book include: Chronology of Gold in America; How to Pan for Gold; Tales of Gold Rushes; Directory of Old Mining Camps; Glossary; and a Selected Bibliography. Numerous B& W photos and drawings are included. 160 pages.

Gold, Greed and Glory has captured the birth and growing pains of a new territory, Arizona. Starting with the discovery of gold and leading the reader through the hard times to statehood. She introduces you to the various characters with a brief outline as to how they arrived on the scene. Unlike most books about Arizona, the author has included the pioneer women who worked and fought alongside these early adventurers. She explains the problems of the territory, and lays out the various events that followed. She outlines the events so well, you feel as if you are present. A must read for those interested in the early development of the West.
G. Andrew Miller, author, Silver Spur Books

I doubt if any living American over the age of 21 is completely ignorant of the halcyon vision of WACs in the South Pacific during WWII. Well, that vision isn't very accurate. Selene Weise knows; she was one of very, very few WACs to actually serve in the area.

A cryptographer, Weise found herself in seemingly endless mud, rain, stifling heat, and misery living in tents with no creature comforts, mind-blowing boredom, and even some danger. With grossly inadequate food, an Army totally unprepared to meet even minimal needs of women, and supply lines that were often non-existent, the WACs just had to hunker down and endure. But through it all, Weise and her fellow WACs did just that. In the end, she came out of it with three battle stars; a rare thing for a woman soldier.

The book is remarkable not only for its unique story, but for the riveting method Weise uses to tell it. With only minimal fill-in, Weise reconstructs her experiences from letters she wrote home to her mother during the war. This gives the work a immediacy and sincerity that would be difficult to match. While trying hard to remain upbeat and positive about appalling conditions, Weise maintains a sense of humor and perspective that is commendable.

WWII is passing into history with fewer and fewer who remember. Of those, even fewer are aware women served too, let alone served in the South Pacific. Not only is this book a splendid history lesson, it's an outstanding good read. Brava!