Colorado Books

The forces of nature are artistic in form, as can be seen from the images in this collection. All of the photos were taken in the Colorado River area from the state of Colorado down to the area of Lake Mead. Most were taken in national parks or other public lands. Some of the natural carvings are astonishing; over time the grains of sand blown by the wind have carved giant prominences of rock that seem to be reaching for the sky in supplication. And on occasion, there will be the remains of an ancient dwelling that seems to have been carved out of the rocks. My favorite in that area is found on page 37, and the caption is "White House Ruin, Canyon de Chelly, N. M.
In the eyes of many, the lands seen in these photos are desolate. However, that is a simplistic view. If you are capable of looking deeper, there is a great deal of beauty to behold.

My own ancestery is represented in this book (Jack Harry I) as he is called by our family. The uncle of our Great Grandfather Jack Harry II. I am from Anadarko, OK and this finally explains many of the stories and locations we all heard about as a kid, from Shirley Hill to the Tonkawa hills masssacre sites, and the understanding of how some of our people have the name Chisolm. The narrow tightrope of turmoil the tribes walked to wind up in Binger / Anadarko / Apache and Lawton is made visible and helps greatly to understand stories that we heard as kids. The previous area I search was the Texas Indian Papers and the Smithsonian, which give tidbits but not the mechanism of the period. I am deeply appreciative for this book and although it is a bit specialized, it goes beyond mere history and leaves me amazed at the people like Jessee Chisholm who did their best in a difficult time.

Dorothy Norvell Snyder's account of her father, Jim Norvell, and the early settlement of Routt County, Colorado is worth reprinting. I would like to find any other copies in print. It can be found in the library at Steamboat Springs.

I just had to say, i picked this up before i moved away from CO, and i am so glad i did. The pictures are absolutely beautiful, and it realy is like i managed to bring a little piece of Colorado with me to Japan. Yeah, this calendar is absolutely awesome, i definitely reccommend it for anyone who likes the real colorado, or even just has a love for beautiful landscapes and the outdoors. =)

I was delighted to read the newspaper bits, opinions, myths, lies, and speculations, as well as interviews with Doc, friends and foes. Fun and fascinating transport back to the time and place.

Fielder's Calendars have the most beautiful scenic photos I've seen in a week by week engagemant calendar.

Since I studied in Denver almost 20 years ago, I bought John Filder's Colorado-Calendar, and the 2007-edition is as beautiful as the ones before. None of these magnificent pictures gets boring, and by the end of the month I always hesitate to turn the page. Fielder has a eye for grand sceneries as well as for fragile details. However, its more than a calender: I always appreciate the concern Fielder expresses for environmental and political issues on the last page. Living in Germany, I show this calendar to friends who think that noone in the US cares for the protection of the wilderness. Tha started many interesting conversations about this an related topics as well.

This historical work is an excellent compilation of the life and times of residents and settlers of Kiowa County, located on the plains of southeastern Colorado, ranging from the late 1800's to 1976. The book contains stories, pictures and memoirs submitted by those who, themselves, their parents or their grandparents, settled and lived in Eads and the surrounding towns within Kiowa County, earning their livelihood as farmers, ranchers, merchants, educators or whatever honest endeavors one could imagine in order to scratch a living from the harsh eastern prairies of this Colorado county.
Their stories reminisce of the good times and bad, the survivals and the tragedies brought on by the blizzards and dust storms that were common events in their times. Sudden blinding blizzards such as the 1931 school bus tragedy that resulted in the death of the bus driver and five children when the driver lost his way, took a wrong turn and became stranded in a snow drift with no heat. Dust storms that blackened the skies, destroyed crops and choked livestock.
Having grown up in Kiowa County, I can relate to the authenticity of their stories and memories. I compliment the authors and the Kiowa County Bicentennial Committee for this fine piece of work.

Glad that Kip Carey kept up the tradition of this informative book! I have had a number of older editions by (Jim Kelly)and now glad to get the new updated version.

In the historical profession the term "Presentism" denotes writing a history book or article using the values of the present to judge the events of the past. For instance, apologists for the Confederacy--called neo-Confederates--have attempted to rewrite Civil War history. They attempt to prove--from their modern perspective--that slavery was wrong and had nothing to do with the outbreak of the Civil War because the "noble" leaders of the Confederacy could not have fought for so evil a cause. Much better to claim that they fought for states rights. Similar attitudes damn Presidents Washington and Jefferson for holding slaves despite the fact that abolition was an idea that had barely appeared in the American consciousness of their time. Similarly, other "presentists" damn the whites for taking land from the Indians at a time when taking land from aboriginal inhabitants any where in the world was then the norm. One wonders what sins our generation will be condemned for two or three centuries in the future because we did not have the wisdom to see that far ahead.

In this vein, R.C. Gordon-McCutchan, as editor of "Kit Carson: Indian Fighter or Indian Killer" has collected essays from modern scholars who have done their best to place Carson in his correct time and place. In short these authors have tried to let Carson live by the standards of the mid-19th Century rather than those of the 20th (the book was published in 1996).

Carson lived in a time and place where, since 1607, the Navajo raided first the Spanish, then Mexicans and finally the Americans. During this long period the Navajo also raided the resident Hopi, Pueblo, and Zuni, whose urban-agricultureal life produced a wealth worth stealing. There is some irony in the fact that both the archaeological and historical evidence clearly shows the Navajo were themselves invaders of the area.

The Americans were simply another group to raid as were any other non Navajos of the area. Kit Carson, as a man of the 19th Century, was in reality just carrying on an established pattern, and he did it, according to the research in this book, in a remarkably--for the time-- humane manner. The Navajo rendidtions of his cruelty are mainly, according to this book, legends that were spawned in the 1970 through the 1990s. They were not part of the Navajo opinion of the 1860s,

Timothy R. Roberts Ph.D (Univesity of Missouri 1976)