New Mexico Books

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New Mexico Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

The Boy Who Made Dragonfly: A Zuni Myth

Published in School & Library Binding by Topeka Bindery (1999-10)

Author: Tony Hillerman

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Average review score:

excellent for adults and children

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-22

We bought this for our daughter since she loves dragonflies. Tony Hillerman has wrote many good books for adults and we thought we would try this children's book. It is a Zuni story of creation and has good morals and teaches how we should live and not be greedy. I recommend this book for all.

This Dragonfly Soars

Helpful Votes: 21 out of 21 total.
Review Date: 2001-01-12

This retelling of a Zuni tale is very refreshing....an excellent book to share with your children. The story is strong in its content, and the life examples of cause and effect, how one behavior causes negative results, and how a positive behavior can cause a positive result.

This legend brings the reader into the lives of an ancient people, and one young boy. You share the journey, and rejoice in the conclusion.

I have shared this book with many friends, all of whom enjoyed the book.

I would compare this book, in quality of writing and content, to Mary Stewart's "A Walk In Wolf Wood".

Out of unselfish love

Helpful Votes: 6 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2005-06-26

"And because you have made me out of unselfish love you have touched me with life"

This is a transcript of a story that was verbally passed down through the generations of the Zuni. It was recorded in 1883 by Frank Hamilton Cushing. He had become a chief Priest of the Bow society of the Macaw Clan. The story is based on a drought that happened to the Ha'wi-k'uh about 1300; before the coming of the Europeans (1539-1540).
-------------------------

The basic tail is of a people that treated food like mud, and were extremely rude to their corn sprits that were in the form of two old ladies. Only two children and a discarded old woman paid them any respect. This was very bad as the Zuni is part of nature and therefore nature and strangers are to be treated with respect.

Thus the story is of the drought that sent the people away and leaving the two children and old lady behind.
----------------------
The version I read was illustrated by Lazlo Kubinyi. It is out of print so I am ordering the one illustrated by Janet Grado. Other things I found interesting is that some of the places and things we read about in this story became titles of Hillerman books.

Good for kids or adults

Helpful Votes: 7 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2003-03-18

Hillerman brings to life this story from the Zuni, a Pueblo People of New Mexico. As the cover jacket says, this is "intended to teach both history and morality of a people", like an Old Testament story. The strength of the young boy who constructs a toy insect out of corn, is both touching and has lessons for us now in how we treat others and our resources. The drawings by Janet Grado, add nicely to the story, particularly the portraits of the corn maidens and the old woman. Although suitable for children, fans of Toni Hillerman will also enjoy this.

Canyon of Remembering

Published in Paperback by Texas Tech University Press (2000-04)

Author: Lesley Poling-Kempes

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Canyon of Remembering

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-08-30

I found this book to be a compelling page turner. The characters were complex and believable, the story one of redemption and rebirth. Much of what New Mexico is about. While there were some loose ends to the characters' lives, they were really peripheral. This is a book that fills you with hope about the greater community of man.

An amazingly well written story!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-01-13

This is a must have book for anyone with any intrest in the Southwest, in the journey of the heart, in the journey of the soul, or in the occuurance of miricles! This book is about all of these, and so much more. Leslie makes both the people and the landscape come alive for the reader. It is a book that brings tears and laughter, and an incredible feeling of expansion to the heart and soul. Bravo!!

Excellent Southwest Fiction

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2002-06-16

Frustrated Santa Fe artist, Whitney Slope, escapes the political games of the Santa Fe art world by heading into the mountain community of Mi Ojo ("My Eye"-a fictitious community representing the real communities that can be found around Santa Fe). He finds his soul in the authentic, rural community and his story is woven with that of his new landlord, Dominga Garcia de Jesus. Slope is brought to a refreshingly honest new way of life as he becomes involved in the stories of other people outside of the affluent community in Santa Fe.

The characters in this book are deep and well developed. The plot carries the reader through a world that is realistic to the area. I especially enjoyed the descriptions of the Santa Fe art gallery community contrasted with the rural Hispanic communities in the mountains. The high quality of the writing and the storyline make this book a must read for anyone who is looking for an excellent work of Southwest fiction.

A touching New Mexico love story.

Helpful Votes: 6 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 1998-10-31

A book that touches the heart and soul and bring the New Mexico culture, people and land alive.

Cecilia's Year

Published in Library Binding by Topeka Bindery (2007-03)

Author: Susan Gonzales Abraham

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Average review score:

Fascinating historical vignette

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2005-02-01

This story sets the reader inside the mind of 14-year-old Cecilia in a day and place most readers will find unfamiliar. The details of daily life in this rural community are told in a way that make one yearn for that simpler time. But the over-all story of a family big on love and closeness and a young girl determined to find her own way is universal. A very enjoyable book -- loved the proverbs!

Great book for young girls

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2005-01-09

"Cecilia's Year" is a great story for young girls. Cecilia is a really good role model--her goals are to graduate from high school and get a job to help her family. She loves to read. This book also exposes kids to what life was like on farms when America was a rural country. Full of traditional family values plus lots of Spanish for people who know both languages. Also has a little romance. Young girls ages 11-15 will love it. Great gift.

A young adult novel about the dreams of a Latina girl

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2005-01-03

Cecilia's Year is a young adult novel about the dreams of a Latina girl living in rural New Mexico. She dreams of traveling far beyond her farm community, to experience high school and a job in the big city she knows through books, yet her mother feels her highest goal in life should be to run a home, cook, sew, and raise children. Written as a tribute to the author's mother, Cecilia's Year explores the tribulations of growing up and determining one's own destiny, in a heartfelt manner sure to resonate with anyone striving to find their place in the world.

Moving story set ...

Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2004-11-25

Moving story set in a small New Mexican farming community during the 1930's in which 14-year-old Cecilia, who's a top student and avid reader, wants to go to high school, college, and work in a city; however, her old-fashioned mother feels that she should prepare herself to run a home. (M) I loved the way the Abrahams wove Cecilia's story into the months of the year, and the sprinkling of Spanish throughout added flavor. Cecilia's family may have been poor financially, but it was rich in love.

The commerce of the prairies

Published in Unknown Binding by Citadel Press (1968)

Author: Josiah Gregg

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Average review score:

Yes , It IS a Classic

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-02

I was told this is a "classic" and I agree...This dude wrote down every term, item, description, observation, etc along his trips to Mexico, Santa Fe and St. Louis....Great primary source book to add to your Southwest History collection

Primary Source, in depth, discussion of the southern plains

Helpful Votes: 13 out of 14 total.
Review Date: 1998-11-01

Shortly after Mexican Independence interest in establishing trade with Sante Fe, Mexico's most northerly province, became ever more popular. Josiah Gregg was preceded by Mountain Men who explored the area, but he was the first with sufficient education to describe the people, land features and Indians with whom traders would have to deal. His work constitues a PREFACE to other books dealing with the Santa Fe Trail and its growing interest to the United States. Independence, MO, and Fort Smith and Van Buren, AR. - were the northern and southern starting points for Santa Fe respectively. The book is as much a tale of encounters as it is a repository of valuable information. A 'FIRST READ' for persons interested in Santa Fe and the Westward Movement. Another of a variety of fascinating histories of the Southwest.

Fascinating Primary Source to Santa Fe Trail - Great History

Helpful Votes: 7 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2003-08-09

The full title of this book suggests that it is much more than a dry account of business practices: The Commerce of the Prairies, or the Journal of a Santa Fe Trader, During Eight Expedition Across The Great Western Prairies, and A Residence of Nearly Nine Years in Northern Mexico. Illustrated with maps and engravings. By Josiah Gregg.

The period was 1831 - 1840. On paper Northern Mexico was an immense holding that loosely included what is today Texas and New Mexico and stretched southward more than 500 miles through the Chihuahuan Desert to the Mexican trading centers of Durango and Chihuahua. Fierce, nomadic Indians prevented the Spanish and Mexicans from settling this vast domain. A large, loosely defined central section of the continent was known simply as Indian territory. American trading caravans departing from Franklin, Missouri did not encounter any settlements, not even ranches, until within 100 miles of Santa Fe. The long route southward from Santa Fe to Durango and Chihuahua was nearly as hazardous.

Josiah Gregg's narratives make marvelous reading. His style is engaging and his descriptions are accurate. We readers share his love and fascination of this marvelously wild and dangerous territory. I have read very few modern travel narratives as intriguing and well-written as Gregg's writings.

Despite their constant threat, Gregg is sympathetic to the plains Indians and documents how the behavior of unscrupulous and foolish traders have exacerbated relations with the Indians. He cites unnecessary killings of buffalo by travelers who are overwhelmed by the shear size of the herds; he even admits to doing so himself on occasion.

He is a man of commerce and tells us much about trade with Mexico. Rampant corruption among the tax collectors, custom officials, and governmental officials is an unavoidable business cost. For remote Santa Fe, Durango, and Chihuahua, American trade is much desired, but Mexicans view the American traders with suspicion. The first American traders (the Pike expedition) were immediately imprisoned for nine years.

I highly recommend this remarkable, fascinating account of travel along the Santa Fe Trail in the 1830s. I cannot imagine a more intriguing, more engaging narrative than that created by Josiah Gregg.

This edition of The Commerce of the Prairies was first published in 1926. The editing by Milo Milton Quaife is excellent. The footnotes are interesting and add considerable value. Josiah Gregg's original publication was in two volumes and included extensive, detailed, and accurate observations on flora, fauna, and the native Indians and is often cited by historians. This shortened version by Lakeside Press (now published by University of Nebraska Press) is an ideal introduction to the Santa Fe Trail.

Historical Masterpiece of the Southwest

Helpful Votes: 9 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2002-11-12

In 1831, on a suggestion from his doctor to travel west to improve his health, Josiah Gregg joined a wagon train of Sante Fe traders. The result is a highly acclaimed first hand narrative of the Sante Fe trade and life on the prairies during the 1830's. Gregg's vivid writing style illustrates the many hardships and adventures of life along the Sante Fe Trail and into Mexico. We read about traveling through barren deserts, inconsistencies of the weather, the always present danger of marauding Indians and Mexicans, the questionable Mexican governmental policies, etc. Being an amateur naturalist (he had several species of plants named after him), Gregg describes geographical landforms, geology, and plant and animal life extremely well. He also gives clear, precise and realistic descriptions of the cultures and customs of both the Indians and native Mexicans from how they dressed, to how they constructed their homes; religious, spiritual and matrimonial beliefs; how food was secured and prepared; theories on future agricultural practices and uses, etc. Gregg was a keen and acute observer of his immediate surroundings which is evident in both his writing style and presentation of the subject. Professor Moorhead's editing is second to none.

Cottonwood Saints

Published in Paperback by University of New Mexico Press (2005-11-15)

Author: Gene Guerin

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Average review score:

Couldn't put it down! A wonderful read!

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2005-10-23

"Cottonwood Saints" is a wonderful book, full of vivid characters and descriptions. The narrative transcends geography and time - it is a universal story of mothers and sons, love and loss, and dreams deferred. I read this book in two sittings. I couldn't put it down and didn't want it to end.
This is by far one of the best new fiction books on the market.

New Mexico as it really was and is for settler families

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-01-18

'Intimacy and familiarity' is the sense I experienced throughout my reading of COTTONWOOD SAINTS. Intimate and familiar because it seemed as though Guerin knew my Spanish-Mexican family experience in describing his in this novel; my family migrated from northern New Mexico to southern Colorado in the mid-1800s. The characters and episodes are so wonderfully described that the reader feels as though s/he is there -- interacting with the characters and experiencing the events.

I heard that Guerin described his novel as "90% fiction and 100% fact." The story reads just like that! The chapters read easily and beautifully into a wonderfully woven story. In 2004, I completed a doctoral dissertation on the phenomenology of "The Lived Experience of Nortenas de Nuevo Mejico: Finding Voice and Claiming Identity." Had Guerin's novel been published when I was doing my literature chapter, this marvelous novel would have been included in my bibliography because Guerin's mother is so descriptive of my research findings regarding the 'nortena de nuevo mejico.'

Cottonwood Saints - A Frank Tribute to Mom

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2005-10-14

The author seems to have closed his eyes and remembered in fascinating detail how his mother recalled her childhood. He then projects this experience into describing her adulthood which the mother probably never directly revealed to the author but could not remain hidden since he had the early matrix. The childhood years are likely factual; the adulthood years are conjectural, including her reaction to her author- son's "defection" from the priesthood, the loss of two other sons and finally her fading into the fog of Alzheimer's disease. The story is lovingly told and laid at the mother's feet as a tribute with a note saying, "Mom, I understand and thank you." It is the author's first novel but I predict not his last.

Cottonwood Saints Strong Like Cottonwood Trees

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2005-11-30

"Cottonwood Saints" by Gene Guerin came about when the author asked his mother to write her memoirs about growing up in northern New Mexico during the early part of the 20th Century. He found her recollections so compelling, he turned them into a novel.
"Cottonwood Saints" begins with the birth of this mother, whom he calls Margarita Juana, then follows her growing up, marrying, having children of her own, and dying.
Sometimes books based on family history end up a personal narrative with meaning for the authors, but few others. Gene Guerin avoids this trap by focusing his story on universal issues. His mother copes with things everyone faces. She just happens to do it in a unique part of the Southwestern United States.
At the same time, Gene Guerin offers a vivid picture of life on one of the last American frontiers, describing in vivid detail the rutted roads over which Margarita Juana and her father drive to bring loads of lumber into town, trips to an Indian Pueblo to visit friends, and the arduous process of washing clothes and preserving food in a time beforfe electricity and refrigeration.
Labor is back breaking both in the barn and in the house. Tempers flare. Parents slap. Children learn to obey, and help do chores without argument.
When someone gets sick, people cope as best they can. On-the-job safety doesn't exist. The wise woman, or curandara, brings herbs and teas to the rescue. The doctor comes as a last resort, often when it's too late.
.Strong personalities, not all of them likeable, fill "Cottonwood Saints." Margaritia's mother, Tama, is about as nasty as they come. Margarita's husband, Miguel redefines bland and meek. Nash, Margarita's Indian nanny, is a woman anyone could love, as are Margaritia's doting aunts and uncles. The reader sympathizes with Margarita's feelings of abandonment when these kindly people die.
Bit by bit, Margaritia learns to cope with her life, and make what she can of it, just as everyone does. Her varying degress of success and failure make her an everyday hero, and keep the reader turning the pages of "Cottonwood Saints."
Author Guerin tells Margaritia's over-arching story in the first person, the voice of Michael, her son. But he also has the knack of stepping into the third person to relate portions of the novel that happened before Michael was born. The technique gives "Cottonwood Saints" a wonderful flow. The reader can smell the chili roasting, and see an old family hacienda crumbling.
By the end of the book, Guerin has summed up the triumphs, failures, glories, and horrors of a woman's life. It happens to be Margarita Juana's, but it could be anybody's. New Mexico's frontier families were tough. But so is human nature, or their descendants wouldn't be around to write qbout their ancestors.

Cutting for Sign

Published in Paperback by Vintage (1995-05-30)

Author: William Langewiesche

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This man knows of what he speaks

Helpful Votes: 12 out of 12 total.
Review Date: 1999-07-02

I grew up on the Mexican border, and Langewiesche beautifully captures the schizophrenic love/hate relationship entangling the two sides. He writes with the clean, precise lines of the journalist, but gives the end result a spin of philosophy that could only come from really feeling the people and places he visits. Much like his second work, "Sahara Unveiled", this is much more than reportage. It's too bad not more people have read this book...I think it would greatly help Americans' understanding of border relations.

Highly descriptive of my personal experiences in Marfa, TX

Helpful Votes: 23 out of 24 total.
Review Date: 1998-12-28

As a former City Manager of Marfa, Texas, I have observed and experienced first hand many of the incidents described in the book. For instance, the morning gathering of area ranchers at the former Thunderbird Restaurant, totally devoid of Hispanic participants; the persistent overtones of bigotry amoung many of the well established Anglo citizens;and, there are still semblances of the old "Patron" system alive and well.

While I can't prove that my dismissal from my position as City Manager was based on the fact that I am Hispanic, I have no doubt that the racial aspect played a part in the decision to terminate my services. Many local residents have told me that the Mayor could not stand a smart well-educated Mexcican making him look bad.

In any event, the description of Marfa and the region surrounding it are all surprising accurate. The author most certainly has a deep sense of morality, and an uncanny method of lucidly describing people, situations, and injustices.

A very good read

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2001-12-23

A very good read about the tense and diverse relations that exist at the Mexican - U.S. border. Author is a good storyteller, and offers great detail. A must for anyone seeking to understand our neighbor to the South.

This is the best treatment of a troubled area I've read.

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 1998-12-09

In the 21st century, the United States will finally acknowledge that it's a largely spanish-speaking country. Meanwhile, Mexico remains a mystery to many of us. Not after reading this book: Without descending into a morass of facts, we learn about the essence of the place, and its relationship to the US. A well-written treatment with respect for its subject.

Dine Bahane': The Navajo Creation Story

Published in Paperback by University of New Mexico Press (1987-12-01)

Author: Paul G. Zolbrod

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Navajo Creation Story

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-10-20

This is a book that is easy to read. It beautifully explains many of the Navajo stories of their creation. There is humor, pathos and much wisdom.
If you read it, you will see parallels to other stories of creation.
A lovely book to read any time, but especially if you are planning to visit the American southwest. You will appreciate New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado in a heightened way, seeing sacred spots to the Navajo and understanding why they are to be respected.

Are you wondering how we evolved? Emerge into a new book.

Helpful Votes: 14 out of 29 total.
Review Date: 1997-04-15

This book is about the creation of life. How human beings evolved in a world that had kaos. This tale includes many different worlds, in which life was discovered. Many gods have created human life to bring forth to what we arrived to today, but the only thing to destroy us is kaos. Hatred among both sexes causes the seperation which leads to longing for one another. Among the humans, anxiety was brought to the world and the gods who created the world, got angey. So the gods took action and destroyed the world by pushing all forms of life out almost killing everyone, but the humans were the smartest and emerged into the next world which is known today

History - Past and Present

Helpful Votes: 19 out of 19 total.
Review Date: 2001-12-06

There are several versions of the Navajo Creation Story known but Paul Zolbrod has captured the most plausible and accepted rendition in print. Most Navajos that I know accept this text as adequate and feel that the author's treatment of the subject matter is fair and sensitive to a very vital element of Dine' culture. Many Navajos, especially elders will say that the material printed in this book used to be reserved for the sweat hooghan and special times between family members but understand that now things have changed and accept the publication of very special and sensitive aspects of a great peoples' religion, as long as it is done under the auspices of the Navajo Nation. Perhaps in time others will publish material more to the needs of Navajo scholars but to this day this book is the literary standard of the creation stories.

Excellent scholarly work

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2001-07-16

Paul Zolbrod does a fine job of collating his own transcriptions of Navajo oral traditions with the records of other scholars from decades past to create a seamless narration of the Navajo story of creation. This is a valuable contribution to a deeper understanding of a specific native American culture.

Dirty Pool

Published in Hardcover by St Martins Pr (1999-03)

Author: Steve Brewer

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Fast paced entertainment.

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2005-11-11

Dirty Pool has it all. It is funny, suspenseful, with great characters and a believable plot. Bubba, a private investigator, must search for the son of a millionaire. The rebel kid has turned into a skinhead and hangs around people so scary you may think about putting down the novel because you want to forget them. During his journey into the dark world of the skinheads, Bubba must come to terms with his father, who abandoned him when he was only nine, and is now driving him crazy with his irrational behavior.

Dirty Pool is a very entertaining novel. Steve Brewer accomplished a lot with a novel that has less than 300 pages. Evidence that you don't need to bore readers with long descriptions and lots of information to create a classic.

A raw, real, murderously enjoyable novel

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2003-09-15

Dirty Pool by Steve Brewer is a gritty, two-fisted mystery in the tradition of Mike Hammer and Mickey Spillane. Hard-boiled and street savvy private eye Bubba Mabry gets a seemingly slick and easy moneymaker case - drop of a ransom for the kidnaping of the pampered, rebellious, skinhead son of a multimillionaire. But when both the money and the kidnaped individual disappear, Bubba is stiffed his tip - unless he can locate the boy, meaning that he's earned the claim to the ransom himself. Imminent family problems in the form of his own pain-in-the-neck father coming to visit won't stop Bubba from pursuing the prize in this raw, real, murderously enjoyable novel.

Humorous mystery starring an anti-hero

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 1999-03-12

Albuquerque private investigator Bubba Mabry desperately wants to tell his nemesis private detective William J. Pool to go to hell when his unscrupulous rival asks for help. However, Bubba needs the cash, sees a chance to obtain a needed boost to his own agency, and also has an opportunity to finally trump William. He agrees to join in on the investigation of locating Richie, the teenage son of Texas millionaire Dick Johnson.

The circumstantial evidence points towards an abduction especially since the kidnapper sent Dick a ransom note. However, Dick feels his crazy son set up the entire affair, including authoring the note. Bubba delivers the ransom, which Richie collects. Dick informs his two detectives that the one who brings his son home keeps the ransom money. Amoral William sets bungling Bubba up to fail as they contend for $200,000.

DIRTY POOL is a different type of private detective story because the hero is more human than most investigators found in mystery tales. Bubba has at best average intelligence and makes the cowardly lion seem heroically intrepid. However, this leaves readers with divergent feelings towards him. At times, one wants to help him as he muddles his way through a case. At other times the audience will want to slap him silly and shut the book. Stephen Brewer demonstrates he has the ability to write an entertaining novel starring a less humorous Couseau-like boob.

Harriet Klausner

An excellent mystery wrapped up in a great sense of humor.

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 1999-10-24

Bubba Mabry should have been a member of the Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight. He has a penchant for getting into trouble, yet somehow always gets his guy. Steve Brewer has a knack for developing a fine mystery, all the while exposing his protagonist's weaknesses and fumblings. And he does it with a refreshing sense of humor. Brewer can also turn a phrase so that the reader remembers excerpts from his books long after finishing them. Dirty Pool is the fifth in the Bubba Mabry series and makes the reader call for more, more, more. This latest book brings new dimension to Bubba with the addition of the investigator's long-lost father, Dub, and Bubba's continuing relationship with Felicia, the hard-edged newspaperwoman. As I read Dirty Pool, I began to think that Bubba was growing---in sophistication, in compassion, in competence. But, in the end, it was actually the people around him who grew. Bubba is an incorrigible plodder, who somehow gets the job done. And does so in an endearing way. Unlike a lot of writers whose characters and plots become diluted with subsequent editions, Brewer seems to get better as he goes along. And so do his characters. If you like a good mystery and want a good laugh along the way, pick up Dirty Pool---or any other of Brewer's works, for that matter.

Down the Santa Fe Trail and into Mexico: The Diary of Susan Shelby Magoffin, 1846-1847 (Yale Western Americana Paperbound, Yw-3.)

Published in Paperback by Bison Books (1982-08-01)

Author: Susan Shelby Magoffin

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Average review score:

"Breathing Free"

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-22

It is with some awe in my own breast that I write a review for this remarkable little book, which is a "Historical Diary" and therefore of importance to those who would study history from the human element rather than strictly through footnotes. I offer a quote taken from her that struck me as one of the most unique I have heard uttered - flowing from the mind through the pen and on to posterity from of one of the Pioneers; the raw honesty springing from the personal epic she never designed for others other than family to ever see:

"There is such Independence, so much free, uncontaminated air, which impregnates the mind, the feelings, nay, every thought, with purity. I breathe free without that oppression and uneasiness felt in the gossiping circles felt in the settled home."

The writer is not polished; but her work was never intended to be published. What makes it so intriguing is that she managed to capture the moment, the time, complete with names, descriptions of the country and the peoples as she was thoughtfully living it, something most of us would either not think of doing, or be distracted in the monumental tasks of everyday work in such an environment. Which brings me to the crux of the matter in a hurry: this woman, though very young, was educated, had married a mature, much older man man who had a thriving, though fraught with danger Trade business established on the fringes of the frontiers. She was pampered throughout the journey; yet never seemed to take it for granted. As a result, she could write enthusiastically of events and gather wildflowers at will, almost as a scientific mode arising unintentioned from the moment; this free, unencumbered freedom from heavy responsibility obviously was one of the things that allowed her to devote her time, energy and full attention to matters of the day that were happening around her, while her servants did the mundane work. This alertness is felt throughout the book, even in the midst of the terror of Mexican and Indian attacks that came within miles of their supply train. I don't know how much of this she went back and wrote with a steadier hand, but it appears that she was in full self-control at all times, even during these times of high stress.

Her devotion to her husband is genuine, and is felt in a way much different than many diaries I have read. It seems as though their union was one of love, companionship; yet comprised of a strong sense of individualism, another idea that was rare within that era of female domination. She describes the grass, the cold, sweet limestone water, the suffering of the animals when lack of feed and water arose - it made no difference - the wagons must travel on.

In short, she wrote what is possibly one of the most accurate, historical accountings, unembellished of the Santa Fe Trail at that time simply because she didn't know she was doing it.

If you love old Southwest history, American Frontier History of any kind, you will enjoy this book.

"The curtain raises now with a new scene."

Helpful Votes: 14 out of 15 total.
Review Date: 2006-02-27

Many journals of travelers along the Santa Fe (and Oregon and California) Trail have been published, but Susan Magoffin's ranks among the best of them. Susan Magoffin was born of a wealthy family in Kentucky and had recently married the successful Santa Fe trader Samuel Magoffin. They had spent six months on a honeymoon trip to New York and Philadelphia (about which Susan also kept a journal, though to my knowledge it has not been published), and now, two months after their return to Independence, Missouri, she was to accompany her husband on a caravan transporting goods along the Santa Fe Trail to northern Mexico. She was 18 years old.

Magoffin is as charming as any 18 year old could be, and it's a joy for the reader to share her sense of adventure. She is obviously having the time of her life, despite the inconveniences of broken wagon bows and stormy weather. We also get a view of what life was like for typical travelers on the trail. There is also intrigue to a degree: Samuel's older brother James was on a mission for President Polk preceding Stephen Kearny's troops during the initial stages of the Mexican War, and news about James enters the journal at certain points, including once where he was robbed by the Apaches but somehow escaped with his life. After the trading caravan reached Santa Fe, the Magoffins contined on into Mexico, spending time at Chihuahua. The journal ends on September 8, 1847, and does not include her contracting yellow fever at Matamoras where she also gave birth to a son (he died a few days later). The couple then sailed across the Gulf of Mexico to the Mississippi River and to Susan's family in Kentucky. (Susan would live only another eight years, dying of childbirth at age 27.)

It's a wonderful first-hand account. My only complaint is that I wish editor Stella Drumm had identified locations (camping sites, geographic sites, etc.) mentioned by Magoffin in the journal. Other than that, it's a chronicle that can be read often and always seem fresh and exciting. A must-read record of an important and lively adventure.

Good reading!

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-19

I am an author. I am writing a novel based on my grandmother's life. I'm using this book as a guide to writing her story. She was born in 1863 in Clinton, Iowa and traveled west. The route she took is not know but this book gives a vivid account of the trail and its tribulations and high points.

Primary Source tale of a honeymoon on the Santa Fe Trail

Helpful Votes: 22 out of 29 total.
Review Date: 1998-11-01

Magoffin was a name familiar to the Mexicans who had trading relations with Susan's husband for years before he married her and took her with him from the states on an expedition to Chihuahua, Mexico. She kept a diary from which she drew her information for the only book I know written by a woman, young and pregnant, whose fate it was to die in her 26th year, at home. Accounts from her perspective at such a crucial time in relations between the United States and Mexico, in a venacular peculiarly her own, make her work one of considerable importance to the serious student of the time. Revealing also are individual encounters with men, some from her own country, and her opinion of Gen. Stephen Watts Kearny, commander of the U.S. Army of the West stationed in Sante Fe. Susan was a young lady of class the exercise of which makes the reader proud, and whose elegance charmed all who came to know her.

Dragonflies and Damselflies of Texas and the South-Central United States: Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico

Published in Hardcover by Princeton University Press (2005-04-01)

Author: John C. Abbott

List price: $95.00

New price: $88.60
Used price: $88.58

Average review score:

Dragonfly guide review

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-17

I have several guides for birds, butterflies, snakes, reptiles and amphibians. I just started learn about dragonflies this year and this is one of the best guides I have seen. In fact, it was highly recommended by an individual who has a Masters Degree in dragonfly study. I recommend it for individuals just starting out with dragonflies as the photos are great but it also provides enough information (range maps) to let you narrow down and identify the more difficult species.

The Texas Odonata Bible

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-23

This field guide is the one to own. It covers not only all the dragonflies of Texas and the Southcentral US, but all the damselflies as well. The photographs are superb and this make for easy identification of species in the field. However, because of these pluses, the result is a rather sizable guide that is just a bit too heavy to really qualify as a handy field guide. If you can deal with its size and weight, it more than makes up for this handicap in thes helpful information it provides. The only drawback and the reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5, is because it is a tad less user friendly for the novice or non-professional (i.e. The species identification keys are a bit confusing). Nevertheless, it is destined to become the standard to measure all other guides.

A Complete Guide to South-Central Odonates

Helpful Votes: 8 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2005-11-08

As an admirer of dragonflies and damselflies I was quite delighted to find this book by John C. Abbott. It is a mix of the very technical and (at least in part because of the 64 plates of magnificent color photos) the very useful for the non-specialist. The range maps are invaluable as a way of adding clues for the identification of similar species. The line drawings of anatomical parts are important in separating closely related species and the glossary of terms, the check list, and the large bibliography round out a very useful or even indispensable volume for the dragonfly watcher. In short, this book is a serious guide to an area with the highest odonate diversity in the United States. "Dragonflies and Damselflies of Texas and the South-Central United States" simply is a must for anyone interested in the odonate fauna of the five states involved. Its production, along with at least three earlier regional and national books on the subject, is a testimonial to the growing popularity of these beautiful and fascinating insects.

A serious book for the serious reader

Helpful Votes: 9 out of 10 total.
Review Date: 2005-08-20

This is not a book that you can skim; rather, it is one intended for the serious student of Odonata in Texas. Written by an acknowledged expert in the field, it covers everything you might want to know about the dragonflies found in Texas.

Be warned, though, that you cannot approach this book lightly. The author uses scientific terms liberally: you will have to spend time acquiring the vocabulary.

For the serious Texas "Odo-nut" this is an absolutely essential part of your library.