New Mexico Books

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.

In the early 1990s the Nature Conservancy purchased the Gray Ranch in the bootheel of New Mexico, the most ecologicially diverse area of the United States. I've always resented that the Conservancy resold the ranch to a private foundation and thus denied public access to a huge (321,000 acres) and spectacular wilderness. This book explains the factors leading to the sale and resale of the Gray Ranch. I now understand the Conservancy's motives -- but I still think the Gray Ranch should have been made accessible, at least on a limited basis, to a public hungry for wide-open spaces.

The owners of the Gray Ranch and a dozen other big ranchers make up the Malpai Borderlands Group in the high, wide, and lonesome country of southwestern New Mexico and adjacent Arizona. The ranchers have put their land in conservation easements to protect it from one of the worst environmental threats to the West: sub-division of big ranches into five acre ranchettes. The Malpai ranchers are also in the forefront of developing new and improved practices of managing rangeland. All in all, they're a damned good bunch of people. I would hope that their dedication to preserving open space would spread, especially to the ranches just across the border in Mexico.

Not mentioned in this book is another huge threat to the environment along the border: the proposed Wall to keep out illegal aliens which will also inhibit the movement of jaguars, ocelots, antelope, deer, and a host of other creatures who need to pass back and forth over the border in search of water and food.

"Working Wilderness" features wonderful photographs -- alas, not all of them labeled -- and an informative text about the Malpai Borderlands and the people who live and work there. There are sections about preserving, endangered species, the use of fire as a management tool, profiles of ranchers and conservationists, and a message that cooperation is possible between cowboys and environmentalists to preserve the greatest asset of the Western United States: open space and room to breathe.

Smallchief

WORKING WILDERNESS: THE MALPAI BORDERLANDS GROUP AND THE FUTURE OF THE WESTERN RANGE may sound so specialized that one would think it limited only to college-level regional holdings - but it's not. The Western range covers the extent of America's western landscape and its history reveals it's one of the most fiercely contested areas in the country when it comes to land management issues. Private lands have lately been changing to residential development, further involving political and social issues conflicts, which are chronicled in WORKING WILDERNESS. Here geography professor Nathan Sayre examines the alliances that have worked to preserve the open range, The Malpai Borderlands Group, and provides an unusual expose of their efforts.

One hallmark of Native American art, a reverence for the earth, is gloriously celebrated in the work of Taos Pueblo artist Pop Chalee, now displayed in a beautiful volume, The World Of Flower Blue.

While it is regrettably true that a score of Native American women artists receive scant attention, Pop Chalee was one of the first to gain national recognition and commercial success. The daughter of a Native American father and Swiss mother, Pop Chalee, who adopted her Tiwa name, Flower Blue, utilized her rich multi cultural heritage to create an enchanted world rooted in ceremonial and daily activities.

It's said that Jackson Pollack, one of the great Abstract Expressionists, may have been influenced by Native American sand paintings, others try to categorize Native American art as expressionism or postmodernism. Chalee's work defies such narrow perimeters, as is seen in her exultant renderings of dancing figures and nature.

A graduate of the noted 1937 class of the Dorothy Dunn Studio at the Santa Fe Indian School, Chalee was trained in what is known as "Traditional Indian Painting," representations of native scenes painted in flat colors with clear outlines. Among the school's goals "was to encourage the study of tribal cultural traditions while allowing for individualism." Chalee was more than an individual, expanding her oeuvre beyond paintings to jewelry, textile designs, and murals.

Chosen by the artist to be her biographer, poet Margaret Cesa has delivered a sympathetic yet candid portrayal, a journey into the world of Native American artists that few visit. In doing so, she, too, helps to smooth the path for those who follow Pop Chalee.

A debt of gratitude is owed to "Flower Blue," who broke down barriers and left the world a rare heritage of magical beauty.

Pop Chalee was a Native American artist trained at the Santa Fe School of Indian Art during the seminal 1930s. Her style was traditional, and consequently her work has been ignored in recent years. This book should restore her reputation. Superb color plates. Winner, Border Regional Library Association's 1998 Southwest Book Award.

I have the original version of this book and I have carried it all over the country and used like a bible for the last ten years. I have gone back to each chapter at random and repeated his exercises time and time again without feeling like I was returning to the same book. Even if you are just journal writing like me this book is a must have and I will be ordering the new version when I am done writing this. I have only found one other book that works just as well in it's powerful simplicity and that is John E. Schwiebert's "Reading and Writing from Literature". Thanks Mr. Murray for the guidance.

Now in a newly revised and expanded edition, Writing About Nature: A Creative Guide by John A. Murray deftly teaches aspiring nature writers diverse exercises and examples with which to hone the communication skills of anyone who has experienced nature and the outdoors and yearns to share what they have seen. Covering a broad range of genres, and conveying a wealth of tips, tricks, techniques, as well as surveying publication issues, and enhanced with a new chapter about nature writing and environmental activism, Writing About Nature is an original, superbly organized and presented resource. Writing About Nature is an excellent skill improvement guide which is a highly recommended addition to any nature writer's instructional reference shelf or reading list.

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!

What a good enjoyable book. This is how archaeologists should try to write most of the times. A book on a little known part of MExico, archaeologically, written in plain english. It provides a great overview of the origins and the rise of Zapotec Civilization until the abandonment of its main site at Monte Alban ca 700 AD. It also provides a refreshing new approach called actin theory, viewing history as determined by the actions of real people, not untangible forces of the environment or society. Classic.

I really, really, really liked this book. If I could have given it 6 stars I probably would have! The authors of Zapotec Civilization have covered the field nicely for this small segment of the perhistoric Middle American world and have set it clearly amidst the other contemporary cultures of the region, most notably that at Teotihuacan. Kent Flannery is one of THE names in the field of Middle American anthropology and archaeology and the quality of the volume shows why. I am less knowledgeable about Ms Marcus, although the vita provided by the book itself suggests an impressive intellectual treasure here as well. I enjoyed the volume enough to keep it to read another time. A rare kudo, believe me.

This is a great book to use as a reference guide to look for and purchase jewelry created by many of the Zuni jewelry artists. Great photographs of a wide selection of jewelry with corresponding artist names. Highly recommended for collectors.

Even though these are obstensibly for the information of collectors, all the Schiffer books that I have ever gotten are magnificent just for the those who wistfully wish they could afford a piece. The reader can't handle the actual pieces, but it's about as close as one will get in a picture. And if one ever does get enough money to buy a piece, one will know what one wants.

This is full of well-done color pictures and packed with a lot of information about the history and contemporary makers. There are other books with gorgeous shots of turquoise and silver, but the reader of this and the Bassman's other books will come away with some real understanding of the different styles, schools, and the cultural milieu of their creation.

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.

From understanding how blood sugars affect overall health to what constitutes appropriate exercise and how to judge the heatlh effects of fast food, 101 Tips For Simplifying Diabetes provides an easy question-and-answer format to answer some of the more common questions posed by diabetics. The format lends to an easier understanding of the condition than most would allow.