New Mexico Books

I usually shy away from reading biographies written by relatives of the subject, since I suspect they may not be objective. This book is by Ruth Hanna McCormick's granddaughter but she never knew her grandmother - and was probably better able to gain information which her relatives had. I found this account of the life of the first woman ever to be nominated by a major political party for a US Senate seat to be well-written and to tell well the interesting life which Ruth Hanna MCCormick Simms led. Ruth was the daughter of Mark Hanna, the man who made William McKinley president, and she married the brother of Colonel Robert McCormick, longtime boss of the Chicago Tribune. Her husband won a Senate seat in 1918 defeating the legendary J. hamilton Lewis. After her husband was defeated for reelection and took his own life, his widow was elected to Congress in 1928, and then ran for the Seante in 1930, defeating the incumbent Senator in the Republican primary but in turn losing to--J. Hamilton Lewis, the man her husband had beaten 12 years earlier. Thereafter she married a man who was a New Mexico Congressman when she met him--he exchanged seats with a Congressman who before the exchange would lean past Mrs. McCormick to use the spittoon. The book also includes a detailed account of Mrs. Simms' effort to make Tom Dewey President in 1940 and reveals interesting aspects of the 1940 campaign and tells how Dewey rebuffed her help in 1944. I found the book a fascinating look into political life from the woman's suffrage effort (in which Mrs. McCormick played a leading role) to the 1940s. Don't avoid this book merely because it was written by a granddaughter.

This book had it all. My friend told me about Mr. Sanderson and I decided to buy this book. I must say that Mr. Sanderson is the only author that I know of who can write a tragic, mysterious comedy all in one. The characters were strange, which made them interesting. The plot was also interesting, and would catch the attention of any action oriented guy. The love scenes would attract any women. The book has it all, (gun smuggling crime romance) and it is a shame that this guy is so underrated. He needs more exposure, because I had to hear of this gem from my dim-witted friend.

regards, K. wheeler

This book treats in great depth the history of San Antonio, Texas. It approaches the history from the standpoint of "community" formation. From an author who served as James Michener's researcher while writing his "TEXAS" one would expect the research is thorough and objective. One is not disappointed!

J. F. de la Teja is the greatest living historian of San Antonio. Here, he puts its history, its people, its institutions, its acequias and how they blend together in a single source. This book covers the early [Spanish] period of the city, and provides the opportunity to see the early settlement, to imagine the lives of those who began a new life here on the far northern reaches of New Spain, back in the early eighteenth century.

It is a "must have" book for anyone interested in San Antonio's early days: an outstanding resource for the student of Texas history.

As a high school English teacher who is designing a course on the literature of the Bay Area, I have found this collection of critical essays indespensible. The introduction sets the stage, tying together the landscape, history, and culture of the San Francisco area in order to generate a cohesive view of the literature of this region. The key question here is what makes the literature of the Bay Area distinct? What unifies the literature of this region? Fine and Skenazy present a view of Bay Area writing that ranges from the post-gold rush, pre-earthquake days of Mark Twain, Bret Harte, and Ambrose Bierce to modern voices such as Amy Tan, Richard Rodriguez and Maxine Hong Kingston. They illustrate the ways in which the literary scene of the Bay Area has grown and transformed, moving from the newsapaper articles and short stories written from a predominantly white male perspective, to a more inclusive, broder regional identity. Incidently, their definition of "San Francisco stories" is admittedly wide-ranging; they have included writers from as far afield as Santa Cruz to the south and Sacramento to the west. The essays feature analyses of the work of Frank Norris, Jack London, Dashiell Hammett, William Saroyan, Jack Kerouac, Wallace Stegner and others I've mentioned above.

While my interests in the subject at hand are mostly academic, I imagine that anyone interested in the rich--if brief--history of the Bay Area would enjoy reading these essays. As a collection, the essays raise and adress interesting questions about how a place can shape writing. They also ask the reader to look at the character of the Bay Area and consider why it is as it is--unique and complex, a land of travelers, heading forever west, hoping to strike it rich.

Enjoyable reading; especially if you are interested in past history of silver mines.

If you are going to fish The San Juan River you need this book. Heck for ... with shipping even if the book was bad it couldn't hurt but this book is really great. Shows maps of all the great spots and lots of local tips. I have used one other of the author's books and got "hooked" on their simplicity and usefulness.

I love this book so much I bought a replacement copy after the first disappeared. The photos and text are inspiring -- you'll find yourself wandering northern New Mexico to see these magnificent buildings in the flesh (as I've done twice.) The authors do an excellent job of capturing the grandeur of these monuments. This is a coffee table book with soul.

The second volume of the "Women's Biography" series, Sandra Day O'Connor: Justice In The Balance is the remarkable true story of the first female United States Supreme Court justice. From her humble beginnings on a cattle ranch, where she learned important lessons about hard work, self-reliance, and the greatness of the outdoors, to her studies at Stanford University, her struggle to find a job as a lawyer in an era when law firms did not want to hire women, the responsibility of juggling her career with marriage, politics, three children, and breast cancer, and her nomination to her judicial post of prestige by President Ronald Regan. A solid biography of the "quiet feminist", written for readers of all backgrounds, and especially recommended for school and public library collections.

I have had the visual experience of the beautiful Sangre De Christo mountain range and this book is an excellent photo representation of this virgin landscape. Sangre De Christo means "the blood of Christ". This book had VIVID pictures that took my breath away and truly made me want to go back. I really enjoyed it!

The beautiful polished black and polychrome pottery of Santa Clara Pueblo is rivaled in design and execution only by that of its neighbor, San Ildefonso, among the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. In recent years it has been sought by growing numbers of collectors and investors. Details entire process with many photos and illustrations. -submitted by BooksDealer = Alex Silverman [taken fronm the back cover]