Arizona Books

Not traditionally a fan of historical fiction, I found this book intriguing and well written, and I wanted to continually turn the pages to the end. It paints the fascinating story of a real woman, her feelings and her life during a difficult time and difficulties that all during that time period had to endure. My book club even called the author, who spoke at our meeting via phone; Ms. Turner gave us more than an hour of her time, providing much background and perspective to the story.

This is absolutely one of my favorite books. I don't typically enjoy historical fiction that much, but I've read These Is My Words twice and loved it both times.
I felt totally connected to Sarah, like I was going through all the good and bad times with her. I laughed, I cried, it was great. I couldn't put this book down, and felt so disappointed when it was over! In the following days, I actually felt like I missed Sarah, like she was a person that I actually knew!
This book is fascinating storytelling and wonderful characterization at its absolute best! I've loaned it to every woman I know, and they've all loved it too.

This is a story that you can't put down. Written from an honest heart, you really feel like you are living the story with the characters.

These is My Words is filled with wild west high adventure. It is fast paced and reminds me of watching an action movie. Sarah grows from not understanding what is love. How it is demonstrated etc... to a profound understanding of a healthy marriage relationship. Filled with woman's issues: child bearing & rearing, pregnancy, marriage, courage, strength, meekness, life and death. A woman's classic.

This book is great. It has everything ----- humor, sadness, romance, and just pure true grit!! Sarah and Jack are exceptional characters. I couldn't put the book down, but wanted more when it was over.

This book was extremely disappointing unless you would like to know how many gallons of water it takes to illegally cross from Mexico into the United States. The author takes a liberal and sympathic view of illegals and tries to sway the reader into thinking that breaking the law is OK for these people. Give me a break. Where is the equal-sided journalism? What about the economic drain to healthcare, gang violence and drugs that these people bring into the United States? If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and swims like a duck then it is a duck. Illegals are illegals are illegals. Don't waste your time on this book.

"A passionate exponent of more human solutions to the problems of illegal border crossings...John Annerino, an Arizona writer-photojournalist, tells the story up close and personal in a gut wrenching, bare knuckle account...His account puts flesh and bones on the story behind the dreams, and skeletons,too," Desert Candle.

There are those who call themselves experts on the subject and those who are. John is the genuine expert. His points on the subject can only be done by being there and doing it. That is John, that is how he is. That is how he lives. A Master photographer, a Father, Journalist. His treatment on the border issue is a no-holds-barred trip into the unknown. He makes it known, he does it masterfully! When I read Dead in Their Tracks I found it to be the best publication on the subject. It should be required reading for those who are studying Hispanic Culture here at the University of Arizona! When one has the folks at ABC News and other News organizations beating on your door for your knowledge on the subject you know it is John Annerino. When you read a John Annerino book or see his imigaes you are guaranteed that you have exposed to the very best in subject treatment. Dead in Their Tracks will take you for a ride you won't soon forget.

-"Photojournalist John Annerino plunges into a world few Americans ever consider, much less confront: a pitiless trek through the southwestern Arizona Desert that can deliver a man to steady work - or to a whimpering death," Laura Brooks, The Arizona Daily Star.

-"Anyone interested in this slaughter should run, not walk, to John Annerino's Dead in Their Tracks," Charles Bowden, author of Down by the River.

-"A passionate chronicle. The story...is gripping and profoundly disturbing," Susan J. Tweit, The Bloomsbury Review.

-"A stunning portrayal of the dangers (including death) faced by immigrants eager to work in the United States," Library Journal.

-"I'm trying to illuminate the lives of those who continue to die in America's killing ground," Annerino said," abcnews.com.

-"A gripping firsthand account of crossing the Camino del Diablo in the company of Mexican nationals...Annerino's evocative words and haunting pictures make the issue impossible to ignore," Donnamarie Barnes, People Magazine.

-"The story is riveting.Annerino's writing is emotional and graphic," Ernesto Portillo, San Diego Union-Tribune.

-"Through cholla cactus and scorpions, along sands simmering at 140-160 degrees, John Annerino and four Mexican companions stumble toward an oasis north of poverty: the American dream," oneworldjournies.com.

-"The book is a testament and a memorial.Thirty pages list the known dead...Annerino deserves praise for putting this story into words and pictures," Will Chaffey, San Antonio Express-News.

-"A gripping work of investigative reporting," Nicole Davis, National Geographic Adventure.

-"Seen on CNN and featured on CNN Bokchat, John Annerino has worked on the border for Newsweek, ABC Primetime, National Geographic Adventure, and America 24/7," KmG

This book is poorly written, _utterly_ disjointed, and has a cloying sentimentality that is really annoying. By that I mean it's not at all analytical: it includes random snippets of poems, etc. that serve only to confound the reader looking for some meat. Plus, there are certain phrases like "cutting sign" that I hadn't the foggiest idea about until I looked it up. Help the reader out here.

Yeah, it's hot as hell in the desert, and it's doggone handy to have water. It sucks that people are dying in the desert and the forces that draw them to _El Norte_ are highly complex and not necessarily their fault. Still, they are breaking the law from the word go, and well they know it, and it seems to me there are worse tragedies involving truly innocent people. Plus, it peeves me to no end that these illegals have largely trashed some of the most beautiful and exotic wildernesses in the U.S. So my sympathy is just not all that deep.

The photos are for the most part of lousy quality as well. Why it took carrying several cameras, as the author claims, to produce these pictures is beyond me.

Lastly the book is VERY short, with a ridiculously long appendix addressing every single death that has occurred in this area ... newsflash: no one is going to read that.

How could the editors have allowed a book like this to go to press? It's absolutely amateurish, despite being driven by sincere emotions.

I read this book aloud to my two youngest boys (9 and 10). It has been a profound experience, one which has brought us closer together and has helped me to share things with my boys that I was afraid I would never be able to express in my own words.

Robert Avrech has created a world and its characters that are vividly real, unsparingly realistic and yet inspiring and comfortingly spiritual- all this in a book that is accessible to my sons, substantial enough to leave a lasting impression on me and written with such sturdy elegance that it is a joy to read out-loud.

This is a wonderful book. It is, in fact, a work of gentle and entertaining genius.

Normally being a slow reader with a wandering mind, I read this entire book in just four days, unable to put it down. It was such a sweet, heartwarming story; I could easily imagine the author writing it, as I know him personally, and he truly is such a nice man. But this book is more than a sentimental tear-jerker; actual historical people that existed at the time the story takes place, are here. I learned things about American history I had not previously known. I also found it interesting how the author emphasized how the Jews are not truly white people at all, but their own separate race who may have more affinity with American Indians than with White America.

I'll admit, I bought THE HEBREW KID AND THE APACHE MAIDEN for my 12 year-old nephew, but I couldn't resist taking a peek myself. And, once I started it, I was hooked; couldn't put it down.

Author Robert Avrech has crafted a marvelous plot. He weaves together the history of the Jews with details about traditional anti-Semitism--both in Europe and in the United States--along with lore about the American Wild West of the 19th Century.

This novel is a work which combines great imagination with scholarly research.

Every page here is an adventure, starting with Apaches on the war path and moving on to Mexican desperadoes. The reader, especially the younger reader, definitely will learn much about the Jewish religion as a result of reading this book.

According to the author's biography, he already is a successful screenwriter. I have read novels written by great authors, and I have seen screenplays written by great screenwriters, and THE HEBREW KID AND THE APACHE MAIDEN is the equal of the best of them.

Robert Avrech dedicated this book to the memory of his son.

Robert Avrech's first installment of the adventures of Ariel in the turbulent beginnings of the American Southwest isn't simply a book for young adults. It's an enjoyable must-read for adults -- Jewish and non-Jewish -- interested in Judaism in any way. His explanations of Jewish and Apache spirituality are simple without being simplistic, and are beautifully woven into the adventurous tale of a boy trying to learn how to be a man -- and a "mensch" -- in a dangerous world. Hopefully it won't be too long before we're able to enjoy Ariel's next journey!

An author's intellect too often outstrips his spirit. The observation, the wit, the rendered phrase will display polish, but the work as a whole may lack a certain, deeper luster. And it's that luster that fixes our attention - while we're reading the work and while it lives with us forever after. Fortunately, Robert Avrech's first children's novel is imbued with this kind of luster.

The Hebrew Kid and the Apache Maiden is an entertaining and inspiring tale honed with high craft and deep piety. Written by a career screenwriter for a primarily (though by no means exclusively) young, Jewish, male audience, it is at once plausible and improbable, silly and serious, magical and didactic. I read it one afternoon in a cafe, pausing only to wag its colorful cover in front of a few inquisitive onlookers while telling them that they too ("big people," like me) should read this. Did I adequately communicate this to the other "big people"? I can't say, because before finding out if I had, I let myself be transported again - under the sure, guiding author's hand - to that age....

Yet there's more going on - and at stake - in HKAM than quality entertainment. It has to do with Mr. Avrech's choice of setting the novel in the Arizona of the 1870s, thereby overlaying mass Jewish immigration with mass American expansion and the Indian Wars. It also has to do with the interwoven themes of coming of age, learning to handle firearms, and Jewish self-defense. For while the novel makes no pretense of speaking directly to other - mostly "big people" - works which treat some or all of these themes, HKAM reminds me, indirectly, of some other works that (in part or in whole) do treat them: Primo Levi's If Not Now, When?; Antek Zuckerman's A Surplus of Memory; Romain Gary's A European Education; Esther Forbes's Johnny Tremain; and any number of Hemingway stories. Yet by predating the 20th Century - and the Shoah - and by sticking to the Kid's point of view, Avrech helps preserve that degree of Orthodox Judaism's innocence and wonder and awe which frequently is beyond the scope of "big people" or less observant or 20th Century works. For, as the dedication offers, what's also at stake in this novel is the debt Mr. Avrech is attempting to repay to his departed son - the great inspiration for the Hebrew Kid.

The Hebrew Kid and the Apache Maiden is a mitzvah through and through. Purchase it in hardcover while you still can. You will want your copy to last as long as there are generations to come, generations which will always peer into the lives of past generations, wondering how to learn from them.

I think what strikes me most about this book is the author's honesty. I suspect that there is more to this story (and certainly the woman behind it) and only hope there may be a revised edition some day. Many "versions" of the truth have been circulated in years' past by many authors.

Fabulous job, Mr. Boyer, on telling the story the way Josie would like her life with Wyatt remembered. If it weren't for your years of research and sincere dedication to this effort, the world may never have known that the Earp's were real people too. Thank you for your years of service to help preserve western history.

I enjoyed this book, very interesting for people who love the old west. Great Quality

I recently went to Tombstone, AZ. for the 1st time in my life even though I'm an AZ native. I loved it so much I have been 2 times in a month. I learned there about Wyatt Earp and Josephine and their love romance. It had me wanting to know more. I got the book and started reading and couldn't put it down. I loved hearing of all the adventures Josephine and Wyatt went on together through out their whole life together. What an amazing couple they were. I highly recommend reading this book. Lots of history and how the old times were.

The so-called controversy around this book has been discussed to exhaustion in my opinion. For those who cant seem to understand the how and why of this book, I offer this suggestion: Move on and let it go. There's no need for me to defend a book that needs no defense. For those seeking to learn some truths about Wyatt Earp and to view his life from the angle of someone close to him, this is an excellent source. Not only is the book informative, it is a good read. A great chance for the historically interested mind to find out more about the Earp's life, before, during, and after Tombstone. If you read this, don't miss out on the interesting notes in the back of the book. You may wish to go back and look at them at the end of the chapter later to avoid disrupting the flow of the story, or you may read them as you go. Either way, some interesting footnotes and commentary by the author, Glenn Boyer. I am awaiting one of his other books, "Tombstone Vendetta" and am looking forward to reading it. Highly recommended, a must for any student of Earp history. D. Lindley

I found this book very interesting, due to the fact that I have always been interested about the life and times of the Wild West. Reading this book has helped my research for a story that I am working on. Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp was a women before her time. I found her as a strong spirit, intelligent, and fascinating. Her recollections of her life and time with Wyatt Earp as her true soul mate that one can share and find in a life time.I imagine her life with out him was a great loss. Wyatt Earp was a true man of his time, who dodge bullets and live to see the turn of the century. And also very handsome.

This is the book I read in bed at night while planning my next bike ride. Most of the rides you can make your way with no map. I like to try to follow the hand drawn maps. I like weird challenges though.

However, for longer rides don't rely on the maps from any guide book. Get topo maps and a compass (or gps). Ray recommends when to bring a compass and map. Buy this book and follow Ray's advice. Enjoy.

Well organized by city, this book provides great usable maps for trail-finding and sets expectations appropriately for each trail experience. Latest edition adds some new trails and accurately reflects the changing trail landscape in Phoenix due to continued land development.

I'm a Flagstaff native and now living in Tucson. I STILL use this guide and carry it like a bible... it is, hands down, the best trail guide I've found. The information is presented in a clear and consise manner, with humor and great illustrations. When Cosmic Ray says that you will most likely ask "This is a trail???" (ie Airport Loop in Sedona) he is correct. Yes the maps may *seem* playful and rough, but they ARE spot-on... don't let them fool you.

As with ANY riding in Arizona... come prepared. Plenty of water, tools, extra tubes (did I mention extra tubes?) and Cosmic Rays.

This is my 6th copy of Cosmic Ray's Trail guide. I tend to give copies to friends headed to Arizona for Bike vacations.

For me, Ray's trail guides have been a wonderful blend of humor and useful information. The trail descriptions have been very accurate and always includes additional information or some nice tips.

In numerous trips to Arizona, I've riden most of the trails mentioned in Flagstaff, Sedona, Phoenix and Tucson. My trail experiances have always accurately matched Ray's description.

If you are looking for a boring technical manual or something for GPS navigation, this book is not for you. This book is really about fun and enjoying some great new trails. Ray's descriptions will give you more than enough information to experience the trail for yourself.

Every time I return to Arizona, I pickup the latest version. This is the Arizona trail bible.

For what it's worth, you also need Topo's, good equipment and supplies. On the trail, things can happen and you need to be prepared.

I am sorry Mr. Rawlins got lost, but keep in mind that my cartoony maps are traced from topos. They are to scale, oriented north and include many details and tips not found on topo maps. He says he got lost on every ride. Interesting. That's not what I hear from other riders. In fact, many, if not most of the rides in my book are SIGNED. Mr. Rawlins must not be paying attention. About "Rating The Rides". It is not possible to rate rides to satasfy every rider. Riders vary greatly in ability. On page 3 of my book there is an entire page devoted to "Rating The Rides" explaining exactly how I arrive at the ratings. Mr. Rawlins should try reading the book he is reviewing.

This is an amazing work, which draws you into the mystiques of our past and makes us seem so inconsequential in the greater scheme of lives gone by.

Definitely a coffee table book. Beautiful pictures. A fantastic way to look back at your experience at a beautiful location.

I have lived in Northern Arizona for most of my life and visit Sedona often. This book, with its wonderful images and text, make the reader feel like they are in Sedona. As a photographer I find the images outstanding and the messages in the text inviting.

Elegant and unique - the best of it's kind! This book is one that I enjoy over and over again, enriched each time by the authors' reverent vision and writings about this sacred and profoundly beautiful landscape.

The new edition's 22 Hikes are described and well organized (i.e. Easy Hikes, Hikes along Water, Hikes to Arches, Hikes into Canyons, Vista Hikes and Loop Hikes) and are wonderful for all levels of ability. I keep this book out for guests and visitors to see and have given it as a gift to out-of-town guests. Lindahl's photography and writings blend the beauty of Sedona in both mystical and poetic ways. I was especially impressed with the combination of rich native historical information and journal narratives that create a sense of being in the timelessness of the place. This book gives me a new appreciation of the natural world through the author's keen attention to detail and the way his profound descriptions and relationship to the land keeps me right there with him on his deep and meditative journeys.

Arizona Highways Magazine

I love this book. My parents are long time Sedona residents, and every time I visit them I purchase a few of Lindahl's "Secret Sedona's" to take home as gifts from vacation. The photography is phenomenal, as well as the written word, which decribes Sedona in the romantic fashion it is in reality.
An easy read, with pictures worth a thousand words and beautifully laid out, I recommend this book to anyone, whether you live in Sedona, visited Sedona, or have even never been there! (It will make to want to do all of the above.) 5 Stars!!!!!

I have bought a lot of hiking books and this is one of the best I've ever used. Sedona has many, many wonderful hikes. For each hike, this book provides distance, difficulty, a quick summary of the hike, a full description of the hike, driving directions to the trailhead, an elevation profile, and a color photo of the trail. This book categorizes the hikes by difficulty level, location, and personal favorites of the authors, which helps someone spending a few days in Sedona quickly find a few hikes they'll love.

I highly recommend this hiking book for anyone who wants to do some hiking in Sedona.

I've read a lot of reviews about this book and no one book is going to make everyone happy. My husband and I had a great time picking out hikes we wanted to go on. It got us where we wanted to go and it provided us enough information to know whether or not we'd enjoy them or not. There is a lot of construction and change going on in and around Sedona right now but we didn't have any problems navigating. The authors use the "Y" in Sedona as the starting point for each of the hikes. The "Y" is now two round-a-bouts. The book does exactly what it's supposed to do-Introduce you to some fantastic hikes, tells you how to get to them and has explanations and thoughts on each one. No complaints here.

This book seems to cover many great hiking areas in Sedona. It is quite explicit re: directions and information about the hiking trails. Great book for a person new to the area or even people who have been around awhile. Very informative!

I used this book for planning a 2 day visit to Sedona. I was extremely happy with the format. It has 2 pages per hike, with a high quality photo of what to expect for views, driving/hiking distance/time, as well as selections of their favorites. We didn't visit long enough to do a lot of the hikes, but we truly felt that we were able to select 3 hikes that were perfectly suited to our tastes and with nice variety. Overall, I don't think you could go wrong in Sedona, but I felt like this guide was well worth the price and only wish I could find similar guides for other locations. The Magnum's have done a great job, deserving of 5 stars.

The only shortcoming you may find is that their maps are very general and mostly help you find the trailhead (which was flawless). But, I prefer to have a quality map as well and I purchased the Emmitt Barks Cartography - Sedona Trails Map (not sure if it was on Amazon), and was very happy with it. Personally, I don't think you can create a detailed map inside the book for each hike, so I don't consider this a flaw to the book - just a bit of advice if you are planning a trip.

This book was very helpful in deciding which hikes to do. We were not dissappointed by any of the hikes. It was good that we knew about the pink jeaps ahead of time.

I would have probably given this collection of essays 5 stars as the other reviewers did if not for the essay about Doug Peacock. Seeking to heal the psychic wounds of The Vietnam War, Peacock sought relief in the wild. An encounter at close range with a grizzly in which he seemed to come to an "understanding" with the bear brought such a catharsis that he began to actively seek them out. If Peacock was able to do this,good for him! But I am reminded of the gruesome fate of "Grizzly Man" Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend who tried to be friends with bears. It seems mistaken to advocate this kind of do-it-yourself therapy with ferocious predators as exemplifying a reason for preserving the wild. It also seems to contradict the desired goal of setting aside territory where Nature can manifest itself in its own way without human interference. This episode and references to shamanism give a cultic cast to the book which doesn't seem to me to further the message of preservation. The writing is quite good,charged with an emotional appeal. I thought the final essay was the best.It was a thoughtful presentation of scientific and philosophical reasons why humans need to protect a large portion of the earth from themselves,where Nature can operate on its own terms.

This is a must read! A series of stimulating and well-written essays centering on a common theme: how wildness (once but no longer the essence of wilderness) has been mediated, micromanaged, and abstracted nearly out of existence. Turner's polemic focuses on the abstractions that divorce us from the natural world, which cause us to create pseudo-wild places like Yellowstone National Park and Grand Canyon, places that resemble nothing so much as a theme park.

This book is radical (read: essential) environmentalism at its best and effectively reconnects the modern perspective to the passionate roots of Henry David Thoreau. Anyone concerned with preserving (much less revitalizing) the wild and wilderness, particularly in these dire times, should take Turner's ideas into account.

By Kyle Gardner, author of Medicine Rock Reflections

Jack Turner sheds light on issues most people care too little about, in this most philosophical of his books. This is food for deep thought. Definitely worth reading more than once.

consider this fact about the USA - 13 (now 14)have reviewed this book in this forum - and all have declared that this book, against almost all other books regarding the environment, and specifically, wildness, comes the closest to expressing their own hearts, if not before reading it, then because of reading it - yet we are force fed through the mass media that americans are gluttonous and rapacious - well as it turns out, no - just a handful are- and that handful has all of the money and all of the guns.

the landlady, dear readers, IS strangling our cat.

This book hits the nail on the head regarding what we think we believe and with how we really live and work in this world. Chapter 2, "the Abstract Wild: a Rant" and chapter 4, "Economic Nature" are particularly valuable, but then so is the rest. This is a book that makes the reader face the reality of our world and what we are making of it on no uncertian terms. If you think that we can reconcile the comfort of modern life with the real world you need to read this book. The world we are loosing is very different from the "abstract wild" we believe we are "saving". The book makes the strongest justification and argument for the spiritual reality of the world over the "economic reality" that we seem to think we must compromise with.

The "Abstract Wild" belongs in every hand that hold such writings as Thoreau, Leopold and Abbey important. Much like Thoreau, it holds up a mirror that all of us, including the "mainstream" environmentalists should look on. It reveals an image that is difficult to rationalize away, showing some hard truths that we all must heed if we wish to truely change, both individually and as a culture. The "Wildness" that is the salvation of the world is more than a slogan, a momentary protest or a cause. It's Reality in the true meaning of the word.

Best Read. John Annerino's CANYONS OF THE SOUTHWEST. -Tucson Weekl

CANYONS OF THE SOUTHWEST by John Annerino features the author's photographs of towering red rock and rushing waters. -Travel-Holiday Magazine

CANYONS OF THE SOUTHWEST by John Annerino. A stunning overview of the "inverted mountains." -Summit Magazine

For people who love the West, especially those who seldom leave the concrete road, this book provides unbelievably beautiful pictures and stories about gorgeous places in the wilderness. -Rocky Mountain News

Foremost are the photographs. I would call Annerino's canyon portraits the best of a really good lot, even over big-time large-format photographers. While the large-format works are stunning artistic studies of light and color shot with impossibly huge f-stops, Annerino's canyon photographs give expression to the phrase "wearing one's heart on the sleeve." His photos have an active passion that others lack. Anyone who knows him will say he is among the "hardmen' to tackle the Southwestern mountains and canyons, but that he is definitely the most sincere in his passion for place. Perhaps, because of this he lacks a calculated commercial view of the places he photographs. His images also record his own passion, creating compelling and unique photographs. More than any other contemporary outdoor photographer, Annerino's photos mirror his love of the land's people. In the text, Annerino portrays canyonlands people as part of what makes the places special. He has a deep affection for past and present native peoples, but unlike some Anglo North Americans, Annerino isn't a lost 20th century soul. Rather, he seems to have a straightfoward and genuine admiration for native people, and has learned a great deal about them. His research on each canyon's history is impressive. Annerino writes with an immensity commensurate with his subject. His style is old-fashioned, evoking an older, more grandiose era of writing of explorers like Powell and Pattie. While many modern writers seem bent on infusing themselves into as much of the story as possible, Annerino's style is not so full of himself as full of the intensity of his canyon experiences...Annerino is at his best when he writes about Mexico, especially the Big Bend passage where he talks about the injustices served the Mexican across the river at the hands of our national park there. An optimist who sees great things in the canyons, Annerino neither ignores nor dwells on the obvious problems facing the West like pollution and development. And fortunately, CANYONS OF THE SOUTHWEST is not a treasure map guidebook to these areas. -Desert Skies

"And I'm going back to Bisbee, not really knowing why. Perhaps it is because two years of my life were left there, put behind me, and now I have reached an age at which I cannot afford to forget even two years out of those allotted to me. Perhaps I am looking for the spirit of a mountain I never knew, a mountain which became a crater on whose edge I lived for two years, happily, while the landscape and earth around me was being destroyed. Or perhaps it is just nostalgia. I was happy there, while the destruction went on for twenty-four hours a day, and now I want to go back" (pp. 21-22).

Richard Shelton is an Arizona writer and poet. His 1992 memoir Going Back to Bisbee won the Western States Book Award for Creative Nonfiction in 1992 and was selected for the 2007 One Book Arizona program. It is his love song to Bisbee, a desert city with a European feel located 82 miles southeast of Tucson in the mile-high mountains of southern Arizona. With his poet's eye for detail, Shelton immerses his reader in the landscape, flora, and fauna of the Sonoran desert as he makes his nostalgic journey (in the temperamental van he proudly calls "Blue Boy") from Tucson to Bisbee, where he taught English in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Along the way, he not only revisits the natural history of southeastern Arizona, but he reveals the beauty of the Sonoran desert, even capturing in words the scent of the desert when it smells like rain. Ultimately, Shelton's highly-recommended memoir reveals that Bisbee is as much a state of mind as a place. I should know. I have Bisbee dust in my blood. I was born and raised there. And like Shelton, I was happy there. I say read the book, and then experience Bisbee for yourself.

G. Merritt

This is a terrific book. I live in Arizona and learned so much from reading it. It is never boring and is full of information and fun stuff.
I even learned a few new words for things that happen in Arizona.
I would highly recommend this book.

GOING BACK TO BISBEE is essentially a memoir augmented by plenty of history, both natural and human. It won an award in 1992 for "creative nonfiction" and I can understand why. The conceit of the book, which is taken up by the title, is a drive by the author Richard Shelton from his current hometown of Tucson to Bisbee, Arizona, where he had spent two years of his life, newly married and a fledgling teacher, fresh out of the military, about thirty years earlier. He intersperses his account of his half-day-long, 100-mile drive with recollections of his personal life in Southern Arizona, stories of the history of the area (for example, the Apaches, the U.S. Army, and a century of mining), and sidebars on the flora, fauna, and geography of the region. The book ends with Shelton back in Bisbee, having dinner with an old friend and grande dame of the former mining town re-invented as a center for the arts.

For my taste, the "going back to Bisbee" conceit is a little too artificial and forced, and the anthropomorphism to which Shelton is prone becomes mildly annoying, especially when repeatedly used with reference to the van, "Blue Boy," in which he makes his trip. But on the whole, the book is very engaging. It certainly is a much more entertaining way of learning about Colorado river toads, Perry's agave, coyotes, mesquite, and many similar subjects than the typical natural history guide. At the same time one learns much about the destruction of the landscape by the Anglo invasion and their cattle-ranching and mining without undue preaching, and one is treated to a number of interesting personal anecdotes, some of which are genuinely funny.

Hence, GOING BACK TO BISBEE can be recommended on a number of levels, but it would be especially appreciated, I think, by those interested in the Sonoran desert and the mountains of Southern Arizona.

Others have already heaped praise on Mr. Shelton and this book, so I can't improve on that. But you must also try his 2007 book "Crossing the Yard". It is every bit as good, if not better,Crossing the Yard: Thirty Years as a Prison Volunteer than "Going back to Bisbee"

What fun we had tracing Richard Shelton's steps (and drive) through the Arizona desert. He's personal stories throughout this book are great. The information on the flora and fauna are very detailed. The history on this desert area itself is fascinating.