Mexico Books

I worked in the Lower Pecos region with a group of students last summer, and had the honor of meeting Carolyn Boyd. She took time to give our students personal guided tours of the cave paintings, and they were enthralled. She is a gifted communicator, and passionate about her work. These same qualities come through in her book.

The first time she saw these paintings, she was an artist with no experience in archaeology. Her art background allowed her to see what others had missed; the myriad elements were part of a single canvas, composed by a single artist, invested with purpose and meaning. At that moment she held insights the 'experts' lacked, but she did not have the credibility or credentials to convince anyone. Rather than giving up, she went back to school and got her PhD in Anthropology, writing her Doctoral Dissertation on this cave art. She is now recognized as the world's formost expert on these paintings.

Rock Art Of The Lower Pecos by Carolyn E. Boyd (Executive Director of the archaeological research and educational nonprofit Shumla School) offers an expert and in-depth analysis of the rock art created four thousand years ago in what is now southwest Texas and northern Mexico. New interpretations and hypothesis concerning these mysterious yet evocative images left behind by hunter-gatherers of millennia ago fill the pages of this fascinating guide, which packed from cover to cover with the latest up-to-date findings, as well as an anthropological wealth of insightful ideas from a wide variety of experts and schools of thought concerning the uses of the art and the intentions of the ancient artists. Black-and-white as well as full color illustrations embellish this thoughtful and strongly recommended study.

Carolyn Boyd has done an outstanding job with Rock Art of the Lower Pecos! This excellent literary work clearly explains the rock art through extensive ethnographic research and analysis. Her contribution of this book is a landmark acheivment in the field of anthropology. I highly recommend this work to anyone with an interest in historic art or culture.

This author takes research on rock art and makes it concise and understandable for all of us who are interested in rock art in the Americas. But more than that, she takes us to the next level and gives us a basis for understanding WHY the images were produced in the first place and what function they served for the culture. This is must reading for anyone who wants to understand these images and who wants to go to the next level in understanding rock art world wide.

This book is a fascinating look at a period of western history not usually covered by fiction writers.
The author brilliantly uses real characters and events to weave a story which is both entertaining and informative.
The characters are, in most cases, composites of several people who lived at the time. What struck me most was the lack of incomplete story flow - usually I have to stop and wonder why the author did not have the characters do a particular act, or glosses over some detail which would enhance the story. I am too often left having to mentally fill in a story, even one written by our foremost talents. But this author seems to anticipate the nip-picky reader, and takes care of the small details in a very-complete manner.
I found it hard to put down, but he conveniently provides stopping points where the reader can lay the book down, and come back to continue the story later.
A great read - I encourage those who admire L'Amour, Brand, Haycox and others to read this one. They will not regret it.

Jon Bauman gives realistic details of the old West, including the tragic and the crude as well as beautiful descriptions which cause you to empathize with the characters. The culture clash betwen Anglo and Mexican is skillfully done and his story depicts how one person's decision can influence the outcome of historic events. Having hiked the entire Santa Fe Trail, and having written two books about it, I was thrilled to go down the Trail again with his story and recognize familiar sites, now with "real" characters in the experience.

Santa Fe Passage provides an outstanding perspective on the history of New Mexico. It brilliantly captures the cultural diversities between the Mexican and American peoples, their attitudes and expectations. The reader can eastily identify with the various characters as they progress through the tumultous times prior to the invasion by the U.S. army. It's a fascinating, historical novel. This truly should be a "must read" for all those living in New Mexico! And, a "highly recommended" read for anyone interested in the Spanish culture and its influence on the development of the United States.

There have been many novels about the Santa Fe Trail, most of which tell little if anything about the historic route, but Santa Fe Passage is based on extensive research and is by far the best historical novel about the Trail. Jon Bauman, an international lawyer with special interest in Latin America, has written a readable, entertaining, and informative story that rings true.
Trail historians will know the sources of many of his characters and their stories, including the first U.S. woman to travel the Trail with her family and operate a hotel in Santa Fe, a woman injured in a carriage accident who miscarries her child at Bent's Fort, a Jewish trader and merchant in Santa Fe, a Mexican woman who owns a gambling establishment and assists Mexican officials and American traders, a governor who is in and out of power in Santa Fe as changes occur in Mexico City, a village priest who opposes the Anglo influences, and the main character Matthew Collins who runs away from an apprenticeship and becomes a Santa Fe trader who marries into a prominent Mexican family and is selected by President James Polk and Senator Thomas Hart Benton to persuade the governor of New Mexico to allow Stephen W. Kearny's Army of the West to occupy Santa Fe without resistance in 1846.
Bauman has a good understanding of all three cultures affected by the Santa Fe Trail, and he creates a number of realistic characters, not stereotypes, for all of them: Anglo, Indian, and Mexican. He has researched the history of the Trail, with help from historian Mike Olsen, and the book is endorsed by historian David Weber. The interaction of the American traders with Mexican citizens is done well. Purists may argue that Bauman has moved some events in time and place (for example there was no Bowie Knife in 1826 and Raton Pass was not an option for a wagon train in that year), but this is creative fiction based on history; just enjoy it.
Not only is this finely-crafted, thoughtful, and sophisticated novel a good read, it will cause readers to want to know more about the history of the Trail. As one of the characters in the novel, Jack Marentette the mountain man, might say, "This is a splendiferous book."

A terrific book, full of lots of photos and colour reproductions of advertising posters etc. Was dissappointed in that it had no detail on the actual trains re locos and consists etc, but more on the PR side of the Chiefs. If you are after more in depth detail I recommend the book "Santa Fe Streamliners" the Chiefs and their Tribesmen by Karl Zimmermann. A must have addition for the set.

In Santa Fe: The Chief Way, railroading enthusiasts Robert Strein, John Vaughan, and C. Fenton Richards Jr. collaborate to present an informative and totally engaging presentation of the famed Santa Fe railroad, and its legendary"Chief" locomotives that powered the trains along the New Mexico terrains. Blending historic photography with period advertisements, and thematic artwork, Santa Fe: The Chief Way is a welcome and much appreciate contribution to any American railroading history collection. Also available in a hardcover format (0937206717), Santa Fe: The Chief Way is an ideal giftbook for railroad buffs as well.

Robert Strein, John Vaughan, and Fenton Richards effectively collaborate to provide an informative and fascinating history of the Santa Fe railroad in Santa Fe - The Chief Way. Illustrated throughout with many unique historical photographs enhancing the "reader friendly" text, we are presented with highlights of those prestigious trains and their luxurious accommodations on the Santa Fe run. A welcome and highly recommended addition to any railroad buff's collection, Santa Fe - The Chief Way also touches upon the railroad hires of Native Americans guides to ride the trains through New Mexico for the edification of the passengers, as well as citing the film stars and cinematic moments associated with Santa Fe railroading history.

Gorgous photos, paintings, and old advertisements along with informative text, this book is for anyone who has ever been drawn to the serenity and beauty of new mexico.

I stumbled upon Steven Havill's books by perusing Amazon's amazing resources. Though I write books for young readers (www.grahamsalisbury.com), I read mysteries for R&R, and am always thrilled when I discover great new (to me) writers. Steven Havill is the best of the best, in my opinion. His Posadas County series is as comfortable as a snapping fire in January. What makes it great is the chracterization. Bill Gastner and Estelle Reyes Guzman are endearing in every way, making Steven Havill one of my all-time favorite authors. The greatest mystery of all is why Steven Havill is not as widely loved as such fine authors as James Lee Burke, or Tony Hillerman. He's every bit as superb as they are. Try a Posadas County Mystery. You'll love it. And want more. Promise.

Posedas County is a wide-open range between New Mexico and the Mexican border and for the most part it is a quiet place. There are some areas that are patrolled rarely because there is nothing there. One day a pilot flies over the area and sees what she thinks is a body. She returns to base and the local authorities are on the scene almost immediately. A man is lying in the dirt, his faced so smashed in that they can't obtain dental plates.

Now that Bill Gastner is retired and the newly elected sheriff Robert Torrez is in Virginia taking a law enforcement course, the case is headed up by Under Sheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman. Even with her ailing and aging mother and her son down with the flu, Estelle copes with the investigation just fine until they find a second body buried in a shallow grave located a few miles near the first. Estelle thinks the two deaths are tied to together and Eurelio Scener, a person who acts like he knows more than he is telling, might have some answers but he has disappeared, perhaps involuntarily.

Anyone who likes to see an investigation played out from the beginning to the end will definitely like SCAVENGERS, a police procedural that has heart. Watching the Under Sheriff balance her home life with her work gives the audience an appreciation for the police performing duties that sometimes can be at the expense of their own families. Steven F. Havill continues to write excellent crime thrillers as his series keeps evolving with a true time line.

Harriet Klausner

Billed on the front cover as "A Posadas County Mystery" this reader was immediately alerted that after nine Undersheriff Gastner novels, this was not the tenth. It has been a great run and while I was hoping for a tenth, I expected due to the way the character has developed that there would not be a tenth. Unfortunately, my expectation proved correct, but while different from the Gastner series, this book still retains the flavor and color of the previous novels. However, since it is not Gastner it does take some adjustment to get used to the new style and tone of the series.

As the book opens, Gastner has been regulated to the sidelines in his role as Livestock Inspector. While he appears briefly a couple of times, the main action involves Estelle Reyes-Guzman. Long a fixture of the series she is now front and center and has her hands full. Along with her mother and her failing health, she has children who currently have the flu bug and her husband, a local doctor. Her boss, the newly elected Sheriff Bobby Torrez, is off at Quantico taking a course. As Undersheriff, she is in charge with all the usual problems that brings in running a department and then the bodies start showing up.

The first is found out on the prairie and has had half of his head blown off. The lower part of his face is shattered and according to the corner, he thinks it happened after the man was killed by the headshot. While the body is clothed, there are no personal effects and thanks to the weather and the assorted wildlife, roughly three weeks after the person was killed, there is not much to identify. As they start to work the case, within a couple of days, a second body is found. Certain clues with that body lead Estelle to believe that the bodies were killed by the same killer or killers and the hunt begins.

There are several secondary stories as well, but to explain them would violate the golden rule of a book review-don't reveal too much. Especially for those new to the series, the explanation of several of the secondary stories would render the reading of those books all but pointless.

While this is not a Gastner book, it does come awfully close. The stark beauty of Posadas County comes through once again along with all the colorful characters that make this imaginary piece of New Mexico landscape home. Fortunately, while the author did move Gastner to the sidelines, he wisely did not change the other characters that populate his books. So, while somewhat different, there is enough of the earlier books in this one to make it work once again.

It was with some trepidation that I started reading Steven Havill's latest book, SCAVENGERS, knowing that it was the start of a new direction in one of my favorite series. Bill Gastner has retired as Undersheriff of Posadas County, and Estelle Reyes-Guzman, his young protegee, is taking over. Havill is about as good at bringing the small world of a Southern New Mexico town to life as anyone could be. My fears were soon set to rest as I was reassured that he can also write well and convincingly from the point of view of a female, and a Latina at that. SCAVENGERS is just as sound in its police work, real in its evocation of the desert, and touching in its portrait of one busy woman in a small town. The U.S.-Mexico Border has many facets, but this series realistically portrays one of them, where the mixing of cultures is constant and taken for granted. A sound detective story in an endlessly fascinating setting.

This is a beautiful book! I am designing a garden in Australia, this has given me so many ideas, from plant selection, colours, points of view and interest. Incorporating modern art and traditional building ideas. I hope you enjoy this too!

Santa Fe is a pretty tough place to garden. At 7,000 feet, the growing season is short, winds are high, and a five-year drought has made watering your garden politically incorrect.

Nevertheless, serious gardeners persevere, and some of the better results are documented here. It helps to be rich, to have a private well, to have a gardener -- best if you have all three. The color photo reproductions here are simply splendid. The text ranges from OK to pretty good (but who buys flower-porn for the text?) Recommended for gardening and Santa Fe fans, who will surely drool over the lovely gardens, homes and art so beautifully portrayed here.

Happy gardening,
Peter D. Tillman
Santa Fe

The photographs, in The Secret Gardens of Santa Fe, offer a glympse of a very special place in the western states. Sydney Leblanc does a fine--brief--job descibing the history of Santa Fe, and the reasons the gardens of this unique area do so well. Charles Mann has the touch when it comes to photography. He captures the mystery, the spectacular colors and design, and the fabulous art that adorns many of the gardens. A terrific book that makes one want to visit New Mexico, and see for one's self the magic of the high desert.

This is a beautiful book for artists and gardeners. Wonderful color combinations in landscapes & hardscapes, all accented with inspiring art pieces. Good text but...the photos say it all! (No offense to the author, I know writing is hard work.)

This bilingual collection offers a superb selection of poetry from all of Gabriela Mistral's volumes. Gabriela Mistral (1889-1957)was the first Nobel Laureate from Latin America, teacher to Pablo Neruda, forerunner of writers such as Garcia Marquez and Rigoberta Menchu. Her work is hardly known in the United States in part because Mistral was not (unlike these other, better-known writers) identified with any particular political platform. She was always, first and last, a writer and a teacher...and incidentally one of Latin America's first celebrities, a public intellectual in every sense of the word. This collection draws from Gabriela Mistral's poetry alone (excerpted from five volumes; short selections of Mistral's poetic prose have been ably translated by Stephen Tapscott, published by the U of Texas, while the hundreds of journalistic pieces that Mistral wrote and circulated all over the Spanish-speaking world are still unknown to US readers).

The editorial standards in this text are very high. Pages have been laid out so that it is easy to consult the corresponding lines in Spanish and English. While LeGuin states in the introduction that she has little prior experience translating from Spanish to English, she makes clear in her introduction that she worked on this project for years, aided by associates fluent in both languages, and her motivation throughout was the desire to bring this extraordinary, brilliant, hard-to-classify poet's work to English language readers. LeGuin has succeeded admirably. The translations are close to the feeling of the Spanish, yet they avoid wooden literalism.

At all moments LeGuin opts to communicate the mood of the poem, and her choices of poems to translate is clearly dictated by a combination of elements. She chooses, first, what can be most readily translated - she prefers the narrative poems over most of the "songs" (cradle songs and rounds) since the rhymes and rhythms of latter are difficult to convey. Also the book selects more or less equally from the volumes of poetry that Mistral produced over her lifetime, so that we get an excellent overview of this poet's development. Finally, the translator has worked with poems that are among the poet's most intellectually complex works, ones that show the poet's utopian vision for the Americas, her unique feminism, her fascination with landscape and her travels all over the world.

Another fantastic poet pushed to the chest of oblivion of women's achievements, in spite of her Nobel Price of Literature. Touching and profound stories of innocence, longing for one's roots, lost loves, and nature's beauty. The Spanish original poems are so rythmic and endearing, and yet, the excellent English version maintains the purity of its message. A book worth reading and re-reading.

This book gives you great insight about the amazing writer Gabriela Mistral. I wish more translations were available.

A simply outstanding addition to any personal or academic poetry collection, Selected Poems Of Gabriela Mistral is an extensive anthology of poetry by Gabriela Mistral who is the first Latin American writer to earn the Nobel Prize in literature. These free-verse poems are presented side-by-side in their original Spanish and expertly translated into English by Ursula K. Le Guin. Impressionable imagery and powerful, sweeping themes of the human condition mark this truly exceptional collection as highly recommended and memorable reading. Evening: In this sweetness I feel/my heart melt like wax./In my veins runs/not wine, but slow oil,/and I feel my life slipping away/still and soft as a gazelle.

This is a great book for anyone interested in the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Her muralist husband Diego Rivera had Kahlo's bedroom sealed immediately on her death and requested that the room not be opened for fifty years. Their house became a museum devoted to Kahlo and the curator honoured Rivera's wishes and the room was left sealed for the full fifty years. At the end of that time it was decided that the clothing and other things inside the room should be rescued and preserved and the room was opened. The story that follows is fascinating as the people that did the restoration tell their stories of what they found and the feelings they had on being the first to enter and see the clothing that became Kahlo's trademark look.
The photos are lovely and were shot on site at Kahlo's house. Photos of Kahlo in the garments are also included as well as descriptions of where the pieces would have come from in Mexico and what they are made of. This is an interesting read for fans of Kahlo and Rivera, anyone interested in the clothing of Mexico, and those who enjoy reading how a bit of history was preserved. It also gives a very personal view and insight of the life of a great artist. I can't recommend this one enough! It's my favourite book in my Frida Kahlo collection.

Self Portrait in a Velvet Dress: The Fashion of Frida Kahlo

This book is fill with bright colors and amazing details of Frida's wardrobe. The book not only shows and describes the clothing, shoes, jewelry that Frida wore, it also shows rooms of her home which give one a look into her life. By reading and viewing this book, a part of Frida's life is revealed like it has never been done before. I give this book, five stars out of five.

Magnífica obra que muestra con fotografías y lúcidos textos las obsesiones de una de las artistas más importantes del s. XX Frida Kahlo, quien a pesar de su atormentada vida supo con el color y la gracia de su indumentaria legarnos una alegría y pasión por la vida admirables. En las notables fotografías del fotógrafo Pablo Aguinaco descubrimos la inusitada faceta de una artista excepcional. Las imágenes logradas con un gusto y acierto exquisito, nos conducen por la Casa Azul, morada de Frida y despliegan colores, texturas y luces, para todos aquellos interesados en esta gran artista.

Apparently in 1954, the year Frida passed away, Diego Rivera had her dressing room and bathroom at the Casa Azul locked, with the stipulation that it could be opened 50 years later. In 2004 the day came to unlock the room, and discover its contents. This book explores those contents, which included many of Fridas clothes, hair ribbons, medical devices, linens, etc. Its an amazing archeological discovery of sorts. A time capsule that reveals much about the day to day life of what has become one of the most influential women artists in history. Lavish color photographs of her clothing, paired with photos and paintings in which they appear; a treasure for those passionate about the life, art and fashion of Frida Kahlo. Really destined to become a personal favorite.

What I like best about this collection is that the author (or editor, really) tells you a little bit about the people who tell the stories. He also includes the original Quechua, which is an interesting touch even if I can't read it. At any rate, if you enjoy fairy tales, and are interested in hearing them from other cultures (there are a few parallels to the traditional Brothers Grimm in this book), this is a good book to buy. If you aren't interested in fairy tales, this is a good book to change your mind.

An excellent collection of stories -- not merely in the presentation of a different set of stories than those which reach the common awareness, but also in the insights it gives to the shape of the Quechua culture and people. It is not presented as an explication of the way these people live, the way the thoughts go, but the stories show that shape, show that means, bring the world alive in a way both subtle and profound.

The stories are presented both in the Quechua language and in English translation, and it is possible to see the shape and patterns of the language with careful text comparison; it makes it worth considering learning the Quechua tongue to pick out the nuances which are inevitably lost in translation.

An enchanting book! Here is a unique opportunity to read stories never before written down, much less translated. The author was told them in the original language in the high Andes by Quecua storytellers. Now he has translated them into English, and in She-Calf and Other Quechua Folk Tales we find, opposite each translated page, a page printed in the original Quechuan language. Fascinating! Johnny Payne further enriches our experience by sharing the similarities that he observed between these stories and stories with which we are already familiar. Included as well are wonderful background stories of experiences and people he encountered in the story-gathering process. For those interested in stories, folk tales, oral tradition, antropology, history, language, travel... This is not only a must-read, but a must-own. It's a keeper!

This is a marvelous collection of Quechua folktales, told by various Quechua speakers to anthropologist Johnny Payne. These are short and "catchy" tales printed in English with the Quechua version on the facing page. This gives you a chance to get acquainted with the sentence structure of the Quechua language which I found very helpful. The author also shares interesting insights into the people who tell the tales. I love to travel in Peru and I am going to pass this book on to a Quechua friend who will surely enjoy it as much as I did. If you're interested in the cultures of the Andes, or if you plan to travel there, don't miss this book! .

The best book I've seen on the subject!

As an anthropologist who teaches classes on Mexico, I use this book often. The "day of the dead" in Mexico exemplifies, for me, the difference between the U.S. culture and that of Mexico. Just as other cultures might find our U.S. Halloween celebrations strangely at odds with normally conservative Judeo-Christian religious observance, this book illustrates clearly the almost unfathomable blending of pre-Columbian cults of death and sacrifice with Spanish-Catholic traditions. Starting with its origins in Mexico's ancient civilizations, the book discusses and illustrates this observance through modern times, and takes the reader vicariously to the areas of Mexico in which it is most enthusiastically observed. Sit down with a cup of chocolate' and some "pan de los muertos" (bread of the dead), and enjoy a book whose topic you might have thought too morbid for your taste, but which you will probably end up finding much more compelling than repulsive. Unfortunately for me (but better for the publishing company!), I am about to order my 3rd copy of "Skeleton at the Feast"--apparently the students to whom I loan it find it too interesting to return!

I bought this book several years ago at the Museum of Mankind, in London. It was the book for the exhibition, which featured incredible paper sculptures of skeletons and demons.
I read every word of the book, and enjoyed the culture, history, and personal stories of these Mexican artists.
Buy it!

As an anthropologist who teaches classes on Mexico, I use this book often. The "day of the dead" in Mexico exemplifies, for me, the difference between the U.S. culture and that of Mexico. Just as other cultures might find our U.S. Halloween celebrations strangely at odds with normally conservative Judeo-Christian religious observance, this book illustrates clearly the almost unfathomable blending of pre-Columbian cults of death and sacrifice with Spanish-Catholic traditions. Starting with its origins in Mexico's ancient civilizations, the book discusses and illustrates this observance through modern times, and takes the reader vicariously to the areas of Mexico in which it is most enthusiastically observed. Sit down with a cup of chocolate' and some "pan de los muertos" (bread of the dead), and enjoy a book whose topic you might have thought too morbid for your taste, but which you will probably end up finding much more compelling than repulsive. Unfortunately for me (but better for the publishing company!), I am about to order my 3rd copy of "Skeleton at the Feast"--apparently the students to whom I loan it find it too interesting to return!

A further historical example of the degredation and outright barbarity of Mexicans if given the chance against Americans.

In "Slaughter at Goliad", Jay Stout recounts the horrific tale of the single largest loss of American warriors until the American Civil War. Goliad, Texas is located only 80 miles from the most famous site of the Texas Revolution, the Alamo. Why is it that many of us have never heard of this place? By the conclusion of the book, Stout posits his answer to this question.

Stout provides the reader with an abbreviated course on Mexican history, including the rise of the militaristic despot, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. While not directly related to this battle, Santa Anna definitely influenced the massacre. His "Tornel Decree" declared anyone who took up arms against Mexico to be a pirate. Under Mexican law at the time, this meant death for any volunteer who had taken up arms. After the battle the commanding Mexican officer, General Jose Urrea, used this document and a letter from Santa Anna to the officer responsible for the slaughter to justify the murderous actions of his men.

After providing the strategic context of the Mexico-Texas relationship in 1836, Stout described the material incentives offered to bands of volunteers, such as the New Orleans Greys and the Alabama Red Rovers who came to the Texas frontier. With the motivations of both sides clearly described, Stout delivers a factual accounting of the final days of these 400 volunteers, including James Walker Fannin's aborted attempt to send a relief column to the Alamo, which was under siege only weeks before these men met their murderous end. Using personal diaries from both belligerents as source material, Stout was able to recreate a vivid image of the battle for the reader.

After 120 men held off a Mexican army during the battle of Matamoros a few days earlier, the 270-person contingent held off a second Mexican army at the Battle of Coleto creek. At the end of first day of battle, scores of Mexicans lay dead or wounded, at an American cost of only 9 dead and a few dozen wounded. General Urrea understood the Americans would have continued to inflict grievous harm on his army, so he accepted the conditional surrender terms of the Americans. With these honorable surrender terms in mind, the American prisoners marched back to Goliad under the impression they were to be paroled to return to the United States. At this point, General Urrea's least capable commander received a letter from Santa Anna, setting into motion events that would forever change Texas history.

At the Alamo, 182 Americans gave their lives in pursuit of an independent Texas; almost 400 volunteers paid that same price at Goliad. At the Battle of San Jacinto, less than a month later, the Texan volunteers rallied to the battle cry of "Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!" At this battle, General Sam Houston finally defeated Santa Anna, leading to the birth of the Republic of Texas. As time went by, the battle cry was halved to only "Remember the Alamo!" Stout's analysis offers very compelling arguments as to why this event was selectively forgotten from American history.

Stout brings to life this horrific event, remembering the brave men who fought and died for Texan Independence. He does these men a great justice by keeping their stories alive. Stout certainly knows how to tell a tale - I couldn't put the book down after I started it. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.

While every American and Mexican schoolchild knows the story of the Alamo, few "Norteamericanos" know the story of the massacre that followed it, that of killing 250 unarmed Texan prisoners at Goliad.

Author Jay Stout's latest book "Slaughter at Goliad" brings this blot on the Mexican military into the harsh light of day. Exceptionally well-written, he brings his experience as a Marine combat aviator into the battle as he explains the fight in terms that every reader can understand.
Superficially, this is a simple story; after a one-sided battle won by the Mexican Army over a bunch of rag-tag Texan-American volunteers, some 250 prisoners were marched to Goliad. After 200 more prisoners were brought to the compound, where they were all massacred on Palm Sunday, March 27, 1836. It was one of the single largest losses of life in the history of the young United States, and the repercussions affected Texas, America, and Mexico virtually immediately.

Of special importantance to the battle and to the book is Stout's examination of the personalities and politics involved. Stout portrays James Walker Fannin, the commander of the doomed unit, as an ineffective leader who misjudged his adversary, Mexico's infamous General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. As author Stout explains, rather than courage, it was Fannin's incompetence as a battlefield commander that put his men into a position where they had to either surrender or be killed - and it was equally Santa Anna's ego and short-sightedness that led him to execute Fannin and his troops.

Fully understanding Clausewitz's dictum that `war is merely politics by another means', Stout goes on to explain how this massacre was integral into galvanizing American public opinion in favor of a war against Mexico.
Not to be forgotten is Stout's description of the boots-on-the-ground stories of Fannin's men. They came to Texas for various reasons, and with equally various and vague backgrounds, yet were integral to the Texan drive for independence. "Manifest destiny" started here, with men like those under Fannin's command, and Stout does an excellent job documenting it.

Neither pro-nor-con Mexico or America, Jay Stout has written an interesting and sophisticated battle history of a long-forgotten incident that helped Texas win their war of independence. This is well worth reading for both the casual and educational reader of both military and North American history. ! Ole !

The author has done American Historians a notable service in writing the definitive work on this usually overlooked episode in American history. The research is thorough, and his writing is excellent.

The center of his story is the massacre of approximately 400 American volunteers from mostly Southern states who went to Texas to assist the Anglo settlers there in winning independence from Mexico. To put this inexcusable event into context, author Stout briefly covers Mexico's history concentrating on the period from Mexico's independence from Spain in 1821 until the Santa Anna dictatorship. Unfortunately, the insurmountable problems faced by people raised in an authoritarian social structure when attempting to form a democracy without any concept of its workings is ignored. On the American side Stout describes the Americans using De Tocqueville's depiction as "freewheeling, free traveling, and hardly constrained by circumstances, class, or borders."

The Spanish and later Mexicans were simply unable to colonize Texas and what later became the American Southwest due to the harshness of the land and the indigenous Indians. Catholicism, being based on authority emanating from an emperor/priest, failed miserably in obtaining converts from non-hierarchial Indian societies, and Spanish and Mexican colonists were unable to conquer the Apaches and Comanches sufficiently to achieve a modicum of security. In this vacuum, Americans settlers began to arrive in large numbers, often in agreement with the Mexican government (like Austin's colony), and by 1836 the population of Texas stood at less than 4,000 Mexicans, and 40,000 Americans including their 4-5,000 slaves. Like it or not, the Americans were probably the world's most deadly predators at the time, and they took over the "Indian problem" and solved it. And as always, population was power, and the immigrant Americans had seized it from a hopelessly corrupt Mexican government.

Author Stout rather accurately describes the main player in the Goliad drama, James Fannin, as incompetent and self-important along with many of the other empresarios who came to Texas to win their fortunes. The same cannot be said for the young volunteers from Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and other states who would pay for their youthful wanderlust with their lives.

Cutting to the quick, Fannin commanded about 250 men at Goliad and was faced by the Mexican General Urrea with a force of approximately 1,000 men including 300 heavy cavalry outfitted like French cuirassiers. Fannin's total army of almost 500 men was spread out in multiple detachments, and the southerly ones under Grant and Johnson were rapidly destroyed by Urrea. He sent a third of his army to Refugio under King and Ward, and this detachment was overrun and eventually captured. Fannin dithered, decided not to go to the Alamo, and after a senseless skirmish, decided to leave Goliad to join Houston. Unfortunately he took with him nine cannon and his rate of march was slowed to two miles per hour. It did not take Urrea long to catch Fannin in the open and surround him. After an afternoon of fighting in which the Americans acquitted themselves honorably and a miserable night, Fannin surrendered his command believing he and his men would be spared. Certainly the foreign officers in Urrea's army thought they would be spared and Urrea made statements to that effect, but the surrender document left the terms up to the Mexican Government -- in essence to Santa Anna.

The Mexican Government, at Santa Anna's bidding, had enacted the Decree of Tornel, stating essentially that all foreign invaders on Mexican soil were to be treated as pirates (e.g. subject to execution.) When Urrea contacted Santa Anna as to the disposition of the prisoners, Santa Anna's reply was to execute Fannin and his men.

The following day, Fannin's survivors of the Battle of Coleto and the prisoners from the other detachments comprising about 400 men were shot down or otherwise dispatched in four groups including the officers who were killed separately. The only men spared were those useful to the Mexican Army, namely doctors, nurses and some carpenters. Notably, there was no hesitation on the part of the Mexican soldiers to murder the prisoners. Only a very few prisoners escaped by feigning death or running away when the slaughter began.

The author presents both sides in a fair and impartial manner, carefully documenting Fannin's fecklessness and Santa Anna's mendacity. The cries of "Remember the Alamo" and "Remember Goliad" propelled Houston's force to victory at San Jacinto, but revisionists have carefully deleted the Goliad cry as not wanting to draw attention to Fannin's incompetence and Mexican brutality. This book brings the story home in an scholarly fashion to the benefit of all.