Mexico Books

I have owned this cookbook for over 10 years and it is my favorite and most used. Well written and easy to follow, the Texas Border Cookbook demonstrates many of the classic Texas recipes including salsas, guacamole, chili (5 different variations), enchiladas and chicken fried steak. If you enjoy southwestern food this cookbook should be in your collection.

There are a lot of cookbooks out there purporting to be "Tex-Mex". Most of them are charlatans. This is the Real Deal. When I was a kid, my mom even made "Texas Trash" for when company was coming over. She would always tell me, "Just don't tell them what it's called". Of course, the company loved it, as did I. She also made just about everything else in this book. This is what I grew up on. About the only thing she wouldn't make were Tamales, they are a "PITA" to make without help, a point mentioned in this book, she would buy them pre-made. If you like or want to learn Tex-Mex, "This is the one !". Authentic Tex-Mex !

This is an outstanding cookbood and easy to use. Every recipe I've made has turned out great and wow's my family and friends. I put it in my top three most frequently used cookbooks.

This is a great cookbook that is more New Mexican/ Border in flavor than Tex-Mex. The red enchiladas are so good. I usually make them twice a month for my family. I have made almost every recipe in this book and every one has been a winner.

One of my most used cookbooks - since I am in "the land of bland" I have to rely on this more than ever. Of special note is the grits recipe - a real winner for any brunch.

Jan Baross' first novel is as lush as her painting (front cover!) Her characters are equal parts flesh, blood, and magic. Her writing is clean and evocative, and the book is a pure joy.

This book is unbelievably rich, slightly bitter, deeply sweet, and utterly satisfying! Jan Baross is a masterful storyteller who engages all the senses. She's cooked up a complex and delicious tale of love. You'll devour it, and want more!

Jan Baross is a very gifted story-teller. She demands that you (the reader) let go. REally let-go....and what a romp! The characters come alive. She captures, like few gringa writers, the nuances of Latin AMerica, like she was born there!I swear I believed. I believed every word. And what a world she opens to us. Wild and abandoned. Risque and deeply sentimental. I loved it.

BY PAUL HAIST
Jewish Review

Portland writer Jan Baross' first novel, "Jose Builds a Woman," which was announced here at the time of its initial release earlier this year, is a timeless, lusty paean to love in many forms and an uncommonly satisfying tale.
Working in the genre of magical realism, Baross tells the story of Tortugina, a young Mexican peasant, from the time of her adolescence to the somewhat premature end of her life on earth as the mother of Jose whose childhood and young adulthood has been plagued by Tortugina's shortcomings, failures and misfortune.
Such a synopsis hardly does justice to this wild, funny, wonderful and sometimes Felliniesque tale of love--a parent's love, children's love and the eternal love that unites lovers everywhere.
Each page is alive with compelling imagery that verges on the poetic, at once as rich and uncomplicated as a simple tapioca pudding, never contrived and always surprising, often even astonishing.
Baross's tightly structured plot moves rapidly and, like a well-crafted screenplay, turns on credible and genuinely surprising reversals at just the right moment each time.
Expertise and sophistication at this level in storytelling might be expected of a novelist with more titles under his or her belt. In a first novel, such deftness is remarkable. It keeps the story exciting and makes one hunger for the next novel from Baross, which, by the way, she says is in the works.
The story begins and ends in a tiny fishing village where the only creatures that are harvested from the sea are the octopus that thrive there.
The girl Torgtugina is in love with Gabito, a handsome young octopus diver. The love is mutual, but tragically fated--a love that never will be consummated in this world, or not entirely in this world.
Through the liberties afforded by magical realism, Tortugina becomes the wife of two men, one living, one a ghost. One husband evolves as a nemesis to Tortugina, but not an evil man, more the victim of a curse whose occasionally aberrant cruelty derives from circumstances not entirely in his control. The other husband hovers over Tortugina as a guardian angel of sorts, but with shortcomings of his own--occasional clumsiness, ineptness or want of courage.
All the trials and the tender disappointments and postponed fulfillment that unfold for Tortugina up to and including the story's heart-wrenching and sob-inducing conclusion can be viewed as an allegory about the fullness and universality of love.
Magical realist stories frequently paint with broad brushes in the same way that opera does. But the seeming simplicity implicit in the technique notwithstanding, we still weep for Madama Butterfly and Senora Tortugina--or what they stand for--because those bold strokes of story-telling go directly to our heart and address the central issues of the life of each of us.
Baross has crafted a story that synthesizes the different types of love we know, a parent for a child, a child for a parent, and that which unites lovers. She even acknowledges the love we have for our neighbors.
It is no stretch to find in Baross' novel the idea that the love that connects one man and one woman is shared in equal measure among all the fruit of that union, down through all time and across all generations.
One eternal love affair engenders circles of love, each of which engenders new eternal love affairs encompassing the man and the woman, the children, the grandparents into antiquity and all who are yet to come--countless intersecting circles of love.
The topic of Barros' novel is the immutable centrality of human love from our very beginning.
A sub-topic, which the author seems to relish in print, is the carnal-spiritual connection--what the metaphysicist John Donne described when he wrote,
On man, heaven's influence works not so,
But that it first imprints the air,
So soul into the soul may flow,
Though it to body first repair.
It is each person's intuitive understanding of the centrality of love and the transcendent nature of the couplings we make in love--all the shining beauty and dark sadness that seem irrevocably intertwined in love--on which Baross has opened a magical window through which we see the truth more poignantly, if only briefly, like a rare momentary glimpse of the face of God.
And that is why her story is good, why it makes us weep.

Read in one sitting- absolutely rich and funny and heart breaking and vivid -- touches on all the tastes... just rich storytelling. The author isn't lazy - every turn of phrase is delectable. Has a personality of it's own. You can't help but be drawn into the world the author's created - life feels boring once you are finished.

I needed this for Christmas around the world at my school. The book is excellent and the children really enjoyed the story.

Another great addition to my collection. Tomie's illustrations complete this wonderful book.

Such an endearing story! This book contains beautiful illustrations. It is a Christmastime favorite.

If you are looking for the true story of the legend of the poinsettia, this is not it!!! The only thing that is the same about the legend from Mexico and this story is the fact that the poinsettias were made red on christmas eve because a little girl brought baby jesus a weed for his birthday because she was so poor. the names, plot, and special saying that the little girl's brother said in the legend is not in this book, which takes away the impact of the story. the drawings although are beautiful and the story is nice if you don't know the real legend.

I love legends. I always have. I am particularly fond of legends that attempt to explain things such as why the robin has a red breast, or why it snows on Christmas, or why the donkey says "hee haw," and other things like that. That is one of the reasons I was drawn to this little book by Tomie dePaola, The Legend of the Poinsettia.

Lucinda is a young girl who lives with her parents and younger siblings in Mexico. The colorful illustrations have that southeastern feel to it. Lucinda's community is preparing for Christmas by preparing gifts for the Christ child on Christmas Eve. I loved that the focus of gift giving was for Christ as opposed to the hustle and bustle and commercialism that is so common in American households. The gifts were labors of love too and involved special crafts, skills or homegrown gifts. Lucind and her mama have been asked to weave the special blanket for Baby Jesus as the one they have used for years is very old and worn.

When Lucinda's mama becomes ill, Lucinda is unable to finish the blanket by herself and the more she tries, the more tangled the yarn in the loom becomes. Lucinda is disheartened and worried about her mother, as well as saddened that her family has no gift to give the Christ child. Suddenly an old woman appears and suggests Lucinda pick some simple native weeds and bring them to Christ. In humility, Lucinda does that, and as you can guess, these become the beautiful poinsettia plants, the flor de la Nochelbuena, that we associate with Christmas today!

The reference and picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe was a nice touch for Catholic children who are familiar with story, and it was nice to see the shrine to our lady as part of Lucinda's everyday life. My children identified with Lucinda's fears for her mother, and also her fear of being different from the rest of the community. They also felt it was very brave of her to come forward with such a simple gift in the face of much splendor. After reading the story, my kids also became more aware of the poinsettias at church and other places and we even bought our own!

Overall I think this is a very nice book to read during the Advent season in preparation for Christmas, and a nice way for the family to focus on what is most important during this beautiful holiday.

This story was very moving. I applaud Don and the others for their work saving these amazing horses! It was a little slow reading but well worth it to learn first hand how these horses were saved by some extremely courageous people. It moved me to tears at times. I have since been looking for all the information I can find about Badger and Midnight. Not an easy task!
Thanks, Don for sharing your story with us!

As history shows again and again,these are "EVERYBODY'S HORSES"
I spent of lot of years north and south of White Sands,but wasn't in
the area when this situation occured unfortunately.As a horse lover,
owner ,practicing learning trainer this book could not be put down once
started . It has it's emotional tugs and real problems and is obviously
written from the heart . One of the best real world situations you rarely see or hear about in these too busy days. Even if you're not a 24hr
horse person this book is a must read piece of western history.
God Bless Dr.Don Hoglund and the many others involved who know what
a horse's Spirit is all about.
Sincerely R W

This book is one you won't be able to put down. Not only is the rescue riveting, but the description of the cultural circles of these horses is so well documented. Very well written and one that should be on every horseperson's booklist.

Maybe it was my expectations but this is a pretty slow reading book....

Any number of adjectives come to mind when I begin to contemplate the rescue of these magnificent creatures. Heroic, compassionate, courageous and dedicated only begin to describe the efforts of the team assembled by Don Hoglund and others. "Nobody's Horses" tells the amazing and heartwarming story of the rescue of some 2000 wild horses from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico in 1995. It was a task wrought with danger from the get-go. And the fact of the matter is that the effort was none too popular with the animal rights crowd in this country either. But Don Hoglund knew better. He and his associates understood that these animals simply had to be relocated or they would not make it. The severe drought and lack of food at White Sands had made their long-term survival extremely problematic. "Nobody's Horses" is a fascinating piece of American history. The tale told by Don Hogland, DVM is simply riveting!
On a scorching July day in 1994, White Sands wildlife biologist Patrick Morrow made a gruesome discovery. Scores of wild horses were dead or dying near a watering hole on the range. When the dust had settled, a total of 122 horses had died. This was really the last straw. Those in positions of responsibility who really cared about these animals were convinced that most of them would perish if left to fend for themselves in such inhospitable conditions. An incredibly painful decision was made to move these horses off the land that they had occupied for centuries. The work would be difficult and extremely dangerous. It would require a team of intensely tough and dedicated individuals. That team would be led by Don Hoglund. Don was a respected veterinarian and a nationally recognized authority on the plight of wild horses. It is clear that he was the right man for this job.
"Nobody's Horses" recalls in exquisite detail the rescue of nearly 2000 wild horses from the deserts of New Mexico. In the course of this beautifully written book you will learn all about where these animals originally came from and how they had lived life on the range. You will meet several members of the team assembled by Don Hoglund including Les Gililland whose ancesters had owned several ranches in the area now occupied by the White Sands Missile Range. All of these folks were kicked off their land back in 1942 and given pennies on the dollar by the U.S. government for their land. These folks were told this was to be a temporary arrangement to help support the war effort. But these people never got to return to their homes nor did they get their livestock back and Les was still bitter. Some of the horses that were to moved were direct descendants of the animals his grandfather and great grandfather had owned. As someone who hails from the Northeast these issues were largely new to me and I found this entire story to be a real eye opener. In "Nobody's Horses" you will get a glimpse at the planning for this monumental effort and experience the trials and tribulations of the actual move. You will also discover just what happened to these horses once they were rescued. For the most part it was a very happy ending. As I mentioned earlier, "Nobody's Horses" is an extremely well written book that focuses on issues that I suspect most Americans know little or nothing about. A great read and a great way to expand your horizons! Highly recommended!

I bought a copy of this book years ago, and loved it. When my last child was born I gave my book to the midwife as a 'thankyou' gift - and have always regretted not having a second copy for myself. So...I finally treated myself to another copy. The women's voices speak to me just as clearly after all these years. This is a very special book.

A wonderful book for quilters and lovers of history. Written in the first person, you are drawn into the simple lives of these women. A quick and rewarding read.

Reading about the lives of these women makes you appreciate the ease of modern life but the simjplicity of their days is enviable. Wonderful quilts too.

This book is facinating with it's history of American pioneer women. It contains real quotes from real people about the lives that they lived. If you have seen or been in the play you will be delighted to see that some of the show's monologues are word-for-word from this book! I't's a moving book and a moving play.

I have read many books about pioneering women who set up homes from scratch and quilted for practical and soul-fulfilling reasons. Usually though, those women are long gone and we are left with rather dry details of their lives. The joy of this book is that the women whose words are recorded in it are living, breathing members of that pioneer group, and, even though their experiences were in the 20th rather than the 19th century,the issues and incidents are the same and they tell a vibrant story.
The book records conversations amongst Texas quilting groups, to which the authors were invited and the ladies seem eager to tell stories of their early days in dug outs and cabins, their families scaping a life from the soil and their role in that. None of them ever sound hard done by or as if they wish their lives had been different. And they are all keen to express the creative and fulfilling role that quilting has had in their lives.
If you are not a quilter, you will still enjoy the strength, friendship and nobility that run through these conversations - they are a link with a passed era, which I felt honoured to share as I read.

This Atlas is fine for my purposes. I've used Rand McNally for a long time and this one didn't disappoint.

Rand McNally 2009 Road Atlas: United States / Canada / Mexico (Rand Mcnally Road Atlas: United States, Canada, Mexico)

As always, Rand McNally has an easy-to use atlas! I've been using their atlases for years, and this one doesn't disappoint!

My 1st Rand McNalley Atlas is many years old, so I thought I deserved a new one. I love maps and used my 1st one many times. The 2009 Atlas is just what I wanted, is greatly expanded, and good for planning road trips in other states. In my head, I've taken different routes to familiar places and to ones I've never been. It's a good reference and I think it's great.

When I was a kid, I loved every time that my family bought a new Rand McNally Road Atlas. As soon as I could, I would sit down with the atlas and trace rides across country, from state to state. Or I would look for strangely named communities or. . . . I would spend an hour or so at a time just going through those glorious maps.

More recently, this is my annual Christmas gift to my son (wonder if love of atlases has a genetic basis?). But I still will grab his copy when he's not around and go through it, just as so long ago.

This Atlas has taken on a more contemporary flavor. Now, there is a web site that you can go to on road construction. Plus other web sites listed to provide the road warrior with more information.

It's fun to revisit my home territory via the Atlas. I was born in Kewanee, Illinois, so I can go to the Illinois map and trace (once more) how I would get to my mother's hometown (Bradford, IL), and the different routes I could take back and forth, including lesser used routes.

Or just open randomly to a map. I just did that and got Texas. Given the recent hurricane (Ike), it is illuminating to take a look at the Galveston-Houston area, as well as checking out the path that the hurricane took. An atlas gives you a grounded sense of the world around you.

So, anyhow, here's to the 2009 Atlas!

We have always kept a copy of the Rand McNally Road Atlas in our vehicles; we find them to be invaluable when traveling on the road for basic directional help but also for find alternate scenic routes, etc.

Prior to 2008, we did not purchase the vinyl covered edition and the atlas would get torn and pretty beat up as it partially sticks out of the pockets behind the front seats. When we came across this version, we decided to give it a try and see if it helped the situation. We have the 2008 and 2009 versions and both have held up very well and neither are torn, frayed, or otherwise messed up any longer by general use with one exception.

I did learn a little lesson about the stapled binding and the vinyl cover as noted by reviewers of the 2008 version. This is caused by the thin paper and stapled binding along with the cover being tucked into the vinyl pockets on both sides. The cover can be separated partially or completey due to this and one day, a haphazard toss of the atlas caused it become partially separated from the cover. However, I found that by placing a rubberband around the center of the binding holds it all together perfectly. When we purchased the latest edition (2009), we put a rubberband around it to help reinforce the stapled binding from the start.

One other note about the atlas, we really enjoy reading the general information about each state and the recommended tourist sites. This is a great stocking stuffer and valuable to have in your own vehicle, even if you travel infrequently.

...que cuando antes de amarte me olvidé de tus besos mi corazón quedó recordando tu boca".
Uno de los sonetos de amor mas lindos y mas profundos que se han escrito! Neruda sabe como tratar su tema sin dejarse llevar por la melodia de sus palabras, escribe del amor como la siente y como la piense sin decir mas ni menos. Sus palabras se sienten, los disfrutas, son una bella cancion que suena real pero no estas seguro si es tu realidad, la que siempre sabias de ser asi o un suenio...

Neruda sigue siendo uno de los grandes. Y este libro, uno de los clásicos indiscutibles.

The "Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada" is the best-selling book of poetry ever in the Spanish language and established Neruda as one of the great talents of the 20th century. Each of the 21 poems is touching, full of illusion and warmth, with an amazing use of imagery. The last two express loss and heartbreak in a breathtaking way. Poem #20 is perhaps the most famous: "Tonight I can write the saddest verse."

The "100 Sonetos," written many years later, contain some gems, though I much prefer the first book. Don't make the mistake of thinking that these were all written for the same woman -- they weren't! Neruda seduced many of his muses with his poetry.

Los "Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada" es el libro de poesía más popular en la historia del idioma español, y estableció a Neruda como uno de los talentos más grandes del siglo XX. Cada uno de los poemas es conmovedor, lleno de ilusión y calidez, con un uso asombrante de imágenes. Los dos últimos expresan el dolor de la pérdida en una forma espectacular. El poema #20 es probablemente el más famoso: "Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche."

El libro de los "Cien sonetos," escritos años después, contiene algunos poemas excelentes, pero carece de la misma vitalidad que el primero. No vayas a pensar que Neruda compuso todos estos poemas para la misma mujer! Sedujo a muchas de sus musas con su poesía.

Con versos fáciles de recordar, Neruda escribe en su juventud, este fundamental libro de poesía que cambiaría los ritmos y la forma de enamorar a generaciones de jóvenes, que aún copian sus versos para expresar sus sentimientos. Es una lectura indispensable que recomiendo a los que deseen acercarse a la mejor poesía de amor en español.

This is one of the first books of poetry that Neruda published back before the middle of the 20th century. It is an excellent and very recognized book - of poetry. I think the most important thing of Neruda is that he celebrated the goodness of poetry and good art. In that it is a way of enjoying life, and not gettting caught in the vanity or less popular ways of living or acting towards others (selfishness, greed etc).

This book is that. It is full of beauty. His poetry is one of the most recognized unversally, selling many copies (over amillion in spanish, and that was by 1956.

The most gratifying thing of this book and Neruda in general is the happiness, sadness - different emotions - that it depicts. And most importantly a work of quality.

What Night Forgets By Don Yorty Herodias

American writer-artist-poet, world traveler, and Manhattan community activist Don Yorty's first novel, the politically explosive, erotically charged What Night Forgets (Herodias)-set in Mexico against a compelling backdrop of international governmental intrigue, zanily complicated exotic travelers, stunning regional flamboyance, and apocalyptic redemption-is a literary masterpiece. There's a picture-postcard perfection that lies on the surface which he peels away to reveal what simmering violence lurks beneath to erupt into sudden, stark chaos; and then the luminous possibility of renewal. Imagine Night of the Iguana mated with Under the Volcano, and a brief side-trip to "Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia" country. Lavishly descriptive, Yorty gives us the unseen hand of the CIA wreaking its global destabilization; shimmering with lust, madness, bad politics, destructive marriages, an ambiance of dreamily realized eros, the timeless wonder of grasshoppers with lime, and the sheer redemption of harvesting alfalfa with a machete.

-Maralyn Lois Polak

What Night Forgets

By Don Yorty

Herodias

American writer-artist-poet, world traveler, and Manhattan community activist Don Yorty's first novel, the politically explosive, erotically charged What Night Forgets (Herodias)-set in Mexico against a compelling backdrop of international governmental intrigue, zanily complicated exotic travelers, stunning regional flamboyance, and apocalyptic redemption-is a literary masterpiece. There's a picture-postcard perfection that lies on the surface which he peels away to reveal what simmering violence lurks beneath to erupt into sudden, stark chaos; and then the luminous possibility of renewal. Imagine Night of the Iguana mated with Under the Volcano, and a brief side-trip to "Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia" country. Lavishly descriptive, Yorty gives us the unseen hand of the CIA wreaking its global destabilization; shimmering with lust, madness, bad politics, destructive marriages, an ambiance of dreamily realized eros, the timeless wonder of grasshoppers with lime, and the sheer redemption of harvesting alfalfa with a machete.

-Maralyn Lois Polak

I have just finished reading Yorty's first novel for the third time. I can't stop comparing him to my other favorite novelists: Conroy, Kingsolver, Uris and Steinbeck. He paints beautiful images with poetic prose that transport me to locations I've never been. Don Yorty's new book is on my list of the 10 best I've read in the last decade (and I read a lot!) I anxiously await his next novel. Buy this book!

Profound story woven together like a fine linen cloth. A page turner. If you never traveled, you will after reading this book. Vivid reading. Reads like Steinbeck. This Don Yorty novel needs planning. Block out the time and find yourself a quiet corner with a DO NOT DISTURB sign. Be prepared to be swept away. Be prepared for the Canadian you will love to hate.

Whereas some poets write prosaic poetry (in style and content),Don Yorty writes poetic prose. That doesn't make his prose less real, only more vivid. He is a talent a teacher gets once a career if she's lucky.

There is nothing I can say that would do any justice as to how great this book is. It was everything you could possibly hope for in an ethnographic text. You learn a lot about a culture very different from ours and it is truly just fascinating!

What do people make of places? Basso's opening sentence is a good example of what the Apache call `letting one's mind have room'. As we read through the chapters of the book Basso continues to add layers to the meaning of this opening question. It allows us to reflect on various uses of the word `make'. We make sense of places by interpreting them. We make places intelligible by foregrounding them. We make use of places; as sign posts or land-marks through the use of descriptive naming. We make places or constitute them as sites or repositories of learning; we invest them as placeholders for morality tales or homilies. We make places vital; we invest them with agency, we enchant them, animate them, in the spirit of golems; we take a piece of earth and through magic or metaphysics we bring it alive, giving it a mission and a life of its own.

Wisdom sits in places. The Apache are a good example of virtue ethics. This is a theory of ethics, usually based on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, which argues against an ethical universalism and in favor of a particularism. It foregoes the quest for nomothetic foundations and looks instead to the development of certain skills or character traits. Aristotle created a catalogue of areas of behavior or traits with a continuum of possible dispositions. The virtuous behavior was the means between the two extremes of each continuum. Thus the virtue of bravery was somewhere in the range between cowardice and foolhardiness or irrational voluntarism in the face of impossible odds or a meaningless risk.
Aristotle's concept of phronesis finds an interesting parallel in the Apache moral imagination. Phronesis is a meta-virtue; it is the ability to choose the right action for each particular event; the ability to find the virtuous means between vicious poles. It is the essential skill for particularism which is the theory that the right action, the correct moral choice is particular to each unique event. It is opposed to the universalist proposition that there are sets of moral propositions or codes that we can apply in a covering law model. Universalism holds that when two of our moral codes clash we resolve the dilemma by applying a meta-rule, most commonly a deontological (Kantian) or utilitarian proposition.
The Apache's sense of wisdom is a good example of a pragmatic ethics informed by a set of virtues that are learned and continually developed throughout their life's journey. In the first chapter we note how each speaker brings the homily (the moral lesson associated with a place name) forward, making it their own, fleshing it out. One imagines that each speaker and hearer of place names is expected to silently immerse themselves in each homily; making it real by seeing it happen. The act of giving vision to the oral narrative is a process of developing layers upon layers of particular exemplars of the lesson. It is thus internalized and carried forward for the next use. As one gains wisdom one becomes more proficient at seeing when and where to apply these lessons.
This is similar to the thought of the American pragmatist and logician, C. S. Peirce, who proposed a fallibilism about knowledge, truth, and scientific results. He felt that we were always discovering more and that a full statement of any putative universal law was always deferred. Peirce's original pragmatism differed from what James and Dewey later made of it. For Peirce we expanded our sense of a truth through a process of discovering layers upon layers of particular applications and gradually gaining more of an understanding of the wider truth. But his sense of fallibilism posited rich moral concepts such as justice or duty as essentially contested concepts.

We have maps in our heads. There are other interesting parallels with the ancient Greeks besides virtue ethics. There is a significant body of study regarding Plato's thought on the spoken and written word. Plato argued that reality resides in absolute and eternal forms. Thus the impressions available to our senses are imitations that is but a shadow of these eternal truths; they confuse us and should not be trusted. Worse still are the imitations of imitations; thus his polemics against poetry, art, and the written word. It would be interesting to combine this with the study of texts in the 20th century to look at the Apache's preference for maps in the head. Barthes, Derrida and others all expanded our notion of what can serve as texts and it might be interesting to look at Apache use of places through some of those lenses.
In addition there are interesting parallels with the sophists. Although Plato and Socrates succeeded in creating our contemporary disdain for sophism, recent work in the study of Isocrates and others brings a new appreciation of certain tenets of sophism. The sophists exhibited some similarities to the Apache notions of epistemology. They both saw the elders and ancestors as the source of wisdom and warrants for knowledge to be used for current problems. They both argued that the knowledge of the past resided less in universal laws than in practices of the ancestors; actual responses to past dilemmas that are best accessed through interpretation rather than a rote use of the covering law model or a slavish rehearsal of rigid and dogmatic rituals.
They both thought that knowledge (as justified true belief) was discovered and ultimately ratified and warranted by the voice of the majority; the interpretation that found the most general favor. The sophists proposed that vigorous debate in an open forum of citizens is the most epistemologically sound form of inquiry. Their best speakers would take both sides on various propositions of what the ancestors would have done in the current crisis. The goal was to make the best possible argument for all options and let the citizenry decide.
Both the ancient Greeks and the Apache continued to observe religious rituals but it would also be interesting to compare characteristics of their religious cosmology, the role of the gods, and their associations with natural entities and nature in general.

This book was mediocre at best. Although Keith Basso did provide some insight into why the Apache people cherish their land, I felt that Basso kept on saying the exact same thing in every sentence. I had the point of the entire book by the time I was ten pages into it, and it kept on going, therefore making me lose my concentration on what I was reading.

Anthropologists, language students, and Native American culture afficionados will find this book, and any by Keith Basso, written links into a cultural past which struggles to exist today. As the Western Apache tribes become more modern, the information found in this and other Keith Basso writings, become necessities in the preservation of traditional Apache culture; with the exception of the knowledge of a few hundred very traditional Apaches still living in Arizona.

What do people make of places? This is the central question examined by Keith Basso in his ethno-linguistic study of the relationship between language and landscape among the Apaches of Cibecue, on the Fort Apache Reservation in central Arizona. Basso, a professor of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico, has spent over 30 years conducting field work among the Western Apaches. His publications concerning this group include articles on language, patterns of silence in social interaction, witchcraft beliefs, and ceremonial symbolism, among others. The idea for Wisdom Sits in Places stemmed from a study conducted between 1979 and 1984, in which Basso, with the help of a grant from the National Science Foundation and the guidance of the Apaches, conducted a study of Apache places and place-names; how the Apache refer to their land, the stories behind the place-names, and how these place-names are used in daily conversation by Apache men and women. The result is a stunningly informative account of the use of landscape and language in the social interactions of the Western Apaches.
Basso divides his book into four sections: Quoting the Ancestors, Stalking with Stories, Speaking with Names, and Wisdom Sits in Places. Each chapter's focus is to examine how landscape and language serve distinct purposes in Western Apache society. Basso incorporates the oral history of, and discussions with, local Apaches, as well as his formal training as an ethnographer-linguist, to explain the underlying themes of this book.
First, Basso introduces the reader to the idea of place-names and in the Western Apache construction of history. As conceived by the Apaches, the past is a "well-worn `path' or `trail' which was traveled first by the people's founding ancestors and which subsequent generations of Apaches have traveled ever since" (31). The ancestors gave names to places, based on events that occurred there. Regardless of the physical changes in the landscape that occurred over time, the story of what took place, as well as the place-name, was passed down through generations and serves as a connection between the people and their ancestors.
Second, Basso examines how the language and the land are "manipulated by Apaches to promote compliance with standards for acceptable social behavior and the moral values which support them" (41). The historical tales of place-names are without exception morality tales, intended to influence patterns of social action. Their purpose is to serve as warnings, criticisms, and enlightenment for those who are behaving improperly; not in accordance with the Apache way of life. The telling of a historical tale is "intended as a critical and remedial response" to an individual's having committed one or more social offenses. Apaches contend that if the message is taken to heart, a lasting bond will have been created between that individual and the site at which the events in the tale took place. In short, the land, accompanied with its historical tale, "makes the people live right" (61).
Third, through the act of "speaking with names", place-names can be condensed "into compact form their essential moral truths" (101). "Speaking with names" is considered appropriate only under certain circumstances, generally to enable those who engage in it "to acknowledge a regrettable circumstance without explicitly judging it, to exhibit solicitude without openly proclaiming it, and to offer advice without appearing to do so" (91). Evoking images of a particular place and narrative thus replaces a more direct form of advice or criticism, with "a minimum of linguistic means" (103).
Finally, with the guidance of his Apache friend, Dudley Patterson, Basso examines the path of wisdom in Western Apache society. Patterson explains there are two mental conditions, "steadiness of mind", and "resilience of mind", which lead to a third and most desirable condition, smoothness of mind. These three conditions are not innate; therefore, one must work on one's mind in order to gain wisdom. To work on one's mind, "one must observe different places, learn their Apache place-names, and reflect on traditional narratives that underscore the virtues of wisdom" (134). A resilient mind, according to Patterson, does not "give in to panic or fall prey to spasms of anxiety or succumb to spells of crippling worry" (132). A steady mind is "unhampered by feelings of arrogance or pride, anger or vindictiveness, jealously or lust" (133). Steadiness and resilience give way to a sense of "cleared space" or "area free of obstruction", conditions necessary for smoothness of mind. Only those who continue on the trail of wisdom their whole lives come closest to having a smooth mind, and are "able to foresee disaster, fend off misfortune, and avoid explosive conflicts with other persons" (131). Thus, wisdom is intertwined with the idea of survival through the consistent and thoughtful evocation of landscape and language.
Keith Basso and the Western Apaches of Cibecue have provided readers with an insightful and provocative account of the connection between language, land, and a people's cultural history. Wisdom Sits in Places opens the door for future research on place-names by shedding light on a previously overshadowed topic in anthropological studies. Basso's dissection of certain stories and social interactions can be overwhelming and a bit dry, but his purpose is made clear when his examinations are added together with the Apache narratives. What results is a clear picture of what language and landscape mean to the Western Apaches, the functional versatility of place-names, and the importance of being aware of one's sense of place.

Maybe it wasn't "No Life For A Lady" but many great ladies lived it. Some of them, like my own mother, even managed to hang on to the majority of their original principles while doing so, no easy feat in itself, considering the never-ending work that began before dawn and ended after dark each and every day; and the rough environment that swirled around them. Practicality ruled; convention took a back seat every day. In her biography, "Miss Agnes" sounds like a curious mix of two - the wild and exotic freedom allowed her by the remote area of her home, yet prudently sent away for a proper education, which served her well. Most children living at that time and in those remote areas were not so fortunate.

Her father was a brilliant engineer for the Santa Fe Railroad, working in the right profession, at the right place at the right time. The Railroads were engaged in a headlong, competitive quest to connect the east and the west, unstoppable. His talent was combined with ambition, and he met the challenge of taking the rails over the Raton Pass in what was felt at the time to be an impossible achievement due to the grade involved. He was also capable of keeping his family close to him while his work went on.

Her mother, on the other hand, was a lady who thought a man would always handle things for her. That too, was something that "became a lady", although it left her ill-equipped for tragedy; and when she lost him in the prime of his life, she was left without a rudder, but with a handsome inheritance, and it wasn't long before another man was only too happy to "take care of her" but without the same motives.

However, all's well that ends well, and the new husband served a purpose not fully appreciated until decades later - he bought the New Mexico ranch with the widow's money, established them in a broken down log cabin, and subsequently left them all for a better life somewhere else as the real work in creating a ranch out of a wilderness began to heat up! It was this twist of fate that established the Morley land and cattle holdings; and the legacy that has become legend in that part of New Mexico.

She has a way with words; a sharp wit and she "speaks the language" of the range and it's people. (a cow doesn't have 'knees' on it's hind legs, though - they're referred to as'hocks' so I do offer this bit of sniveling trivia critique.) Her adventures with other pioneers who became well known to history later on are important, varied and many; and she was fully as able to deal with an outlaw as with anyone else, and on their terms. It was indeed a well-known fact that the homesteaders and ranchers did this on a regular basis in order to preserve their own harmony in a sparse and vastly diverse community. They all needed each other in one way or another, most recognized it.

It's a book not only well written, but authentic, full of the fun and tragedy of the every day life of a remotely located ranch family, accentuated by the knowledge that hers were of the people that not only helped settle the vast Territory of New Mexico, they did it against all odds; headed early on by a single woman unqualified for the life, and who never quite overcame that handicap, instead, placing her reliance in her children. Her one strong area of practicality was in the quest to formally educate these same children. In the process, and in the best of both worlds, each brought education and good ideas back to their New Mexico roots, staying with their land because they were now the generation who sprang from it; and had come to love it.

More than a mere biography of her life, it's an important historical work from many different angles. She noticed everything; hers was not a life that slipped quietly by her - she understood the underlying human quality known as "character" and that it meant different things to different people due to different circumstances. One of the last lines reads, referencing her emotions about a painting Maynard Dixon, the artist inscribed to her:

"a girl and a man riding together across a twilight-lit desert towards a hazy purple mesa".

That sufficiently sums up, beyond the danger - the intangible beauty of the way it was - even if it wasn't "No Life For a Lady".

I live seven miles from Datil, NM whereof Ms. Morley writes. Not only does she write about her life but also about how the family, her mother, brother and sister, came move out here. She writes about the early cowboys and Native Americans. She writes about the Penitentes.

Agnes Morley was the daughter of a Civil War vet who went home to Iowa and got an engineering degree that led to his becoming a premier engineer for the Santa Fe R.R. He was there when the race took place to be first over Raton Pass and also through the Royal Gorge (where Bat Masterson organized a posse that unsuccessfully held off the Denver and Rio Grande RR as I recall with members of the Dodge City fraternity that included Doc Holliday, Ben Thompson and other notable gunfighers and even Eddie Foy, later a great comedian, who went along for the excitement)all typical of the early days of railroading in the West. Morley was also an associate of the New Mexico participants in the Colfax County War in New Mexico, a parallel to the Lincoln County War that made Billy the Kid famous. Equally famous was Clay Allison, a wild man of the West who was a principal character of the War, which was centered in the vicinity of Cimarron, New Mexico. Agnes's father died in Mexico while pushing the railroad from Benson, Arizona to Guamas, Mexico. He was either accidentally shot in taking a rifle from his buggie, or as his grandon thought, was murdered as part of a plot relating to railroad competition. After his death his strong wife took over the rearing of their children. She managed the Cimarron newspaper that irritated Clay Allison, and he burned it out one night. In the aftermath he learned that a widdy woman ran it, helped set it back up, stating that he didn't make war on women. She later settled on the large range that her husband had aquired north of the present small town of Datil. The adventures there of her family are classics of Western experience that are not exactly things of the past. Read about her and her brother (who went to college and is in the football hall of fame) as they walk down the top rail of their corral with a pet bear cub, a rooster, a goat and sundry other animals following along on the ground. Read how, when she was away to school her brother wrote of the mountain lion that raided the place, killed their bitch hound who defended her pup and generally wrought havoc. Her brother wrote her the information and told her, "You should have been here, there was a hellacious fuss." which she read to her horrified teachers and class, not realizing it was anything out of the ordinary. She knew outlaws and lawmen, such as Elfego Baca, who Disney immortalized in a movie. When he defended her neighbor in a self-defense killing, she recommended to Elfego that he forget the fancy arguments and just tell the truth. He said, "The truth! The truth! This is a murder case. We lie. They lie. Everybody lies." As I recall the killer was convicted on his first trial. He told Agnes, "Elfego took my cattle on the first trial and when he got me off on appeal, he took my ranch." Elfego lived until 1946 as a fixture in Albuquerque. His type are by no means gone. You can go to Datil and vicinity today and see the old west exactly as it was then, with the bark off. The last big cattle drive took place just to the east on the San Augustin Plains. Moderns drive rapidly by and console themselves that the violent old west is dead. If so, the body is keeping damn well. The sheriff of Catron County which encompasses the old Morley ranch requires all heads of households to own and keep handy a gun. Good idea, too. I used to roam that country with my five dogs, camping out in my specially designed pickup which everyone called "the teahouse of the August Moon," due to its resemblance to that edifice. Agnes also tells of such characters as Montague Stevens, an Englishman who lost one arm in a hunting accident, who was a famous bear hunter. I'm writing this substantially from memory but it's close enough. Go see for yourself. And if you only read one book about New Mexico this would do. Another dandy is "Land of Enchantment."

I work for a school that just purchased 600 acres of the ranch described in this book. The area IS as beautiful as she describes, is as rugged and the people are just as hard-working and caring.

I found the book to be a great story. She says she is just a story-teller, but what a good one! It makes the past come alive. My husband and I read parts of it out loud, while camping in the very ranch she describes.

WARNING! Once you start, it is hard to put down.

The title is misleading, as she truly must have been a great lady. This is a classic memoir by a woman who grew up in 19th-century New Mexico, and worked and rode side-by-side with the men, taking the full responsibilities and knocks of a hard life and keeping a great sense of humor through it all. The only concession to her gender is that she apparently rode sidesaddle, remarkably enough!