Southwest Books of the Year
Recommended Reads
These books, although not selected as top picks, are highly recommended reads.
Albuquerque: Feliz Cumpleaños: Three Centuries to Remember
At 300 years, Albuquerque is celebrated with a volume of historical photographs and photo biographies of leadning figures in the arts, sports, politics, and business both past and present. Chapter introductions are offered in both Spanish and English. Is there a reason for omitting the controversial Manuel Armijo and family who figured prominently in early Albuquerque politics?
All Aboard for Santa Fe: Railway Promotion of the Southwest 1890s to 1930s
To hear mention of the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe brings forth romantic visions of New Mexico's blue sky and scenic vistas, Pueblo people and their architecture, Native arts and crafts, historic monuments, and travel by train with food by Fred Harvey. And that is what this book is all about— how the Santa Fe Railroad lured tourists to the Southwest.
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
Excellent, bittersweet biography of the man who headed the American development of the atomic bomb. Should be read in conjunction with 109 East Palace and Pale Horse, Pale Rider. For fun, we also have the fictional fantasy, Oh, Pure and Radiant Heart.
Awesome Arizona Places for Curious Kids
Forget the kids and take off on your own with this dandy, sturdy guide. Nicely organized with sparkling photographs. Each section ends with helpful hints, which include exhibiting good manners on sovereign Indian nations land.
Best Hikes with Dogs: Arizona
A helpful read for those who enjoy getting out with their canine companions. The author has described many interesting areas, which are accompanied by maps and illustrations. Those who plan hikes with their animals need to take the "general pet tips" seriously. It would have been good to see more detail in the section on the Arizona Trail.
Best Spring Ever, The: Why El Niño Makes the Desert Bloom
We read a lot about El Niño and La Niña and how they affect our weather in the Southwest but just how they work usually is left to our imagination. In this book, Jan Bowers ably explains how they affect our rains, our wildflowers, and our water supply. Bowers works for the USGS and has spent 30 years studying the Sonoran Desert. You may know her from her flower guides, sand dunes books, or delightful books on walking through mountains and gardens. She writes science with clarity and grace. Researchers are learning a lot about climate and its subtleties, and Bowers helps us understand how climate variations affect seed-eating birds, leaf-eating chuckwallas and tortoises, and of course the wildflower shows that every few years bedazzle desert lovers. The color photos are exquisite and original. Goodpasture takes action flower photos, showing caterpillars eating leaves and spiders lurking among the petals. They are stunningly good.
Birder’s Guide to Southeastern Arizona, A
A Bible among area bird watchers, this latest edition continues work begun by Jim Lane in 1965 and gives the latest updates on species (the 514 that one is likely to see) and access to observation areas. In the appendix, there are bar graphs showing us species abundance and season; lists of amphibians, reptiles, and mammals and tear-out maps of several difficult trails.
Bleed Into Me: A Book of Stories
Jones, a Blackfeet writer, offers a potpourri of stories about the life of an Indian in urban America. The vignettes are filled with ironic humor and some of the stereotypic images of Indians. However, it would be wrong to think that all Indians living in urban areas fit this mold.
Chasing the Rodeo: On Wild Rides and Big Dreams, Broken Hearts and Broken Bones, and One Man’s Search for the West
Stratton brings excitement and a kind of historical enlightenment as he recounts his personal quest to find out just what goes on among rodeo people. His descriptions of people, events, camaraderie, and conflicts at the rodeo billed as the world’s oldest (that summer affair in Prescott, AZ) and the last event of the rodeo year in Las Vegas, NV, in December, make this marginally southwestern, but an exciting reading experience for anyone.
Clay, Copper & Turquoise: The Museum Collection of Chaco Culture National Historical Park
Along with 50 large-format illustrations in color of cultural items from 10th-13th century Chaco Canyon, this handsome booklet provides a brief overview of what archaeologists understand about Chaco culture. There are short texts describing daily life, subsistence, craftsmanship and trade.
Colorado Plateau II, The: Biophysical, Socioeconomic, and Cultural Research
In 29 technical essays, researchers can explore at the Colorado Plateau. What are the scientific questions and answers about erosion, fire, rattlesnake migration and puma populations, about the future of forests and the fate of archaeological sites? The book harvests papers from the 7th Biennial Conference on the Colorado Plateau which was held in 2003. It is an important contribution to conservation and scientific understanding of that region. Daunting, perhaps, for people who do not regularly read scientific journals, but many of the papers will pique interest and result in grateful understanding.
Drive
Sallis blows open the doors into the realm of James M. Cain and Raymond Chandler in this stylish noir novel featuring a getaway car driver (“I drive. That’s what I do. That’s all I do”) who careens between L.A. and Phoenix.
Encyclopedia of Native Music, The: More Than a Century of Recordings from Wax Cylinder to the Internet
McLeod (Dakota-Anishnabe) has succeeded in compiling an extensive list of Native American recordings including Inuit throat singing, chicken scratch and contemporary native flute and drums pieces. This is a splendid guide and authoritative source for biographies and discographies of hundreds of Native American artists.
Ernest Knee in New Mexico: Photographs, 1930s-1940s
Knee, Howard Hughes' personal photographer, became enraptured with the people, cultural life, and natural monuments of the Southwest, particularly New Mexico and Mexico. His son, Dana, here presents a number of these stunning photographs, which he selected from a collection of 5000 large-format negatives.
Field Guide to the Sandia Mountains
A delightful, noble effort that combines chapters by a dozen experts to provide an informative, sometimes inspiring, guide to the Sandia Mountains just east of Albuquerque. Spiral-bound, color-coded, indexed and handy; there are chapters on ecology, weather, fire, geology, flora, fauna, placenames, hiking and skiing. I have a sense that the contributors decided to give readers our best shot, and they did.
Fort Bowie, Arizona: Combat Post of the Southwest, 1858-1894
A great overview of the Apache wars in Arizona.
Gonzalez and Daughter Trucking Co. : A Road Novel with Literary License
A kind of 1001 Arabian Nights set in a prison in Mexicali, Mexico.
Grand Canyon: Solving Earth’s Grandest Puzzle
A history of Arizona geology includes a wide assortment of ideas and scientific personalities. Try the Wayne Ranney’s book, Carving Grand Canyon, first. It is no secret that the puzzle has not been solved. Powell provides a new perspective on seemingly simple, obvious problems and an awe for the complicated planet on which we live.
Home: Native People in the Southwest
The Heard Museum has pulled out all the stops to mount an exhibit featuring thousands of objects in this world-renowned collection in order to show both continuity and change over time. Of particular note is “Indigenous Evolution,” by Rosemary Apple Blossom Lonewolf and Tony Jojola, who collaborated to produce a fabulous art work of clay and glass. In addition, this book takes Native American interviews, art, and artifacts—paintings, textiles, ceramics, jewelry, basketry—to speak of home and homeland. The Indian nations of Arizona and New Mexico are included, as well as the Yaqui of Sonora. The book is richly illustrated with excellent color photos, with Craig Smith rendering art works from the museum’s own collection. Chapters include "Home in the Pueblo Past," "Home along the Rio Grande," "Home on the Mesas, in the Plateau Country, in the Central Mountains, in the Colorado River Valley," "Home in the Sonoran Desert," "Defending Home," and "On a Path Together." Many living native artists are shown and represented. This book accompanies the Heard Museum's exhibit of the same name. Ofelia Zepeda’s poems of home will appeal to many readers. Sample lines include, “Home is a place that has the right feel,/the right smell,/ the right sense of coolness when you touch the walls.”
The book is an important contribution to understanding and publicizing outstanding examples of regional art. It is a wonderful collaboration between artists and the museum.
In Perfect Light: A Novel
Set in El Paso and across the Rio Grande in Ciudad Juarez, this complex novel develops the intertwined lives of one family of four children, torn apart by the death of their parents, and the stresses of another family yearning to be together but uncertain how to do that. A thoughtful meditation on death, child molestation, and the generally awful things humans do to each other, especially along the border.
It Seems Like Only Yesterday: Mining and Mapping in Arizona’s First Century, Vol. 2: Bisbee and Patagonia
Bob Lenon is 96. He shares his gentle life on the pages of this second volume of what may look like an autobiography but really is a biography of the Arizona mining industry. Bob tells us what everyday life was like during World War I, the Great Depression, and in Patagonia, as well as his service in World War II. This book is as satisfying as sitting on the porch visiting with favorite elders, and hearing what it took to survive in the wild, working West.
Journeys in the Canyon Lands of Utah and Arizona, 1914-1916
Ever wonder what it was like to see the Grand Canyon, Bryce, and Zion before the tourists arrived? Before the motorcar? While the region was a frontier? Then you'll love George Fraser’s account of riding horseback to Phantom Ranch, Toroweap Point, Rainbow Bridge, and wondrous points in between. Fraser tells us who joined him for dinner, who ran the sheep camp, what the horse’s name was, and how glorious the sunset glowed. He had an eye for detail, humor, and history. If you’ve been to any of those places, you’ll find a herd of delightful memories and notions in this
book.
For example, at Ribbon Falls near Bright Angel Creek, they bathed under the falls on a hot July morning. “The water was very cold, but the force of its descent, probably aided by small pebbles and sand, beat the skin so hard that it warmed one up.” Or, if you’ve crossed the Silver or Black bridges across the Colorado River, you may have wondered how folks crossed before the spans were built. Fraser reports that they used a cage and two painters' swings attached to pulleys and hung on a cable. The cage was pulled by windlasses on either side. But one of his companions, “jumped in and started across pulling himself hand over hand without investigating whether his pulley was in good shape.” When he got to the bottom of the cable’s sag, he, “ found his pulley wheel stuck for lack of grease and made poor progress . . . [He] had failed to put on any gloves in his haste and thoughtlessness. The rope was frayed and burning hot. It took all of his strength and most of the skin off his hands to bring him to the north bank, and when he got there, he was completely played out.” Fraser was a conscientious observer and his descriptions and narratives are delightful. He makes us wish we were there.
Legend of the OK Corral, The
Just when you thought there was nothing left to be said, no new way to say it, along comes this "Look West" entry, and you find yourself reading it all over again. Finn has done a nice job of sorting out the stories and the players and he has found Earp's great- grandnephew who, believe it or not, is a dead ringer for his famous uncle.
Life In Stone: Fossils of the Colorado Plateau
Like pages in a book, the layers of sedimentary rock that are exposed on the Colorado Plateau tell us much about the diversity of environments that have come and gone over a period of hundreds of millions of years. This region is recognized as one of the finest earth-science laboratories in the world. Analysis of the fossil record and new discoveries across the plateau are answering questions, solving mysteries, and making connections that help us understand the history of life worldwide. Life in Stone tells the story of past environments and current discoveries with numerous illustrations and lively text written for a general audience.
Lost Trails of the Arizona Game Rangers
For 38 years Kim Murphy, as an Arizona Game Ranger, faced down assorted lawbreakers and tough guys and earned the respect of sportsmen, ranchers and scientists deployed at Southwest Research Station. He combines his own experiences with the life and career of Ralph Morrow, who preceded him in the region.
Marking the Land 1
I love books like this. When I was a kid and my family traveled, we went by car and I’d stare out the window for mile after mile, watching and registering the scenes of landscape and buildings. Even today scenes from long ago pop into my mind. This book is such a trip, and the scenes are well rendered black-and-white photos that make me want to again ride in the backseat and just watch. Cicetti is an architect who, “received a travel grant...to document through photography, the forms, materials, and methods of human occupation along Route 66 in relation to the landscape.” She traveled from Santa Fe to Los Angeles and gives us 89 Polaroid photos of her 23-day trip over 3,000 miles. She took Route 66 and a few side roads, and shot railroad crossings, farmlands, bridges, abandoned buildings, cemeteries, mailboxes, ranch houses, and the beach at Santa Monica. Wonderful images, with motifs of architecture and geometry, themes of abandonment, connections of communication, space, and place. She pleasantly succeeds in evoking moods, emotions, thought, and recollection. (Bill Broyles)
Mules Go in Front, The: A Story of Hardship & Triumph on Arizona's Lower Gila
In 1925, the author’s parents, Ethelind and Harold Woodhouse, packed their belongings and a two-year-old son into a Model T Ford truck and moved from Southern California to Arizona’s Mohawk Valley near Yuma. Tough times followed but the valley had been the home of farmers for more than 60 years and irrigation was well established. Murdock supplies good footnotes and well-captioned snapshots.
Navajo Nation Peacemaking: Living Traditional Justice
Nielsen is an associate professor in the Department of Crimincal Justice at Northern Arizona University; Zion is a private consultant on court matters who lives in Albuquerque. They offer an inside look at the Navajo justice system. How can an Anglo-European court system fairly adjudicate, try, or sentence people who believe in traditional Navajo values and customs? Here 12 chapters raise the problems and suggest ways to administer justice fairly and humanely. The difference in legal systems has been described as vertical justice (Anglo-European) versus horizontal (the Navajo way). The accounts are quite revealing about how reasonable people can view the world quite differently. The chapter on “Navajo Thinking,” is especially thoughtful and the book should be required reading by anyone interested in the Navajo, law, or anthropology. Surprisingly interesting.
Obsidian: Geology and Archaeology in the North American Southwest
This book is overdue. It combines the author’s own research with a wide range of other studies to paint a clear picture of where Native Americans found obsidian in the Southwest and how they used it for arrowheads and knives. Students of archaeology will be fascinated. This is an important book and will be studied and cited by the next generation of scholars.
On Ancient Wings: The Sandhill Cranes of North America
If you attend the "Wings Over Willcox" bird festival to see the sandhill cranes, this book is for you. Forsberg spent five years taking the beautiful photographs for his book, and it is a tribute to the birds. Their flyways are mapped, their challenges chronicled. Listed are 18 festivals that pay tribute to these "soulful birds...ambassadors of good will that connect habitats, cultures and people."
One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stuey “The Kid” Ungar, the World’s Greatest Poker Player
Ungar, who showed an aptitude for numbers and gambling at a very early age in New York City, now dead for nearly a decade, is a legend among serious and professional poker players because of his remarkably good abilities and instincts for certain gambling games (e.g., Texas Hold ‘Em and Gin) and also for his excruciatingly bad instincts for others (e.g., horse racing, roulette and golf). While much of this excellent biography (which includes lengthy quotes from Ungar) is set in Las Vegas, its really marginally Southwest because geographical setting is relatively unimportant. Personality, strategy, gambling highlights, drugs, lifestyle, rehab, etc. are what it’s all about.
One Ranger: A Memoir
Finally. An honest book about not just the glories of being a renowned lawman, but also the pathos, heartbreak, sacrifices, stresses, and betrayal. Jackson is the real McCoy, but some of his colleagues are dead, his son is in jail, and his own life has been honest but hard. Chapters cover his major cases, his friends and nemises, his reflections and opinions. After quietly getting two hardened criminals to confess and turn their lives around, a defense lawyer wrote that Jackson’s handling of the matter was the, “finest piece of police work that I have ever seen. Intelligence, sensitivity, creativity, and a knowledge of the human animal accomplished what bluster and brute force never could have accomplished. He is the first-rate model of what modern Peace Officers should be.” After 25 years Jackson knew it was time to retire, a hard thing to admit: “I realized that I had developed an entirely different response to a ringing telephone. I started to dread it. I began to wonder if I still had what it takes to respond. The long hours, the high stress, the countless miles had exacted a heavy personal toll. In a word, I had grown weary.” Jackson was the role model for Nick Nolte’s character in the movie, “ Extreme Prejudice,” and had a part in Tommy Lee Jones’,” The Good Old Boys, “ but he doesn’t seem to have let fame turn his head. He is frank and colorful, compassionate but brave. His career as a Texas Ranger covered 1966-1993. If olden day sheriffs could/would have talked honestly, this is the kind of unvarnished, human book they might have written and that we’d want to read instead of wading through superman interviews and myth. Darned good. Not a true autobiography in a linear sense, this is an episodic account of the life of a man who is truly the “last of the breed.”
Prairie Gothic: The Story of a West Texas Family
One branch of Erickson’s family arrived in Texas in 1858, settling in Parker County, west of Weatherford. Another helped establish the first community on the South Plains, the Quaker colony of Estacado. They crossed paths with numerous prominent people in Texas history: Sam Houston, Sul Ross, Charles Goodnight, Cynthia Ann and Quanah Parker, Jim Loving, and a famous outlaw, Tom Ross.
Erickson’s research took him into the homes of well-known Texas authors, such as J. Evetts Haley and John Graves. Graves had written about the death of Erickson’ s great-great grandmother, Martha Sherman. The theme that runs throughout the book is that of family. It is the story of pioneer women and their struggles to keep their families together; it is the story of cowboys, outlaws, and Indian raids, told against the background of a harsh environment of droughts, blizzards, and rattlesnakes; and it is universal.
Race Work: The Rise of Civil Rights in the Urban West
A really nice job of tracking the Civil Rights Movement in Phoenix. Principal players include members of the Ragsdale family, prominent Salt River Valley morticians. a pioneering work.
Sunset Limited: The Southern Pacific Railroad and the Development of the American West, 1850-1930
This is not an easy book to read, but it is an important one. Orsi has documented a favorable reassessment of the role of the Southern Pacific Co. in the development of the Southwest and he makes a compelling argument for taking another look at the company and its interests and contributions.
They Opened Their Hearts: Tucson Elders Tell World War II Stories to Tucson Youth
The recipe: ask 116 middle school students to meet 44 Tucsonans who lived during World War II and assign homework to the adults. The soldiers wrote about life in the war and the civilians wrote about life on the home-front. This bridge of generations is fascinating grass roots history with very personal touches. The students and their editors did an admirable, professional job. The adults narrated their experiences and opened their photo albums. The students supplied poems and short essays about meeting the adult contributors. The result is a rewarding and proud reading.
Tulia: Race, Cocaine and Corruption in a Small Texas Town
Journalist Blakeslee has written a riveting expose of justice run amok and the ultimate vindication of scores of residents (mostly poor and African American) of a small Texas town who were arrested and sentenced to long prison terms on the testimony of a rogue undercover drug enforcement agent.
Utah's Wilderness Areas: The Complete Guide
This excellent introduction covers 99 Utah wilderness areas and wilderness study areas as well as recommended wilderness areas within national parks. The text is clean, informative and enthusiastic. The photos are stunning. This book proves the case for wilderness areas.
Yard Full of Sun: The Story of a Gardener’s Obsession That Got a Little Out of Hand
This author was indeed obsessed, delightfully so. Nevertheless, gardeners in the Sonoran Desert would do well to listen and learn how to create a desert garden that thrives with minimal water. One might even learn how to build an old ocotillo trellis or paint house numbers on a row of purple pots. The book design is outstanding, and is heavily illustrated.