Southwest Books of the Year
Bill Broyles Picks
This plant identification guide admirably fills a real need of Grand Canyon visitors. Until now, hikers and rafters had to tote several plant identification books, and even those were regional and less specific to the river and trails below the rim. Quite readable and informative, this enthusiastic guide helps us identify more than 300 species of ferns, grasses, forbs, shrubs and trees. The thumbnail photo gallery is especially useful for rapidly matching blooms to names. Brief chapters on Grand Canyon ecology add to our understanding of the Canyon’s plants. This book is a fragrant surprise.
Deer of the Southwest: A Complete Guide to the Natural History, Biology, and Management of Southwestern Mule Deer and White-Tailed Deer.
For years if we had a serious question about deer in the Southwest we'd call Jim Heffelfinger, a wildlife biologist for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Now we don't need to call--his book has arrived. Deer of the Southwest is a clear, readable, fascinating, and authoritative "guide to the natural history, biology, and management" of mule and white-tailed deer. It incorporates a truckload of studies, reports, and observations with the latest research, some of it Jim's own. Even the deer could learn something from this well-done book.
Desert Light: A Photographer's Journey Through America's Desert Southwest
Just when you think you've seen every possible photo of every southwestern place, John Annerino brings us a delightfully fresh look. Willing to escape the beaten paths and comfortable camps, Annerino shows each location literally from a new angle and in a new light. He totes his camera to Bisti Badlands, Monument Valley, the summit of Picacho del Diablo, the shores of the Sea of Cortez, Mazatzal Wilderness, the depths of the Grand Canyon, and vivid points in between. Desert Light evokes the mysteries and beauties that are the Southwest, blending art, humanity and adventure. This book says "Southwest."
Inferno
"My dreams now feel cramped." Furiously boiling with imagery, rhythm, and symbols and sound, this book probes and pierces the inflamed ground of the Southwest. It's half lament, half battle cry. Charles Bowden is "in the mood for settling some scores with myself, for moving past the reasons and into the hunger." He explores the geography of self and maps our fears as well as our hopes. Sometimes his glare is too intense, too stark, too libidinous, too personal, too frank for some readers, but many more will praise it for precisely those reasons. Michael Berman's riveting photos range from ironic to scenic, grim to humorous, and intensify Bowden's unforgettable voice raging about the primordial hunger of human nature for its Nature side.
Landscapes of Fraud: Mission Tumacacori, the Baca Float, and the Betrayal of the O'odham
This lively and authoritative narrative analyzes what happens when land speculators overwhelm the plain folks who live on and work that ground. Sheridan artfully traces the 300-year history of two enormous land grants surrounding the Tumacacori Mission in southern Arizona. From the dispossession of the Tohono O'odham to modern squabbles over subdivisions, the story is fraught with greed and deceit, grand plans and, occasionally, noble deeds. An underlying theme is the value of open space around densely-packed communities. It is intriguing scholarship in a well-told account of the brawls that led to urban sprawl.
Mesa Verde Centennial Series, The
This Mesa Verde centennial series is seven books that merit special recognition as a wonderful set celebrating the 100th anniversary of Colorado's Mesa Verde National Park. The books are beautifully designed, well written and amply illustrated. Their topics include tourism, early photographer Gustaf Nordenskiöd, restoration of the ruins, the effects of forest fires, the Wetherill family, visionary women who worked to create the park, and CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) crews who worked there. The authors are well-spoken folks who know the park intimately and write engagingly. The result is delightful, a genuine contribution to the literature of the Southwest. The seven titles are available individually or as a boxed set.
The titles in the series are Dirt, Water, Stone: A Century of Preserving Mesa Verde, by Kathleen Fiero; Travels and Travails: Tourism at Mesa Verde, by Duane A. Smith and William C. Winkler; Photographing Mesa Verde: Nordenskiöd and Now, by William G. Howard, Douglas G. Hamilton, and Kathleen Howard; Fire on the Mesa by Tracey L. Chavis and William R. Morris; The Wetherills: Friends of Mesa Verde by Fred M. Blackburn; Women to the Rescue: Creating Mesa Verde National Park by Duane A. Smith; and New Deal Days: The CCC at Mesa Verde by Ronald C. Brown and Duane A. Smith.
Puebloan Ruins of the Southwest
Remember when family vacations were two weeks by car visiting some region of America? You met some real people, had a few adventures, and came home invigorated with an authentic appreciation of your country. This book is that vacation. The authors take us to more than 60 unoccupied pueblos of the Chaco, northern Rio Grande, Little Colorado, Mesa Verde, northern San Juan, and Kayenta regions. Clear and interesting text explains the archaeology and anthropology, and in one grand tour we begin to understand and appreciate the scope of indigenous life over the past 2,500 years in the Four Corners region. Excellent color photos and maps show what we can see first hand.
Seri-Spanish-English Dictionary (Comcáac quih yaza quih hant ihíp hac)
It's a rare gift shop or gallery in the Southwest that doesn't feature Seri ironwood carvings (ziik hacácj) or some facsimile. But these people of the desert and sea haven't had a full Seri-English-Spanish dictionary until now, thanks to this monumental lexicographic effort that began in 1951. This watershed volume provides wonderful insight into the language, things, and moods of the Seri domain: fish, cactus, seashells, wind, love, and at least a dozen words regarding ocean tides. The Seri language (Comcáac quih Yaza) is unlike any other in the Southwest, but at least now we can understand its meaning (Hant Ihíp hac) in English or Spanish.
About Bill Broyles