Southwest Books of the Year
Best Reading
The Secret Knowledge of Water: Discovering the Essence of the American Desert
by Craig Leland Childs (Sasquatch Books)
This title was on four lists: Bock's, Bailey's, Dinges' and that of Norman Whaley. This makes it the hands-down, top choice. It is a book we stumbled on by chance very late in the year. Panelist Bailey heard about it on National Public Radio. Childs had gone to Sasquatch Books in far away, well-watered Washington, to find a publisher for his book about the parched Sonoran desert and its environs.
In giving her reason for choosing Childs' book, Bailey wrote:
If you are an outdoor enthusiast or a desert lover, you're in for a marvelous experience with Childs, who is a river guide, instructor of natural history and writer.
Among other things, you'll trek in search of elusive water holes in the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge and explore a cave that's the source of an icy spring in a side canyon of the Grand Canyon. You'll gain insights into life teeming in the desert where water miraculously exists. Childs' descriptive narrative is engaging, thoughtful, clever and passionate.
A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert
edited by Steven J. Phillips with Patricia Wentworth Comus (University of California Press)
This title was selected by three panelists: Bock, Dinges and Norman Whaley. Of this book Dinges writes:
If I were forced to limit my southwestern library to one book, this would be it. In just under 600 pages, handsomely illustrated with color and black-and-white photographs, and precise pen-and-ink drawings, 35 experts share their considerable knowledge of man and nature in the Sonoran Desert. Essays range in subject matter from desert storms to desert grasses. From human and plant ecology to bird and mammal species.
Among other things, you will learn what makes a desert, the life history of grasshoppers and the impact of man on the natural environment along with practical advice on nature watching. It's a volume that invites superlatives.
The Gates of the Alamo
by Stephen Harrigan (Knopf)
The Gates of the Alamo by Stephen Harrigan was also selected by three panelists: Bock, Dinges and Joyce Whaley. Despite the best efforts of Louis L'Amour and company, fiction is a rarity in Southwest literature. Well, admitted fiction, that is. So, it is a pleasure to all us fiction readers to find this title near the top of the list.
In explaining her choice of The Gates of the Alamo, Bock wrote:
This is a sweeping, satisfying historical novel packed with details and gore. Both Mexican and American sides are portrayed without the mythologizing of Crockett, Austin, Bowie and Houston. These traditional heroes of the Alamo do not engage us here. Rather, the fictional Mary Mott, a widowed innkeeper;
Terrell, her son; Edmund McGowan, an itinerant botanist; Telesforo Villasenor, a mapmaker in Santa Ana's army and others reveal the dignity, vanity, bravery, futility of this awful battle. Meticulous research contributed to the intense realism and accurate portrayal of this historic event.
Six titles were each selected by two panelists. Two of them were mysteries. Actually, altogether six mysteries appear among the panelists picks. A good mystery provides a good sense of place.
The Judas Judge: A Kevin Kerney Novel
by Michael McGarrity (Dutton)
The Judas Judge by Michael McGarrity was chosen by Bailey and Joyce Whaley. Whaley writes:
McGarrity moves his series protagonist, New Mexico lawman Kevin Kerney, to an area south of Albuquerque, thus creating new and interesting personalities while continuing to portray Kerney as a decent, well-rounded cop. The story revolves around a ruthless, clever killer who has left a string of six seemingly unrelated victims, the last being a retired judge whose unhappy, dissolute son refers to his father as the "Judas Judge." The surprise ending has a nasty twist. This is McGarrity at his best.
The Summoning God: Book Two of the Anasazi Mysteries
by Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear (Forge)
Bailey and Whaley also chose The Summoning God by Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear. Bailey's synposis reads:
The second in the "Anasazi Mysteries" series by these well-known archaeologist-authors, The Summoning Godalternates between narratives set in ancient and modern northern New Mexico. The first book of the series,The Visitant, seemed dauntingly complex. In this book, the Anasazi characters and cultures have become coherent and vivid. The alternation between the horrible crimes committed during the era of turmoil and the modern protagonists' literal uncovering of those crimes, centuries later, comes off. A great part of the appeal lies in the Gears' detailed, imaginative speculation about the lives of the ancient Anasazis.
Lives on the Line: Dispatches for the U.S.-Mexico Border
by Miriam Davidson (University of Arizona Press)
Lives on the Line by Miriam Davidson is on the lists of both Bock and Bailey. Bock wrote:
Writing with the eye, heart and style of the investigative journalist that she is, Davidson presents a poignant portrayal of the people and problems of contemporary "Ambos Nogales." Since 1980 there has been a marked increase in the number of maquiladoras (factories) and the presence of law enforcement. Explosive changes have been felt in both cities. Through the lives of five people a maquiladora worker, a cancer victim, a border-crosser killed by a Border Patrol agent , a homeless girl living in tunnels and a man operating a free lunch program (with maquiladora support) we are confronted with a reality quite different from what the occasional visitor sees. Grim reading but hopeful as well.
The Apache Diaries: A Father-Son Journey
by Grenville Goodwin & Neil Goodwin (University of Nebraska Press/Bison Books)
The Apache Diaries by Grenville Goodwin and Neil Goodwin, was chosen by Dinges and Bailey. Dinges wrote:
"I never knew my father." With those simple, compelling words, Neil Goodwin invites readers to accompany him into the wild reaches of Mexico's Sierra Madre in search of the lost Apaches who in 1886 had fled there with Geronimo. In 1930, his father, "Grenny," Goodwin, then a 22-year-old University of Arizona student, was lured south of the border by mysterious stories of Apaches hiding out in well-concealed mountain villages. He found abandoned campsites, interviewed people who had come in contact with the Apaches and recorded everything in his diary. He died in 1940. In 1962, his son, Neil, discovered his father's journals. In this spellbinding book Neil Goodwin attempts to follow his father's footsteps. He discovers new information but what recommends this book is its moving account of a son's search for his father and the two lives coming together over the yawning span of time.
The Grand Canyon and the Southwest
by Ansel Adams, edited by Andrea Gray Stillman (Bulfinch Press)
The Grand Canyon and the Southwest, photographs by Ansel Adams, edited by Andrea Gray Stillman, was selected by Bailey and Bock. Bock writes:
We're accustomed to being awed by the Southwest in all its technicolor glory. Yet, this region's timeless beauty, when simply and sharply rendered through the "inherent abstraction," of black and white by the master Ansel Adams becomes more of a truly aesthetic experience. Adams captures the enduring qualities of the Southwest, especially New Mexico and Arizona. The introduction gives an absorbing account of his entry into the Santa Fe/Taos artistic and literary community. Selected letters and writing at the end give insight into his love and fascination for the Southwest.
Under the Sun: A Sonoran Desert Odyssey
by Adriel Heisey (Rio Nuevo Publishers).
Under the Sun by Adriel Heisey is on the lists of Bock and Norman Whaley, who wrote:
Adriel Heisey is art in the literal sense of the word: the arrangement of forms, colors and elements of a landscape that affects one's sense of beauty. This is a beautiful book of extravagant aerial photographs, each a microcosm of its subject area. There is a brief text that is informative and at times, lyrical. Heisey moves from his years as a commercial pilot to the adaptation of a near ultralight that provides a platform for his photographic art. The overall composition suggests a complex, yet practical man.
Ambush At Bloody Run: The Wham Paymaster Robbery of 1889: A Story of Politics, Religion, Race and Banditry in Arizona Territory
by Larry Ball (Arizona Historical Society Press)
We call your attention to Ambush At Bloody Run, a book edited by panelist Bruce Dinges and published by the Arizona Historical Society.
On May 11, 1889, in Graham County, on the Fort Thomas Road, in a tight spot known locally as "bloody run," an undetermined number of armed robbers relieved a U.S. Army paymaster, of $28,345.10 (about a half million dollars by today's calculations).
Because the paymaster, Major Joseph W. Wham, was accompanied by a 12-man escort, which, though small was made up of veteran soldiers, the robbery effort required two hours of pitched battle. Eight of the soldiers were wounded. At least two of the robbers were also thought to be shot.
Six months later, in November, in Tucson, seven men went on trial for what came to be known as "The Wham Paymaster Robbery." On December 14, despite identification of the robbers by eye witnesses, after two hours of deliberation which included lunch, the jury acquitted them all.
The money was never recovered. By the government, that is.
Working with new research, including interviews and the previously undiscovered trial transcript, Ball, a professor of history at Arkansas State University, has produced a genuinely readable "true crime," mystery. "Ambush," is meticulous in detail but dramatic in its presentation. It does indeed provide, as one critic noted, "an important insight into race, religion, banditry and justice in the later 19th century Southwest."
— J.C. Martin