Southwest Books of the Year
David Laird's Picks
W. David Laird is a former University of Arizon librarian, and owner of Books West Southwest, a mail order/Internet book store.
Traveling Route 66: 2,250 Miles of Motoring History from Chicago to L.A.
by Nick Freeth (University of Oklahoma Press)
There have been lots of books about Route 66 but none is a better browse than this small-format-fits-comfortably-in-the-hand volume. Each two-page spread has an interesting illustration and fascinating text. All the folks still around from that last generation before they began to name generations will love this trip down memory lane when it was a 4-lane highway.
Also selected:
- American Character: The Curious Life of Charles Fletcher Lummis and the Rediscovery of the Southwest
- Edward Abbey: A Life
- Goats: A Novel
- Pie Town Woman: The Hard Life and Good Times of a New Mexico Homesteader
- Sunk Without a Sound: The Tragic Colorado River Honeymoon of Glen and Bessie Hyde
- Tall Woman: The Life story of Rose Mitchell, A Navajo Woman, c. 1874-1977
- Understanding the Arizona Constitution