Southwest Books of the Year
Complete List
The following is a list of geographically correct titles that have crossed the desk at Southwest Books of the Year in the last 12 months. Not included are a few whose subject matter didn't make the regional cut.
The books are listed alphabetically by title. Scan them and come up with a list of your own for good reading from the year 2000.
* Indicates the title is found on a panelist's best reading list.
A
*American Byzantium: Photographs of Las Vegas by Virgil Hancock III, Essay by Gregory McNamee. University of New Mexico Press, 111 pp., $35.
*American Character: The Curious Life of Charles Fletcher Lummis and the Rediscovery of the Southwest by Mark Thompson. Arcade Publishing, 372 pp., $27.95.
American Indian Literature, Environmental Justice and Ecocriticism: The Middle Place by Joni Adamson. University of Arizona Press, 213 pp., $45 cloth, $19.95 paper. Discussions encompassing such accomplished American Indian writers as Simon Ortiz, Leslie Marmon Silko , Louise Erdrich and Joy Harjo bring depth to understanding this important genre.
Any Small Thing You Can Save: A Bestiary by Christina Adam. Blue Hen Books, 286 pp., $18.95. "Each entry in this bestiary is a wise meditation on the human experience." (Publishers Weekly)
Apache Tears: Ending the Drug War by Otis Carney, 1st Books Library, 242 pp., $17.10. A self-published novel from a professional writer conveying the author's convictions about "how phony the drug war (is)."
The Architecture of the Grasshopper Pueblo by Charles R. Riggs. University of Utah Press, 264 pp., $40. Riggs reconstructs this massive 550-room pueblo that flourished in east-central Arizona between 1300 and 1350 AD.
Army Regulars on the Western Frontier, 1848-1861 by Durwood Ball. University of Oklahoma Press, 287 pp., $34.95. "Constabulary duty," the chore of the regular army in the West between the Mexican War and the Civil War, was "profoundly influenced," by the politics of slavery.
Arroyo, A Novel by Summer Wood. Chronicle Books, 257 pp., $22.95. A 33-year-old "burned-out" blues singer moves to a dusty New Mexico mining town and settles down among the families of Mexican heritage who are its longtime residents.
At War With Mexico, A Fictional Mosaic (Literature of the American West, Vol. 6) by Bruce Cutler. University of Oklahoma Press, 209 pp., $24.95. Fictional dispatches, articles and letters recreate the changes in America during the Mexican War (1846-1848).
Away From Home: American Indian Boarding School Experiences, 1879-2000, edited by Margaret L. Archuleta, Brenda J. Child and K. Tsianina Lomawaima. Heard Museum, $29.95. (Distributed by UNM press). Chronicles the nationwide effort by the U.S. government to educate and assimilate Native American students through off-reservation boarding schools.
B
Backcountry Adventures: Arizona, the Ultimate Guide to the Arizona Backcountry for Anyone with a Sport Utility Vehicle by Peter Massey and Jeanne Wilson. Swagman Publishing, 574pp., $32.95. The title says it all. Comes with a fairly good index, lots of maps and color photos.
Bag Limit: A Bill Gastner Mystery by Steven Havill. St. Martin's, 336 pp., $24.95. Gastner is now two days away from retirement when a local youth, first apprehended for drunk driving is next found dead.
Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus by Rick Perlstein. Hill and Wang, 671 pp., $30. It would be impossible not to include a Goldwater biography in a listing of southwestern books, however, this one is more about the U.S. conservative movement than it is about either the Southwest or Goldwater.
Benigna's Chimayo: Cuentos from the Old Plaza by Don J. Usner. Museum of New Mexico Press, 160 pp., $39.95 cloth, $19.95 paper. A grandson's tribute to his grandmother and her recounting of 14 traditional cuentos retold in English and regional New Mexico Spanish.
Best Places: Palm Springs and the Desert Communities edited by Robin Kleven. Sasquatch Books, 169 pp., $14.95. A destination guide in the Sasquatch "Best Places" series.
Birds of the Southwest, Arizona, New Mexico, Southern California & Southern Nevada. John H. Rappole. Texas A&M University Press, 456 full-color photos, 416 pp., $36.95 cloth; $17.95 paper. There are 450 species of birds living in 320,000 square miles of some of the world's most spectacular scenery.
Blue Owl by Wayne Parrish. Writers Club Press, 269 pp., $15.95. A mystery set in Scottsdale. The protagonists are a half-Yaqui, half-Hispanic policewoman and a wounded oceanographer.
Bodie Gone by Bill Hyde. Sunstone Press, 256 pp., $26.95. A housewife struggles to unravel the mystery of strange happenings in the gold rush ghost town of Bodie, Calif.
*Bone Walker: An Anasazi Novel by Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear. Forge, 445pp., $26.95
Borderland Jaguars: Tigres de la Frontera by David E. Brown and Carlos A. Lopez Gonzalez. University of Utah Press, 170 pp., $14.95. Dead and alive, fact and fiction, these elegant cats are the stuff of legend.
*Breaking Through by Francisco Jimenez. Houghton Mifflin, 195pp., $15.
Brothel: Mustang Ranch and Its Women by Alexa Albert. Random House, $24.95. As a medical student, Albert had rare access to the Mustang Ranch, the most prominent legal brothel in Nevada until it was shut down in 1999 for racketeering.
*Butterflies of Arizona: A Photographic Guide by Bob Stewart, Priscilla Brodkin and Hank Brodkin. West Coast Lady Press, 414 pp., $24.
C
The Cactus Family by Edward F. Anderson Timber Press, 776 pp., 1008 color photos 6 b/w, 3 drawings, 8 maps. 8 1/2-inches by 11-inches format, $99.95. This encyclopedic effort encompasses cacti from all over the world.
Carreta de la Muerte by Mari Ulmer. Poisoned Pen Press, 242 pp., $23.95. Lots of local Taos-area color in this mystery about sacred religious artifacts stolen from a museum. Ulmer's sleuth is an attorney turned bed-and-breakfast owner and writer.
Casas Grandes and Its Hinterland: Prehistoric Regional Organization in Northwest Mexico by Michael E. Whalen and Paul E. Minnis. University of Arizona Press, 239 pp., $45. New research suggests that the social organization of Casas Grandes was distinct from that of other complex Mesoamerican societies.
Civil War in the Southwest: Recollections of the Sibley Brigade edited by Jerry Thompson. Texas A&M University Press, 256 pp., 5 maps. $24.95. Eighteen episodes written by members of the Confederate Sibley brigade.
The Civil War in West Texas and New Mexico: The Lost Letterbook of Brigadier General Henry Hopkins Sibley edited and with an Introduction by John P. Wilson and Jerry Thompson. Texas Western Press, 193 pp. $18. New details to Confederate General Sibley's ill-fated and grandiose dreams for a Confederate empire in the Southwest.
A Clod of Wayward Marl by Rick Marinis. Denis McMillan, 333pp., $30. A noir-ish mystery set along the west Texas/Mexico border depicting the sinister corporate world of academia and a slasher/trash writer who gets involved with it.
Coal Camp Days, a Boy's Rememberance by Ricardo L. Garcia. University of New Mexico Press, 278 pp., 12 halftones. $24.95. The coalfields of Northern New Mexico in World War II are the setting for the remembrances of 6-year-old Matias Montano - the author's life fictionalized.
Coming Home to Eat: The Pleasures and Politics of Local Foods by Gary Nabhan. W.W. Norton, 288 pp., $24.95. Nabhan, who is devoted to recovering lost food traditions, vowed for one year to eat no food that wasn't gathered within 250 miles of his Arizona home.
Concrete Desert: A David Mapstone Mystery by Jon Talton. St. Martin's Press, 212 pp., $22.95. Arizona Republic columnist and Phoenix native Talton combines history and murder in the Salt River Valley.
Contemporary Ranches of Texas by Lawrence Clayton, photographs by Wyman Meinzer. 58 duotones. University of Texas Press, 8 1/4 by 10 1/2-inches format. 165 pp., $29.95. There are still Texans for whom ranching is a way of life and this is their story.
The Cowboy and His Elephant: the Story of a Remarkable Friendship by Malcolm MacPherson. St. Martin's Press, 233 pp., $23.95. Not a lot of Southwest flavor but this is the story of a retired Marlboro Man, Bob Norris, who adopted an extraordinarily perceptive elephant named Amy.
D
Delicate: Stories of Light and Desire by Mary Sojourner. Nevermore Press, $14.95. Flagstaff resident and NPR contributor Sojourner writes sensitively about women both in the Southwest and other places.
Desert Gardener's Companion by Kim Nelson. Rio Nuevo Publishers, 328 pp., $19.95. Straightforward advice for year-round gardening from the chair of the Plant Clinic at the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Service.
Desert Indian Woman: Stories and Dreams by Frances Manuel and Deborah Neff University of Arizona Press, 227 pp., $39.95, cloth; $17.95 paper. Wife, mother, daughter, basket weaver, storyteller and tribal elder, Manuel, born in 1912, is a living preserver of Tohono O'odham culture.
*Desert Landscaping for Beginners: Tips and Techniques for Success in an Arid Climate edited by Cathy Cromwell, illustrated by Carole Palmer. Arizona Master Gardener Press, 224 pp., $14.95.
Desert Noir: A Lena Jones Mystery by Betty Webb. Poisoned Pen Press, 243 pp., $23.95. The action is focused on the Scottsdale art scene as PI Jones sets out to track down the killer of a friend.
Desert Survivor: An Adventurer's Guide to Exploring the Great American Desert by John Annerino. Four Walls and Eight Windows, 250 pp., $15.95. A "how-to" detailing the dangers and pleasures of exploring the Great American Desert and a guide to the natural and social history of the region.
Desperate Acts by Jane Candia Coleman. Five Star, 305 pp., $25.95. A young East Coast mother finds love and purpose in the arms of a sturdy western dude rancher.
* Don't Look At Me Different/No Me Veas Diferente: Voices From the Projects, Tucson, Arizona, 1943-2000. Editor Regina Kelly. Tucson Voices Press, 160 pp., $24.95.
Down the Great Unknown: John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery & Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon by Edward Dolnick. HarperCollins, 367pp. $27.50. Details of the trip in which four of the original 10 boatmen died, taken from rarely examined diaries and journals.
Downwinders, An Atomic Tale by Curtis Oberhansly and Dianne Nelson Oberhansly. Black Ledge Press, 431 pp., $14.95. A legal and historical thriller in which the protagonists try to reveal incriminating evidence of America's atomic testing secrets.
E
Early Southwest Ornithologists, 1528-1900 by Dan L. Fischer. University of Arizona Press, 280 pp., 20 illustrations. 6 by 9-inch format, $45 cloth. A resident of the Chiricahuas, Fischer has been traveling and photographing birds for 50 years. This history of like-minded observers begins with Cabeza de Vaca.
*Edward Abbey, a Life by James M. Cahalan. University of Arizona Press, 357 pp., $27.95.
F
Flight and Other Stories by Jose Skinner. University of Nevada Press, 186 pp., $15. As the title suggests, Skinner's stories include many characters who are fleeing from their pasts ending up in the American Southwest.
*Flora of the Gran Desierto and Rio Colorado of Northwestern Mexico by Richard Stephen Felger. University of Arizona Press, 673 pp., $ 75.
Food Plants of the Sonoran Desert by Wendy Hodgson. University of Arizona Press, 312 pp., $75. A comprehensive and readable reference guide to the desert's edible flora.
Fool's Gold: Lives, Loves and Misadventures in the Four Corners Country by Rob Schultheis. The Lyons Press, 232 pp., $24.95. This story of the metamorphosis of Telluride, Colorado, from mining town to super rich ski resort might be called "Midnight in the Ski Lodge of Good and Evil."
Frontier Earth: Searcher by Bruce Boxleitner. Ace Books, 328 pp., $23.95, cloth; $6.99, paper. Hollywood actor Boxleitner has a deft touch writing about advanced space humans and alien invaders going head-to-head in Tombstone, Arizona in 1881.
G
Gathering Remnants: A Tribute to the Working Cowboy, photographs by Kendall Nelson, Text by Felicitas Funke-Riehle, foreword by Clint Eastwood, Introduction by Gretel Ehrlich. Prairie Creek Productions, distributed by University of New Mexico Press. 112 pp. (14.5-inches by 12.5-inches), $80, cloth. There is not a lot of space devoted to southwestern ranches, although this handsome book covers "outfits" from Oregon to Texas.
General Crook and the Western Frontier by Charles Robinson III. University of Oklahoma Press, 384 pp., $39.95. Robinson uses contemporary manuscripts and primary sources to illuminate the general's personal life and military career.
Getting Over the Color Green: Contemporary Environmental Literature of the Southwest edited by Scott Slovic. University of Arizona Press, 372 pp., $45 cloth, $19.95, paper. An eclectic blend of nonfiction and fiction, field notes and poetry.
The Ghost of John Wayne and Other Stories by Ray Gonzalez. University of Arizona Press, 150 pp., $29.95 cloth; $16.95, paper. A powerful presentation of the mystery and reality of life along the El Paso border country by one of its native sons.
*Goats: A Novel by Mark Jude Poirier. Hyperion, 355 pp., $22.
*Grand Ambition: A Novel by Lisa Michaels. W.W. Norton, 274 pp., $23.95.
Grandmother Spider, a Charlie Moon Mystery by James Doss. William Morrow, 293 pp., $23 cloth. This is what happened to Charlie Moon when a little girl staying with his aunt, Daisy Perika, stepped on a spider. Spiders can be vengeful.
*A Guide to Southern Arizona Bird Nests & Eggs Volume 1: Desert Areas by Pinau Merlin. Arizona Sonora Desert Museum Press, 182 pp., $14.95.
Gunman's Rhapsody by Robert Parker. Putnam Publishing Group, 320 pp., $22.95. Popular Boston-based mystery writer Parker re-assembles some of the old oft-told tales of Wyatt Earp into a silly book. He does, however, feature Earp's sex life.
H
Harmony of Reflected Light: The Photographs of Arthur Welsey Dow by James L. Enyeart. Museum of New Mexico Press, 176 pp., 9 1/4 by 10 1/2-inch format. 125 photographs, 4 color reproductions. $45, cloth. Another book of glorious photographs, only some of which, however, are devoted to the Southwest. Enyeart teaches photographic arts at the College of Santa Fe.
Healing Earthquakes: Poems by Jimmy Santiago Baca. Grove Press, 338 pp., $15. A love affair set to poetry.
Heaven's Window: A Journey Through Northern New Mexico by Michael Wallis, photographs by Jack Parsons. Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company, 120 pp., 100 color photos, $27. Indian markets, historic churches, lively fiestas, charming old ranches, Wallis and Parsons experience them all.
Hell's Bottom, Colorado: Stories by Laura Pritchett. Milkweed Editions, 123 pp., $14.95. The voices of women are heard in this story of ranching from a native Colorado writer reared in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains.
High Lonesome Road by Betsy Thornton. St. Martin's Press, 240 pp., $23.95. A volunteer is shot at an isolated stop on the Cochise County Bookmobile route. Thornton's second mystery received a starred review in Publishers Weekly.
Highwire Moon: A Novel by Susan Straight. Houghton Mifflin, 306 pp., $24. The hard, unyielding life of Mexican immigrants is told through the story of two young women, both mothers, one a long-lost daughter.
A History of the University of Arizona Chemistry Department 1891-1990 by Cornelius Steelink and Leslie Forster. Steelink and Forster, self-published, $25. The authors had fun digging up old documents and doing oral interviews with the department's early alumni.
Homol'ovi III: A Pueblo Hamlet in the Middle Little Colorado River Valley, edited by E. Charles Adams. Arizona State Museum Archaeological Series 193, Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, 372 pp., $24.95 paper. This study of ancestral Hopi people provides a perspective on the development of a settlement cluster in the late 1200s and most of the 1300s.
Hopi Stories of Witchcraft, Shamanism and Magic. Ekkehart Malotki & Ken Gary. University of Nebraska Press, 290 pp., 31 illustrations, $29.95. Scattered through these tales are supernatural beings, otherworldly landscapes, magical devices and medicines, shamans and witches.
The Hot Empire of Chile by Kent Ian Paterson. Bilingual Review Press, 220 pp., $24. A careful look at the business side of growing chile in New Mexico.
I
I Am My Language: Discourses of Women and Children in the Borderlands by Norma Gonzalez. University of Arizona Press, 240 pp., $35 cloth. Language influences the ways in which children learn and how families engage with their children's schools.
I'll Go and Do More: Annie Dodge Wauneka, Navajo Leader and Activist by Carolyn Niethammer. University of Nebraska Press, 281 pp., $29.95. Niethammer, who was not fortunate enough to meet Annie Wauneka, has nothing but good things to say about this forceful, pioneering Indian activist.
In the Fifth World: Portrait of the Navajo Nation by Adriel Heisey and Kenji Kawano. Foreword by Peterson Zah. Rio Nuevo, 9 3/4 by 9 inches format, 88 pp., $21.95. Two photographers - one who works from the sky , Adriel Heisey, and another on the ground, Japanese photojournalist, Kenji Kawano - combine their efforts.
In the Shadow of Los Alamos: Selected Writings of Edith Warner, edited by Patrick Burns. University of New Mexico Press, 226 pp., $19.95. Edith Warner became a legendary figure due in large part to Frank Waters' portrayal of her as "The Woman at Otowi Crossing," and Peggy Church's "The House at Otowi Bridge." She does not appear to have too much to say for herself.
Indian Country by Gwendolen Cates, introduction by Sherman Alexie. Grove Press, 11 1/4 by 11 1/4 inches format, not paginated, $49.95. Superb collection of photographs, everyone from beauty queens to professional golfers, screen writers, cowboys, singers, construction workers - the whole rainbow coalition of Native Americans, most of whom look fairly happy.
J
John Ringo, The Final Hours: A Tale of the Old West by Michael M. Hickey. Maps, paintings, photographs, documents. Talei Publishers, 496 pp., $44.95 Another from the pen and ink of publisher and Western history enthusiast Hickey who also sponsors the annual Warren Earp celebration in July in Willcox.
Juniper Tree Burning by Goldberry M. Long. Simon & Schuster, 461 pp., $25 cloth. A woman's desperate journey across the plains of the American West back to the harsh realities of the idealistic 60's.
K
The Killing Maze by David Cole. Avon Books, 336 pp., $6.50. Somewhere between a dusty Mexican border town and the upper echelons of Tucson society lie answers to pharmaceutical fraud, internet scams and murder.
L
L.A. Justice by Christopher Darden with Dick Lochte. Warner Books, 434 pp., $25.95. Dirty cops, sleazy crooks keep a Los Angeles team of prosecuting attorney (female) and police detective (male) busy. Darden was on the L.A. team prosecuting O.J. Simpson, and Lochte is a veteran mystery writer.
*A Land So Remote by Larry Frank. In 3 volumes: Religious Art of New Mexico, 1780-1907 (Vol. 1 & 2) and Wooden Artifacts of FrontierNew Mexico (Vol. 3). Red Crane Books, $50 each volume.
The Last Canyon by John Vernon. Houghton Mifflin, 352 pp., $24. A fictionalized version of John Wesley Powell's incredible 1869 journey charting the canyons, near and remote, on the Green and Colorado rivers.
Latin American Folktales: Stories from Hispanic and Indian Traditions edited by John Bierhorst. Pantheon Books, 400 pp., $26. As the title states, the concentration is on Latin America from Argentina to Mexico, but there are a few contributions from the southwestern U.S.
Let's Explore the Desert, Family Go Guide! by Doris Evans. Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, 228 pp., $14.95.
The Life and Opinions of Marcus Aurelius Wherefore by L.D. Clark. 1st Books Library, 640 pp., $6.95, electronic; $23.95, cloth; $18.95, paper. A retired university professor, intent on writing of the politics of academia, realizes that he must first look into his own past.
*Living Homes: Sustainable Architecture and Design by Suzi Moore McGregor and Nora Burba Trulsson. Photographs by Terrence Moore. Chronicle Books, 204 pp., $45.
*Loving Pedro Infante, A Novel by Denise Chavez. Farrar Straus Giroux, 325 pp., $24.
M
Mavericks on the Border: the Early Southwest in Historical Fiction and Film by J. Douglas Canfield. University Press of Kentucky, 256 pp., $27.50. A University of Arizona professor of English defines the borders between ideologies and cultures and discusses how protagonists in films and novels set in the early Southwest cross these borders in search for identity.
Mexican-Origin People in the United States: A Topical History by Oscar J. Martinez. University of Arizona Press, 244 pp., $45, cloth. $17.50, paper. A Regents Professor of History at the University of Arizona provides a survey of long-term trends among Mexican Americans and indicates conditions are improving.
Minding a Sacred Place by Sunnie Empie, photos by Hart Empie. Boulder House Publishers, $60. Widely-acclaimed Boulder House was designed around an enormous outcrop of granite. The Empie Petroglyph Site is on the National Register of Historic Places.
*The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall. W.W. Norton, 384 pp., $24.95.
Mo: The Life and Times of Morris K. Udall by Donald W. Carson and James W. Johnson. University of Arizona Press, 350 pp., $29.95. A detailed assessment of one of Arizona's finest politicians. A native of St. Johns, he represented Arizona's 2nd Congressional District (Tucson and Southern Arizona). He not only did his job well, he made and kept friends. His death as a victim of Parkinson's was long and agonizing.
Mojave Desert by Rose Houk. Southwest Parks and Monuments American Desert Handbook Series. Unpaginated, $7.95. Superbly written little booklet but there is a problem with the map.
The Money and the Power: The Making of Las Vegas and Its Hold on America, 1947-2000 by Sally Denton and Roger Morris. Alfred Knopf, 479 pp., $26.95. An in-depth look at a town "founded with and is still kept afloat by drug money." The two investigative journalist-authors suggest that the corruption in Las Vegas "has a profound effect on American life."
Mountain Time: A Western Memoir by Jane Candia Coleman. Five Star, 221 pp., $23.95 A tranplanted Easterner with 15 years of Western living under her saddle, Coleman writes with enthusiasm and affection about her southwestern home, family and friends.
The Multicultural Southwest: A Reader edited by A. Gabriel Melendez, M. Jane Young, Patricia Moore and Patrick Pynes. University of Arizona Press, 300 pp., $45, cloth; 24.95, paper. Rudolfo Anaya, Barbara Kingsolver and Emory Sekaquaptewa, Cabeza de Vaca and Jimmy Santiago Baca, are just a quick sampling of the 38 authors who are contributors to this wide-ranging volume.
N
Narcocorrido: A Journey Into the Music of Drugs, Guns and Guerillas by Elijah Wald . Rayo (HarperCollins), 352 pp., $24. A search throughout Mexico and the U.S. Southwest for the roots of this unusual and controversial genre.
National Audubon Society Field Guide to Wildflowers, Western Region edited by Richard Spellenberg, 879 pp., $19.95. More than 650 wildflower species grouped by color for easy use.
Navajo Spoons: Indian Artistry and the Souvenir Trade, 1880s-1940s. by Cindra Kline. Museum of New Mexico Press, 118 pp., $27.50. Handsomely produced, Kline's investigation into this relatively unresearched branch of Indian silverwork should be a boon to both collectors and appraisers.
Navajo Trading, the End of an Era by Willow Robert Powers. University of New Mexico Press, 282 pp., 40 halftones, $29.95. This overview of Navajo trading examines the enterprise in the last quarter of the 20th Century. The first traders showed up shortly after the Civil War.
Never Count Out the Dead by Boston Teran. St. Martin's Press, 366 pp., $23.95. A cross between "Chinatown," and "MacBeth," this gritty mystery tackles greed and political fraud in Los Angeles.
New Mexico: Route 66 on Tour, Legendary Architecture From Glenrio to Gallup by Don J. Usner. Museum of New Mexico Press, 107 pp., $.19.95. Depth and insight are brought to America's legendary Mother Road.
Nomads of a Desert City: Personal Stories from Citizens of the Street by Barbara Seyda. University of Arizona Press, 103 pp., $35, cloth; $16.95, paper. Short profiles with photos of members of Tucson's homeless willing to tell their stories to the author.
O
On Her Way Home: A Novel by Harriet Rochlin. Fithian Press, 272 pp., $21.95. Hard times, frazzled family ties and tin-horn justice in 19th century Arizona Territory, this is the third in Rochlin's Desert Dwellers Trilogy.
One Hundredth Anniversary 1900-2000 of Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church , the Reverend Bernard Harvey, pastor.Available at the church, 226 E. Lester, Tucson 85705. Photographs of both Mt. Calvary's clergy and laity are combined with a brief narrative to make this a valuable addition to Tucson's historical archives.
O'odham Creation and Related Events as told to Ruth Benedict in 1927 in Prose, Oratory and Song by Pimas Williams Blackwater, Thomas Vanyiko, Clara Ahiel, Williams Stevens, Oliver Wellington and Kisto, edited by Donald Bahr. University of Arizona Press, 320 pp., 6 by 9-inch format, $45 cloth. Never before published, this material inspired Benedict to write "Patterns of Culture."
P
Pablita Velarde: Painting Her People by Marcella J. Ruch. New Mexico Magazine, 75 pp., $34.95, cloth; paper, $18.95. First person reminiscences from this well-known artist.
Paradise Lost by J.A. Jance. William Morrow, 384 pp., $25. Another bit of daring, enterprise and understanding from Cochise County's exemplary sheriff, Joanna Brady, as she goes after the killer of women and children.
*Pie Town Woman: The Hard Life and Good Times of a New Mexico Homesteader by Joan Myers. University of New Mexico Press, 216 pp., $45.00 cloth; $24.95 paper.
*A Place to Stand: The Making of a Poet by Jimmy Santiago Baca. Grove Press, 272 pp., $24.
Politics in the Trenches: Citizens, Politicians and the Fate of Democracy by Thomas J. Volgy. University of Arizona Press, 220 pp., $40 cloth; $19.95 paper. Former Tucson mayor and activist Volgy, a professor of political science at the University of Arizona, talks about politics not necessarily in the Southwest.
Potshot by Robert Parker. Putnam. 294 pp. $23.95. Prime Crime, 322 pp., $5.99. A cartoon-ish account of murder and mayhem in a little southwestern town.
Prehistoric Painted Pottery of Southeastern Arizona by Robert A. Heckman, Barbara K. Montgomery and Stephanie M. Whittlesey, Statistical Research; distributed by the University of Arizona Press, 163 pp., $35. A valuable reference work from a rich source of Indian craft.
The Price You Pay: Stories by Ellen Winter. Southern Methodist University Press, 222 pp., $19.95. A gifted, prize-winning writer sets most of her stories in Arizona.
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Recording a Vanishing Legacy: The Historic American Buildings Survey in New Mexico, 1933-Today. Foreword by Charles F. Peterson. Museum of New Mexico Press, 147 pp., $ 45 cloth. $29.95, paper. The Historic American Buildings Survey was created by the federal government in 1933. HABS in New Mexico records four centuries of architecture.
Red Mesa: An Ella Clah Novel by David and Aimee Thurlo. Forge, 352 pp., $24.95. The Thurlos offer a disquieting look at life on the Navajo Reservation where there is conflict, anger and ill-will among a group usually portrayed as serene.
Red, Passion and Patience in the Desert by Terry Tempest Williams. Pantheon Books, 253 pp., $23. A tribute to the canyon country of Southern Utah from a lifelong desert dweller.
Rode Hard, Put Away Dead by Sinclair Browning. Bantam Books, 352 pp., $5.99. When an heiress to a candy fortune turns up dead on a horseback trip with her handsome young husband, foul play is suspected. P.I. Trade Ellis to the rescue.
Ruins and Rivals: the Making of Southwest Archaeology by James E. Snead. University of Arizona Press, 226 pp., $35. Meticulous research and first-hand archeological experience are joined in this remarkable book.
Running Scared: the Life and Treacherous Times of Las Vegas Casino King Steve Wynn by John L. Smith. Four Walls Eight Windows, 376 pp., $15. The unauthorized biography of Steve Wynn, eccentric entrepeneur and the billionaire Las Vegas casino owner. Through the courts, Wynn managed to delay publication several years.
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*The San Pedro River: A Discovery Guide by Roseann Beggy Hanson. University of Arizona Press, 203 pp., $17.95.
Santa Barraza: Artist of the Borderlands edited by Maria Herrera-Sobek. Texas A&M University Press, 160 pp., 35 color plates, 24 black & white photos, $40. Barraza's work reconciles her European and Indian heritages and shows what it means to her to be a mestiza artist in America.
Santa Fe: A Modern History, 1880-1990 by Henry Tobias, Charles E. Woodhouse. University of New Mexico Press, 272 pp., $24.95. A social history focussed on Santa Fe residents whose steady if unspectacular efforts kept the day-to-day business of the city growing and going.
Santa Fe, The Chief Way by Robert Strein, John Vaughan, C. Fenton Richards Jr. New Mexico Magazine. Distributed by the University of New Mexico Press, 10 1/2 by 10 1/4 inches. 131pp., $39.95. A fresh and nostalgic look at 40 years of first class railroading. Great art accompanied good food, singular accommodations and famous travelers. It may be short on text but the photos are so much fun.
Seldom Disappointed: A Memoir by Tony Hillerman. Harper Collins, 341 pp., $26. A native Oklahoman, Hillerman spent most of his adult life in journalism in New Mexico - both practicing and teaching. Adept storyteller Hillerman has many vintage tales to tell. Especially appealing is the story of his adopted family of kids.
Sin Nombre: Hispana and Hispano Artists of the New Deal Era by Tey Marianna Nunn. University of New Mexico Press, 70 color plates, 75 halftones. 193 pp., $50. Long overdue recognition to a generation of New Mexico artists whose art works were made for various New Deal programs.
Snapping Lines by Jack Lopez. University of Arizona Press, 152 pp., $32 cloth; $15.95 paper. Short stories that convey what it means to be a Chicano male in the United States.
*The Southwest Inside Out : An Illustrated Guide to the Land and Its History by Thomas Wiewandt (photographer) and Maureen Wilks. Wild Horizons Publishing, $24.95 paper.
The Southwest's Contrary Land: Forever Changing Between Four Corners and the Sea of Cortez, text by Craig Childs, photographs by Arizona Highways photographers. Arizona Highways Books, 175 pp., 11 1/2-11/1/2-inches format. $39.95. Childs, author of the highly acclaimed "The Secret Knowledge of Water," sees diversity, contrast, surprise and contradiction in the dramatic southwestern landscape.
Spanish Pathways: Readings in the History of Hispanic New Mexico by Marc Simmons. University of New Mexico Press, 215 pp., $34.95 cloth, $17.95, paper. Twelve essays based on Simmon's research which transforms New Mexico's colonial history into a story of real people and the real events that shaped their lives.
Standing Flower: The Life of Irving Pabanale an Arizona Tewa Indian by Irving Pabanale and Robert A. Black. University of Utah Press, 235 pp., $24.95. A chronicle of a "culture broker" - between the Hopi and Anglo cultures - during a time of great changes, the early and middle years of the 20th century.
*The Struggle for Apacheria: Eyewitnesses to the Indian Wars 1865-1890 , Vol. 1 by Peter Cozzens. Stackpole Books, 683 pp., $49.95.
*Sunk Without Sound: The Tragic Colorado River Honeymoon of Glen and Bessie Hyde by Brad Dimock. Fretwater Press, 304 pp., $28, cloth, $18, paper.
Surviving the Winter: The Evolution of Quiltmaking in New Mexico by Dorothy Zopf. University of New Mexico Press, 113 pp., $40. Quilts and their histories were collected from senior and community centers across New Mexico by this beguiled easterner.
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*Tall Woman: The Life Story of Rose Mitchell, a Navajo Woman, c. 1874-1977, edited by Charlotte J. Frisbie. University of New Mexico Press, 592 pp., $29.95 paper; $65, cloth.
Tequila Sunset by M.A. King. 1st Books Library, 218 pp., $17.10. A contemporary mystery set in the Southwest.
Texas and New Mexico on the Eve of the Civil War: The Mansfield and Johnston Inspections, 1859-1861 by Jerry Thompson. University of New Mexico Press, 264 pp., $29.95. A noted Civil War historian edits reports on the combat readiness of troops in the Texas and New Mexico departments of the U.S. Army on the eve of the Civil War.
Thirteen Senses: A Memoir by Victor Villasenor. Rayo (HarperCollins), 528 pp., $26. Colorful world of a Mexican immigrant bootlegger family in Southern California.
Tony Hillerman's Navajoland: Hideouts, Haunts and Havens in the Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee Mysteries by Laurance D. Lindford. University of Utah Press, 272 pp., $19.95. Hillerman sleuths are tracked through urban landscapes and rural outposts in the American Southwest.
Trailblazers: Twenty Amazing Western Women by Karen Surina Mulford. Northland Publishing, 184 pp., $14.95. Profiles of energized and courageous Western women from 1805 to the present.
Travelers's Tales - American Southwest: Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah, True Stories edited by Sean O'Reilly and James O'Reilly. Traveler's Tales, 301 pp., $17.95. A gathering of true tales by Southwest authors to bring to life a compelling region and answer the question, "What's it like to be there?"
*Traveling Route 66: 2250 Miles of Motoring History from Chicago to L.A. by Nick Freeth. University of Oklahoma Press, 6-inches by 4-inches format. 408 pp., $14.95.
A Troubled Guest: Life and Death Stories by Nancy Mairs. Beacon Press, 191 pp., $23. Mairs, a gifted writer stricken with MS, faces the issue of death. Most of the essays concern events occuring in Tucson, but no Southwestern atmosphere is evoked.
Tucson, Arizona: Images of America edited by Jane Eppinga. Arcadia, an imprint of Tempus Publishing, 128 pp., $18.99. Tucson history popularizer Eppinga has put together an engrossing collection of photographs of Tucson and Tucsonans from the 1800s through the 20th century.
Tunnel Kids by Lawrence J. Taylor and photos by Maeve Hickey. University of Arizona Press, 152 pp., $45, cloth; $17.95, paper. Stories of the harrowing lives of homeless border children living in the drainage tunnels that connect Nogales, Sonora and Nogales, Arizona.
Twentynine Palms: A True Story of Murder, Marines, and the Mojave by Deanne Stillman. William Morrow, 288 pp., $24. A grim, true crime account of how two young girls were murdered by a U.S. Marine in this Mojave Desert town.
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*Understanding the Arizona Constitution by Toni McClory. University of Arizona Press, 212 pp., $29.95, cloth; $14.95, paper.
Under the Color of Law, a Kevin Kerney Novel by Michael McGarrity. Dutton, 272 pp., $23.95. Kerney, now rich from an inheritance, has taken the low-pay, low-prestige job of cleaning up the disorganized Santa Fe Police Department. And along the way he gets involved with rogue elements in the FBI.
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Vanishing Point, A Claire Reynier Mystery by Judith Van Gieson. University of New Mexico Press, 216 pp., $24.95, cloth. Signet, New American Library, 262 pp., $5.99. A talented young writer disappears on a hike in Slickrock Canyon, Utah. Thirty years later, his journal is found bringing the whole mystery to light again.
Vaqueros, Cowboys and Buckaroos by Lawrence Clayton, Jim Hoy and Jerald Underwood. University of Texas Press, 274 pp., $40 library editions; $19.95, paper. Working practices and folk cultures that bring the mythical image of the American cowboy into focus.
View Finder, Mark Klett, Photography and the Reinvention of Landscape by William L. Fox. University of New Mexico Press, 320 pp., $59.95, cloth; $29.95, paper. Another outstanding contribution to the combined fields of art, photography and the Southwest.
The Voice of the Butterfly by John Nichols. Chronicle Books, 240 pp., $24.95. The Butterfly Coalition attempts to save the home turf of an endangered butterfly and in so doing almost tears a small town apart.
Voices From the River by Ricardo Pimentel. Bilingual Press, 146 pp., $12. Mexican immigrants in Southern California in World War II struggle to make a home for themselves.
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Weaving the Dance: Navajo Yeibichai Textiles (1910-1950) by Rebecca M. Valette and Jean-Paul Valette. Adobe Gallery and the University of Washington Press, 72 pp., $19.95. Very special but excellent in what it attempts. Yeibichai weavings were initiated to attract tourists. Though they come from a sacred Navajo rite, the Nightway, it took them a long time before they were accepted as authentic.
*We'll Be In Your Mountains, We'll Be In Your Songs: A Navajo Woman Sings by Ellen McCullough-Brabson and Marilyn Help. (Music included on a CD). University of New Mexico Press, 208 pp., $24.95.
When the Texans Came: Missing Records from the Civil War in the Southwest, 1861-1862 by John P. Wilson. University of New Mexico Press, 384 pp., 26 halftones, $39.95 cloth. The 282 letters, song lyrics, casualty lists, intelligence dispatches, transcripts, newspaper accounts and official reports bring a new perspective to the Civil War in the Southwest.
* Women's Tales from the New Mexico WPA: La Diabla a Pie edited by Tey Diana Rebolledo and Maria Teresa Marquez. Arte Publico Press, 454 pp., $17.95.
*Woodcuts of Women by Dagoberto Gilb. Grove Press, 167 pp., $23 cloth.
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Zuni and the American Imagination by Eliza McFeely. Hill and Wang, 204 pp., $24. An examination of the careers of three of the first anthropologists to study Zuni society: Matilda Cox Stevenson, Frank Hamilton Cushing and Stewart Culin.