Southwest Books of the Year
Patricia A. Etter's Picks
Patricia A. Etter, M.L.S., curator, Labriola National American Indian Data Center and archivist for Information Services University Libraries, Arizona State University. An author in her own right, in 2000, her book, 1849: A History and Annotated Bibliography, was voted one of the outstanding English language book length bibliographies in the field of history by the Reference and Users Group of the American Library Association.
An Accidental Cowboy: A Memoir
Jameson Parker. St. Martin's/Thomas Dunne Books. 277pp. $24.95.
Jameson Parker traded a stage career for life on a Southern California ranch. He joined his neighbors driving cattle over rugged landscapes, an operation often taking several days and requiring hard, never-ending physical labor. The author writes with such clarity the reader can't help but join the routine of driving, branding, castrating, vaccinating and birthing dirty, smelly and often dangerous work. These experiences help him cope with a period of depression which he experienced following a near fatal shooting.
Las Misiones Antiguas: The Spanish Missions of Baja California
Edward W. Vernon. University of New Mexico Press. 288pp. $44.95.
A splendid book! The photographic essay introduces Jesuit, Franciscan, and Dominican missions, some 34 of them, built with the Herculean efforts of the friars and the indigenous Natives between 1683 and 1834. The grandiose plans of the padres - to have churches surrounded by villages with productive fields - failed miserably, and by the late 1700s many missions were abandoned since hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, revolts, and disease contributed to a rapid decline of population. A detailed map on the inside cover identifies and locates the mission sites, ruins, and visitas, each of which was visited, photographed, and located by GPS. In addition, he includes sketches of ground plans. Because actual preservation of remaining sites is questionable, this book will be an invaluable resource for future scholars. Vernon concludes that "the effects on the Indians of the padres' efforts and the spiritual and cultural benefits of Baja, California's missionization are left to the reader to ponder."
Battle Rock: The Struggle Over a One-Room School in America's Vanishing West
William Celis. Public Affairs Books. 256pp. $25.
Reviewed by another panelist.
Re-Creating the Word: Painted Ceramics of the Prehistoric Southwest, The Bill Schenck Collection
Barbara L. Moulard. Schenck Southwest Publishing. 227pp. $85.
This magnificent publication showcases 130 works of Southwestern ceramics dating from AD 750 to AD 1680. Hohokam, Mogollon, Kayenta, Chaco, Salado, Zuni, Hopi and Mimbres cultures are represented in chapters that include a brief history of each culture with corresponding examples of the ceramics, and the pottery styles that differentiate the various areas. In addition to describing the environment out of which the various cultures grew and were abandoned, the author illustrates how each culture may have subsequently adopted elements from the ones that went before.
We Came Naked and Barefoot: The Journey of Cabeza de Vaca Across North America
Alex D. Krieger, edited by Margery H. Krieger. University of Texas Press. 318pp. $39.95.
With courage, fearless determination, and a will to live, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca's eight-year trek in the 1500s is without equal. The book is based on Alex Krieger's 1955 dissertation, which his wife published posthumously. It is a clever presentation and, because of the organization, is easy to follow. There are two parts. First, the author traces Cabeza de Vaca's route from the Texas coast to Mexico City. Well-placed notes link the various segments to the translation of Cabeza de Vaca's own words in the second part. A reader can get full pleasure by moving back and forth between the chapters.
Gateway to Alta California: The Expedition to San Diego, 1769
Harry W. Crosby. Sunbelt Publications. 230pp. $39.95.
Only Harry Crosby, the guru of Baja California, could have produced this book, a continuation of his masterful Antigua California, which covered the Jesuit period. Now, with the Jesuits gone, Crosby documents the arrival of the Franciscans, and aided by diaries and his own extensive knowledge of the Baja terrain, he has followed on foot and mapped the 1769 overland expeditions to San Diego, one led by Rivera y Moncada and the priest, Fr. Crespi, the other by Gaspar de Portola and Fr. Junipero Serra. In addition, he provides biographies of every member of the expeditions. The route is illustrated on full color topographic maps. A good example of Crosby's spectacular photographs can be viewed at http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/baja/crosby/index.html/
Brownsville: Stories
Oscar Casares. Back Bay Books (Little Brown & Co.). 192pp. $13.95.
Reviewed by another panelist.
Exit Wounds
J.A. Jance. William Morrow Publisher. 368pp. $24.95.
When Carol Mossman's bullet-ridden body is discovered in a locked, airless trailer along with 17 dogs who expired with her, Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady is called in to solve the case. Complications set in with the discovery of the bodies of two women, who had been shot, bound, and left naked on a remote ranch. All three women had been killed with 86-year-old bullets of the same caliber. Is a serial killer on the loose? Who would do this and why? Sheriff Brady has her hands full pursuing a sadistic murderer as long-held secrets of a local family begin to emerge. To complicate the tale, the Sheriff is facing a brutal re-election campaign while suffering from a severe case of morning sickness. Yes, our favorite sheriff is pregnant.
The Mountains Know Arizona: Images of the Land and Stories of Its People
Rose Houk, photographs by Michael Collier. Arizona Highways Books. 272pp. $39.95.
Reviewed by another panelist.
The River In Winter: New and Selected Essays
Stanley Crawford. University of New Mexico Press. 170pp. $21.95.
Reviewed by another panelist.