Southwest Books of the Year
Patricia Etter Picks 
109 East Palace: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos
Robert Oppenheimer recruited brilliant scientists to calculate, under secret conditions, the specifications for an atomic bomb. These men and their families knew only that they were to travel to Santa Fe and report to 109 East Palace Road. Delivered to the isolated town of Los Alamos, they worked and lived in spartan conditions behind barbed wire, guarded by the army. No phones; mail was censored; they manufactured bathtub gin and shopped from the Sears catalog. This fascinating story tells how an incredible number of personalities adjusted to the stress of confinement; it says little about the creation of "the gadget." A recommended companion read is American Prometheus.
Ghost Ranch
Ghost Ranch reminds us of Georgia O'Keeffe, whose canvases reflected the shapes and changing color found in the ranch’s spectacular 22,000 acres in the Piedra Lumbre Basin in northern New Mexico. The story begins long before, when the area was a haven for outlaws, and named for its perceived ghosts. Poling-Kempes writes a fascinating "biography" about the early years as a dude ranch, and later as a sanctuary for the Arthur Pack family and their wealthy visitors beginning in 1932. She details changes over the years and how, in 1955, Ghost Ranch passed to the care of the Presbyterian Church, who established an educational center there.
Hummingbird’s Daughter, The
This dramatic novel of Mexico is one of faith and tragedy. The story of Teresa Urrea is a family folk tale about a real person, much of which is supported by a trunk full of documents. Teresita, the daughter of a poor, illiterate Indian peon, was impregnated by the wealthy ranchero for whom she worked. Befriended by a curandera on the ranch, Teresita discovers she has the power to heal. Thus begins a powerful drama, as the faithful crowd the ranch hoping for her touch and the magic cure. The Mexican government intervenes, suspicious of those who might threaten its power.
Oasis Remembered, An: An Indian Agency Sacaton, Arizona, A Pictorial & Historical Review About the Place and Its People
Robert Ramsey was a baby when he arrived at the Sacaton Indian Agency in 1926. His father, a BIA teacher, spent the next 38 years in the village, while his mother worked to develop "Pima Cotton" at the Cotton Research Center. Ramsey's rare photographs recall a time when the Gila River flowed through an oasis of shade trees, date palms, and cottonwoods. A map of the Agency charts the early buildings. His school chums included Native people. He also sought reminiscences from his friends who lived in Sacaton, and who contributed their own photos for a first historic view of the tiny Native American town.
Navajo Legacy, A: The Life and Teachings of John Holiday
John Holiday, now 86, was raised by his Navajo medicine-woman grandmother who encouraged him to take up the healing arts. Growing up in a traditional livestock economy in the San Juan River region, he neither attended school nor learned to speak English. Nevertheless, he recalled living through major periods in Navajo history: livestock reduction; service in the U. S. Army—until they learned he could not speak English; work in uranium mines and with the CCC; and as an extra in a John Ford film. Holiday said he was anxious to share his experiences with future generations. The book also includes Navajo words for reservation sites.
Navajoland: A Native Son Shares His Legacy
This outstanding production is so well written that the reader will come away with a fine understanding of Diné worldview. It features spectacular photographs by Navajo LeRoy DeJolie, who writes that his heart "is anchored to the red-rock canyons, mesas, and sage-covered rangeland of the Kaibito Plateau." He notes that his people passed through three worlds before emerging into the present world, which is encircled by four sacred mountains: Mounts Blanca, Taylor, Hesperus, and the San Francisco Peaks. DeJolie takes a unique approach by writing about, and recording with his camera, the four distinct environments surrounding each of the sacred mountains.
Forged By Fire: The Devastation and Renewal of a Mountain Community
The author writes about the destruction and renewal of the Mount Lemmon mountain community—for many years a place of retreat for the desert dwellers from Tucson, some 6,800 ft. below. She records the courage of firefighters and others who risked their lives to fight and contain a wall of flame that destroyed 344 homes and businesses. It is also the story about the residents, who added up their losses, rolled up their sleeves, and set to work to build a new and better community. Barnes' history of the Aspen fire is a fine read and can serve as a caution for those living in forested areas.
Tseyi: Deep in the Rock, Reflections on Canyon de Chelly
Those of us who have visited Arizona's Canyon de Chelly and Canyon del Muerto stand in awe under sheer, reddish-orange sandstone cliffs set against a limitless blue sky. But there is more to the canyon than its aesthetic pleasure. Navajo poet, Laura Tohe, writes of the Diné, the people who came late to the canyon, and of their attachment to the land. These are the people the United States Cavalry forced far from their homes in the 1860s. Happily, those that remained were released to their ancestral home where "they could live a harmonious life filled with spiritual beauty." Photographs by Stephen Strom.
About Patricia Etter