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Browsing All Nonfiction Books - F :

Clicking on a book cover will search for the book in the catalog. If it is not part of our collection, you may request it by clicking on the Can't Find It link. An icon indicates if the book is chosen by a panelist as one of the year's best.

Falcons of North America
By Kate Davis, Nick Dunlop, Rob Palmer. Mountain Press Publishing Co.. 227 pp. $22.00.

Farewell, My Beijing
By Chi Newman. Wheatmark. 160 pp. $14.95.

A Tucsonan recalls her early life of privilege in Beijing, China, her escape when the Communists entered the city, and the eventful journey that ultimately brought her to Arizona.
Feud that Wasn't, The: the Taylor Ring, Bill Sutton, John Wesley Hardin, and Violence in Texas
By James Smallwood. Texas A&M University Press. 229 pp. Index. . $29.95.

Field Guide to Biological Soil Crusts of Western U.S. Drylands: Common Lichens and Bryophytes
By , Jayne Belnap, Mathew Bowker, Roger Rosentreter. U.S. Government Printing Office. 103 pp. Available online: http://0-firstsearch.oclc.org.librarycatalog.pima.gov/WebZ/FSPage?pagetype=return_frameset:sessionid=fsapp1-54560-flpgnw5d-m16n1p:entitypagenum=10:0:entityframedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blm.gov%2Fpgdata%2Fetc%2Fmedialib%2Fblm%2Fid%2Fpublications.Par.55953.File.dat%2FFieldGuide.pdf:entityframedtitle=WorldCat:entityframedtimeout=5:entityopenTitle=:entityopenAuthor=:entityopenNumber=:. .
If you don’t already know soil crusts, you should. They are alive and are ecologically crucial. Composed of lichens, fungi, mosses, cyanobacteria, and other living parts, they hold soil together, retain soil moisture, nourish the soil, and provide food for a host of microscopic critters. This handy and much needed field guide will help you to indentify and understand 70 species of mosses and lichens that unassumingly fill the wide open spaces of the Southwest. [Bill Broyles]

Field Guide to the Plants and Animals of the Middle Rio Grande Bosque , A
By Sandra L. Brantley, Jean-Luc E. Cartron, David C. Lightfoot, Timothy K. Lowrey, Jane E. Mygatt. University of New Mexico Press. 375 pp. Index. $21.95.
Top Pick
Slow down. Meet the middle Rio Grande. Pull up a bench, drift in a raft, or walk its banks and bosques. This fascinating book will introduce you to more than 700 common birds, plants, insects, fish and mammals that live in or along the river from Cochiti Dam, north of Albuquerque to Elephant Butte Dam, near Truth or Consequences, NM. This stretch of 175 miles includes Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. The array of species is truly astounding, and each species is shown in a color thumbnail photo and described for a wide range of readers. I especially enjoyed the spiders and bugs. [Bill Broyles]

Fifty Years of Change on the U.S.-Mexico Border: Growth, Development, and Quality of Life
By Joan B. Anderson, James Gerber. University of Texas Press. 275 pp. . $24.95.
Some books turn on the lights. This one shines brightly on borderland economics and demography, with light clear enough for the general public and strong enough for scholars. Its fascinating ten chapters on the borderlands range across population, labor, environment, living standards, and border relations. Pick a page, any page, and you’ll learn something new and important about the border economy. The authors’ affection and concern for the region comes through, as does their expertise. One aspect of the border economy and culture that they do not document or explain are the enormous, insidious effects of crime, drugs, and corruption on both sides of the fence. [Bill Broyles]

This is a very readable report on a study by two economists of socio-economic changes for communities along both sides of the border and resulting impacts on quality of life for people on each side, as well as implications for government policies.
Flash Floods in Texas
By Jonathan Burnett. Texas A&M Press. 330 pp. Index. $35.00.
Few events evoke more fear than the shout of “Flashflood.” In moments homes and towns can be swept away with significant loss of life and livelihood. This book chronicles major floods year by year, and provides detail of the rains, the event, and the aftermath. It makes compelling reading. [Bill Broyles]

Flying High: Remembering Barry Goldwater
By William F. Buckley. Basic Books. 195 pp. . $25.95.
This is a convivial insider’s look at Barry M. Goldwater at a pivotal time in American politics. He became a candidate for president and spokesman for a conservative political philosophy. But he was more than that. He was a favorite son of his home state, Arizona. In Buckley’s words, he infused “his party with a human and humane liveliness that would endure long after his defeat” (page xi). A number of Buckley’s anecdotes and personal narratives attest to that point. Regardless of your party, this book will help you understand how we got to where we are politically. [Bill Broyles]

Foundations of New World Cultural Astronomy: a Reader with Commentary
By Anthony F. Aveni. University Press of Colorado. 826 pp. Index. $34.95.

Fragile Patterns: the Archaeology of the Western Papagueria
By Jeffrey H. Altschul, Adrianne G. Rankin. University of Arizona Press. 731 pp. . $49.95.
Top Pick
Some 42 professionals, including anthropologists, archaeologists, ethnobotanists, paleontologists, and more, contributed to this scholarly volume of 700-plus pages. Included is a 63-page bibliography, 281 figures, and 38 statistical tablrs. Missing is an index and a glossary. The Western Papagueria in this case, occupies an area south of Arizona's Gila River to the Gulf of California and west to the Colorado River and inhabited by the O'odham speakers of the area. The scholarly tome is for specialists, researchers, and students. Included are biographies of four who made major contributions to the study and archaeology of the area. In addition, all aspects of human occupation are covered from prehistoric times, such as adaptation to changing environments; material culture; trade and travel; archaeological investigations; and rock art and geoglyphs. The book concludes with a discussion on management of cultural r4sources and past, present, and future cultures of Papagueria. [Patricia Etter]

Free Flow: the Gila River in New Mexico
By Jan Haley, Carol Sinor. University of New Mexico Press. 105 pp. $27.95.
In no sense a diatribe, Free Flow's text is limited to an introduction and a preface preceding about 90 color photographs whose captions are minimalist and descriptive. Yet, as Dutch Salmon points out in the introduction, this book is a call to action for anyone who fears a future in which the free flow of the Gila River becomes becomes captured water for yet more development. [W. David Laird]

Free Ride: the Media and John McCain
By David Brock. Anchor Books. 215 pp. . $14.95.

Such irony: long before John McCain accused the media of being soft on Barack Obama, this extensively researched and highly referenced book made a similar case against John McCain.
Frequently Asked Questions About Coyotes
By Michael Rigsby. Western National Parks Association. 18 pp. $5.95.

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