The major complaint I have with this book is all the typos. Putting that aside, Arizona Ghost Stories was a very interesting read. Every chapter deals with a specific town or city. Garcez gives a short bio and location of the area before he launches into the ghost story itself. Most of the hauntings took place in or around a home, though there are other sites such as saloons (big surprise), a hotel, a courthouse, and a prison. The accounts were written down as though the narrators were talking themselves.The most chilling was the haunting which occurred in a rural area outside of Phoenix. Two women were on a nature hike when they met up with a couple. The four of them got acquainted with each other. They were talking among themselves when one of the women caught a naked Indian woman running across the desert. Blood seeped though her fingers as she held onto her stomach. From two hundred yards away, the people felt her intense fear as she was obviously running from something or someone. They tried to run after her, but she literally vanished. Park rangers have also spotted this ghost while they were out surveying the land.There are two haunted sites (maybe more that are not included in this book) in Yuma. The first is the Yuma Court House. It is haunted by an elderly caretaker, who gave the night watchman a good scare. The second, is the old prison, which is now an historical landmark. The most affected of that area is the Dark Cell, where several inmates went insane after several days of solitary confinement. If you enjoy true-to-life ghost stories, I think you will like this book.

I really didn't enjoy reading this book, but the plot seemed to move rather slow, and I couldn't relate to the characters. ..It was ok, but not the best I have ever read. If you want to read a book that goes straight to your heart, read Stolen Moments by Barbara Jeanne Fisher. . .It is a beautiful story of unrequited love. . .for certain the love story of the nineties. I intended to give the book a quick read, but I got so caught up in the story that I couldn't put the book down. From the very beginning, I was fully caught up in the heart-wrenching account of Julie Hunter's battle with lupus and her growing love for Don Lipton. This love, in the face of Julie's impending death, makes for a story that covers the range of human emotions. The touches of humor are great, too, they add some nice contrast and lighten things a bit when emotions are running high. I've never read a book more deserving of being published. It has rare depth. Julie's story will remind your readers that life and love are precious and not to be taken for granted. It has had an impact on me, and for that I'm grateful. Stolen Moments is written with so much sensitivity that it made me want to cry. It is a spellbinder. What terrific writing. Barbara does have an exceptional gift! This book was edited by Lupus specialist Dr. Matt Morrow too, and has the latest information on that disease. ..A perfect gift for someone who started college late in life, fell in love too late in life, is living with any illness, or trying to understand a loved one who is. . .A gift to be cherished forever.

This book will de bunk the myth about apaches being savages and uncultured criminals. The apache people were a nomadic people, and the US Government taught them more about treachery than any village elder ever could. Treaties broken , starving people forced to march to barren wastelands, all the things the US Government forced the apache to endure are here. Only then did the apache begin to fight the white man in seriousness, and then only in small numbers. It is a tribute to their tenacity and strength that they were able to avoid capture by 'three stars' Crook for so long. In particular my favorite chapters were those about noble apache chiefs like Cochise and Mangas Colorado. These were the true leaders of the apache, Geronimo was never revered as a leader until he broke off from the main tribe. I have read this book over and over, its a hard read, but worth it.

This is the only edition available of this important work in any language! It chronicles the spread of Christianity through the Borderlands of Northern Mexico and Arizona, Texas and the Californias, by members of the Franciscan order. It focuses especially on the life of Fr. Antonio Margil de Jesus. Absolutely essential reading for anyone interested in the old Spanish missions of the Borderlands. It provides a real insight into Franciscan missionary efforts in Central America, and the Southwest.

This is the classic work on Arizona Flora identification. Revised in 1970, it covers nearly 4000 species of higher plants native to Arizona. This is a highly technical work of based on descriptive taxonomy. I expect that recent advances in genetic typing will soon make works of this sort obsolete, but until such advanced techniques are widely available, this remains an invaluable handbook for the specialist working with Arizona flora. This book is difficult for the amateur to use for two reasons. First, there are essentialy no illustrations, relying instead on subtle distinctions of scientific descriptions. Lacking the necessary technical vocabulary, most amateurs will be quickly frustrated. However, the book does contain an excellent glossary (excepting the lack of illustrations) so with patience, advanced amateurs can make use of the keys. The second problem is less easily solved. Many of the key distinctions are made from plant characteristics observed at widely different times of the plant's life cycle. For example, reference to the petioles or lack thereof of the seedling's cotyledons may be made followed by references to the shape or character of the seeds or seed pods. This limits the usefulness of the key in many cases where the plant is only observed at a single point in time, generally while flowering. As an amateur wildflower observer, I generally use this as a reference to confirm or refine an identification made in the field or from photographs. My initial identification, usually to at least the family and usually the genus, is generally made with the aid of other works, such as the Peterson Field Guides, various other works specializing in desert or Arizona flowers and Ricketts 3 volumes covering the Southwest. But for all that, if you're serious about wildflower identification, then this is a book that must be part of your reference library. The included ranges and flowering times will often be enough to distinguish two similar appearing species.

This book is very good, particularly for those who enjoy the history of of dishes. The old photographs compliment the book well. The recepie for Machaca has become a family favorite of ours.

A lean, grimy re-casting of the 'Billy the Kid' myth, with a buck-toothed psychopath playing the lead black hat. Our hero, sherif Calvin Taylor (this is third in a series of four Calvin Taylor books) tries to close down the kid's criminal pastimes and maximum damage ensues.

'The Arizona Kid's' brusque and brutal prose will delight fans of the well-told tale. The desert setting leaves your mouth dust dry, the violence is vivid and squirm inducing. If McBride's stories can't bring the western back to life then someone better call an undertaker.

For a travel book this is very well organized with all the phone numbers and major costs given. Good maps and pictures. Nice commentaries also. You almost get a sense of being there just by reading little paragraphs.

This is the book for those who see Arizona as only brown - brown dirt, brown animals, brown mountains. Arizona is one of the most diverse & beautiful areas on the planet, as this book attests. Two things, though - The area code in northern Arizona is no longer 520, it is 928. And the book suggests that all of Coconino National Forest requires a fee to park - this is NOT true. The only area of the Coc that requires a parking permit anywhere is in the Sedona/Oak Creek Canyon area.