I would definitely NOT recommend this book to young Chiricahua readers unless they are doing research on indoctrination literature. The author has obviously done extensive investigation of existing historical and cultural documentation on the Chiricahua Apache Tribe and the Western Apache Tribe. This has highlighted the severe lack of published information on Chiricahua world-view, philosophy, and rationale. The author has filled this gap with extrapolation from non-Indian world-view, philosophy, and rationale as well as from popular culture perceptions of what Apaches should be like. The result is that the book overall portrays Non-Apache culture as right and Apache culture as wrong. Solito is portrayed as starting out imbued with Apache culture and with hatred and with lack of understanding, and he ends up imbued with white culture and understanding and free of hatred. There is not a single character in the book who shows any development other than Solito's "whitemanization." Solito seems to encounter an extremely high proportion of helpful well-meaning white people. Only one of the Apaches is portrayed as having died at school. In the beginning of the book, a wounded character who goes out of his way to honor Apache tradition by saving Solito's life criticizes Solito saying that he will never be a warrior. The prediction, it appears, is accurate. Solito spends much of the book wracked by feelings of inadequacy. At the end of the book Solito uses his apparently superior white man techniques to subdue the person who had both saved and criticized him, and delivers him to his death. Solito return to his home to the accolades of loving supportive appreciative white people. I would highly recommend this book as a tool to imbue white people with a sense of superiority. The book shows how good research and presumably good intentions can go wrong.

I thought the book is very interesting. I am not very far in the book , but it starts off good. It is about a young boy who is in the middle of his warrior training when his tribe gets shipped out and put in a camp. I suggest that anyone who likes books about history should read this

The Last Warrior is a great story about hardships, courage and perseverance. The story begins when a young Apache boy is taken from his Arizona homeland before he can complete his warrior training. The white men try to make him act and look like someone he is not. After becoming adjusted to this new way of life, he goes to live with a quake family. One night, a burglar breaks into the house and he kills the intruder to protect his new family. After killing this white man in self-defense, he goes on the run before he is found and killed. After three long years of living in the wild, he finally makes it back to Arizona on his own. (He walked over 3 thousand miles from Pennsylvania to Arizona). He is the last of his kind and gains a new perspective of white men he did not know before. I recommend this book to anyone who is in the mood for a good story and wants to know more about this topic.

This brief little story started off as a screenplay commissioned by Clint Eastwood. However, when Eastwood decided to make the uberdark High Plains Drifter instead, Leonard's script got sold to someone else and was turned into a movie starring Charles Bronson in 1974. Leonard subsequently novelized the screenplay, which accounts for its relative brevity. The story is pretty basic and, upon reflection, typically ridiculous. The title character is an Vietnam special forces vet who just wants to lead a quiet life farming melons. An altercation with a small-time hood lands him in jail with a notorious hitman, and things get sillier from there, as the he struggles to get back to his melons and get them in on time. There's a subplot involving a relationship with a Latina union organizer who seems really smart and together, that is, until she goes along with his harebrained plans. As always, Leonard's prose passes the time, but only barely.

mr.majestyk is an ok book.its not as good as the other leonard books but its got its moments.the usual of an elmore leonard crime novel is here.good guy,bad guy,and good guy getting the girl.the ending though is good and action packed.

Mr. Majestyk, an interesting name for a vietnam vet turned Melon Picker. Actually, forget Mr. Majestyk was ever in Vietnam, it isn't that critical to the story. If you knew that Mr. Majestyk was a hunter, then his hard nose attitude would still make sense.

All of that however, is an aside. Mr. Majestyk tells the story of a man that has escaped the world of Vietnam and attempts to raise a melon crop. He hires migrant workers to bring his crop in, including the love interest of the story, Nancy. And as others have put it, the job must get done.

However, where there is a job, organized is usually not far behind in Leonard's novels. Even in the American Southwest. For Mr. Majestyk, it starts with a two bit hood named Bobby Kopas that tries to muscle in his own crew to pick the product in Majestyk's fields. With a punch and a shot gun, Majestyk drives them off and starts the whole ball rolling.

After getting arrested for assaulting Kopas, Majestyk gets involved with a prison break with a Mafia Hitman named Frank Renda. The rest of the novel centers around Renda's planned revenge against Majestyk.

I just found out this morning, after having completed the novel, that Mr. Majestyk was also a movie in 1974. I'm not certain which came first - the novel or the movie. However, Leonard wrote them both. The movie stars Charles Bronson, who I can see playing Mr. Majestyk, but I think someone like Clint Eastwood, or a larger actor would have matched my image from the novel better.

Again, I digress. I guess I'm not surprised this book is also a movie. Unlike Leonard's more recent novels, Mr. Majestyk is much more action oriented than dialogue driven. That is kind of disappointing because Leonard's dialogue is the best. However, his action in this novel is some of the crispest he has written. I kept thinking to myself that I was surprised this hadn't already been turned into a movie as so many of Leonard's other novels had been - the surprise was on me I guess.

This novel is also reminiscent of an old western. The hero (Majestyk) is pursued by the villain (Renda). The law fails, so the hero must take matters into his own hand, and ultimately, there will be a big showdown at high noon. Okay, so they don't meet in the middle of town with a pair of six shooters, but its close.

I'd recommend this novel to anyone that enjoys Leonard and is looking for something a little different from him. A lot of the internal dialogue for the characters is missing in this one, but it is a quick read that tells a good story for some unlikely heros.

Good concept, but the book is very out of date. Many of the area's finest courses are left out and the information isn't all that useful. There are no pictures and the greens fee data is meaningless. You can do much better by planning your trip using online resources.

On our recent trip to Arizona we ran across this teriffic book. What a comprehensive guide to all the courses we were interested in playing. Mr. Harper made our golfing experience hassle free. We want to recommed this book for anyone wanting to play golf in Arizona !!!!

This book is too small. It doesn't have enough in it. It is missing Phoenix hikes with children like "Hole In the Rock." There are no hikes listed for Phoenix except Camelback which is crazy. Everything is in the North and South. It would be best called "Best Hikes with Chidlren in Northern and Southern Arizona. Phoenix is curiously ommitted, and I know that there are many great hikes in Phoenix.

I am now buying more books after purchasing this book. It is too small. It doesn't have enough in it. It is missing classics in Phoenix like "Hole In the Rock." There are no hikes listed for phoenix except Camelback which is crazy. Everything is in the South or North. It would be best called "Best Hikes with Chidlren in Northern and Southern Arizona. It certainly missing Phoenix...buy another book...

you are planning on going on hikes longer than an hour or two. In fact the title should be "Hour hikes in Sedona, Arizona". My wife and I recently visited Sedona with the intent of hiking for a couple days with some short hikes and some all day opportunities. Sadly this book lists only the short hikes and incredibally fails to even mention that many of the great short walks can be extended through other adjoining trails (not mentioned). Most of the information (maps, description of trails etc..) contained in the book, and much more, can be easily obtained through the Sedona visitor center for free!

I wanted to learn more about back country hiking in Sedona. Once I read this book, I knew what I needed to know quickly. This book is very helpful in reviewing many hikes in the area, with maps as well as distance and estimated time of hike. Very good reading and the best hikes are reviewed. I would highly recommend this book for anyone visiting this area.

i felt the need to ward people away from this guidebook, i'm a local hiker, and only appreciate the book because it is so comprehensive. typically i'f i want to try a hike from this book, i will find it in another guide,and use their directions. the mileages are off, in both the hiking and driving. there are no hiking maps, only driving. Most hikes are very short, and very easy. directions are ... poor, and it's hard to stomach the author portraits on the back of the book. only buy this book if you plan on hiking EVERYTHING in flagstaff, otherwise you are buying an over comprehensive guide, when a "best of flagstaff" hikes book would show you the goods, and be far more useful. i hate this book.

We found this book to be extremely helpful as we were new to the area and weren't sure where to go. The maps were very detailed and precise. The descriptions helped us choose which hikes would be of greatest interest to us. Definitely a book to buy!

One might assume that a book titled Guide to Arizona's Wilderness Areas would include information on all such wilderness areas. That would be an incorrect assumption. Although the information in the book is good, particularly with regard to wilderness areas near the Grand Canyon, it completely skips such wilderness areas such as Mount Nutt, Wabayuma Peak, Warm Springs, Arrastra Mtn., Table Top, and Upper Burro Creek. All of these wilderness areas were established in 1990, well before the 1999 publication date. The lack of information on these wilderness areas makes one wonder how up-to-date the information in the book is.

This is a fine book describing 64 hikes throughout Arizon's wilderness areas. It has color pictures to encourage you to visit each area, and color maps to locate the trailhead and the trails. The driving & trail descriptions are detailed and (for the dozen hikes I've done) quite accurate. The areas are color-coded for reference, and each hike has a fact box for length, altitude, and difficulty so it's easy to search for a weekend destination. I was puzzled by the omision of the Pine Mountain wilderness area, and wonder if others might be missing, too. Nonetheless, if you're looking for hikes in Arizona outside the Park system, this is a gem.

This book is not really that great. It is small and incomplete, the wrong size for taking into the field, and it doesn't hold up well(spine breaks and pages fall out). You are MUCH better off using an Audubon or Peterson guide. Save your money.

In addition to its beauty, the Grand Canyon offers a snapshot of earth's history in one place. This slim, concise, well-illustrated book is a great introduction to the formation and geological history of the Grand Canyon. It is short enough to read while you are at the canyon, or on the trip there. The writing is lucid, and no geology background is needed.

I must say I'm very disappointed. It's the same old Black Legend rhetoric that I've come to expect when I read a book about Southwestern history. I must admit I'm hardly finished but, I have gotten through to the fourth chapter in which he talks specifically about Oñate. I quote:

"By performing them (formal rites) properly, don Juan meant to maintain what he perceived as a right relationship with his universe--his god, worldly lords, subordinates, and environment--and, at the same time, awe non-Christians into embracing the Spanish way. As Colonizers, few Spaniards would ever recognize that the Pueblo Indians, through their equally elaborate and symbolic rites, sought a similar harmony. But invaders always want more. Whatever they called it, conquest or pacification, they willed to dominate."

His chapter on Coronado said nothing of the lands that were mapped for the first time or Coronado and his men paving the way for Lewis and Clark only to get the short end of the stick when it comes to glory. He focused on the negitative parts of Coronados journey.

I'm going to continue reading until I finish this book. I don't know, maybe the theme will change. I doubt it.

Signed
One very disgusted Spanish girl.

John Kessell has again provided an insightful and clear overview of Spanish presence in the Southwest. The careful reader will readily notice Kessell's talent for fleshing out the important events and shifting developments during this long period of time. And as always, it is remarkably well written. Contrary to the previous reviewer's comments, Kessell's book does not espouse any semblance of 'Spanish Black Legend.' Not even implicitly. He instead presents conflicts between Spaniards and Native peoples with diplomacy and dignity. One can easily recognize Kessell's deep appreciation for the history of this region. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the history of the Spanish Colonial Southwest.

Talking Pots is a book with an aggressive scope, suggesting that the deciphering of the meanings of prehistoric pottery can be made clear in 174 pages. Of course the stated purpose is to alert ceramicists to the potentials of symbols and symbol combinations (page 18), but ceramicists already know this. The book then proceeds to provide interpretations for many bowls and provide definitions of symbols so that apparently any layman picking up the book may use it to gain an understanding of the intended messaging within the bowl. No doubt prehistoric Puebloan bowls contained symbols and complex messaging, but there is no way that outsiders to those cultures are going to be able to actually determine the intended meanings and know the interpretations are even remotely correct from this book, but the fact that no one is around to debate you makes it seem easy. This assumes, of course, that Cunckle's identification of the symbols is correct in the first place. Identifying iconography is one thing and often dubious with prehistoric icons, but understanding the iconology, the beliefs associated with the images, is a whole other matter. It is interesting to note how easily we can apparently decipher prehistoric images, the images of a culture totally unlike our own, of a culture whose language we don't know and most assuredly do not speak. And then of course Cunckle shows how easily the same rules and symbols to interpret White Mountain wares can be carried other to interpret other types of pottery from other groups such as the Mimbres - as if all Puebloan peoples conveyed information in the same manner and used the same symbols. A brief look at Hopi, Zuni, and Eastern Pueblos' works clearly shows this is not the case, that Hopi symbolism does not translate directly into Zuni such that a Zuni could look at a Hopi bowl and ever actually understand it without first knowing Hopi culture inherently. Buy the book and enjoy it for what it is, a fun read. Do not take the interpretations too seriously. Many of the whimsical and crudely drawn cartoons should alert readers to the lack of seriousness of the addressed issues.

AFTER READING THIS BOOK I FELT LIKE I COULD ALMOST READ POTS I HAVE SEEN IN MUSEUMS. THE GRAPHICS BREAK DOWN THE POT DESIGNS SO YOU CAN SEE THE INDIVIDUAL ELEMENTS. AN ELEMENT CAN BE FOUND THROUGHOUT SW ART. ONCE I WAS ABLE TO SEE THEM I BEGAN TO GET A FEEL FOR THE ARTISTS INTENTIONS. I USE THIS INFO EACH TIME I SEE A SW DESIGN.