Foremost are the photographs. I would call Annerino's canyon portraits the best of a really good lot, even over big-time large-format photographers. While the large-format works are stunning artistic studies of light and color shot with impossibly huge f-stops, Annerino's canyon photographs give expression to the phrase "wearing one's heart on the sleeve." His photos have an active passion that others lack. Anyone who knows him will say he is among the "hardmen' to tackle the Southwestern mountains and canyons, but that he is definitely the most sincere in his passion for place. Perhaps, because of this he lacks a calculated commercial view of the places he photographs. His images also record his own passion, creating compelling and unique photographs. More than any other contemporary outdoor photographer, Annerino's photos mirror his love of the land's people. In the text, Annerino portrays canyonlands people as part of what makes the places special. He has a deep affection for past and present native peoples, but unlike some Anglo North Americans, Annerino isn't a lost 20th century soul. Rather, he seems to have a straightfoward and genuine admiration for native people, and has learned a great deal about them. His research on each canyon's history is impressive. Annerino writes with an immensity commensurate with his subject. His style is old-fashioned, evoking an older, more grandiose era of writing of explorers like Powell and Pattie. While many modern writers seem bent on infusing themselves into as much of the story as possible, Annerino's style is not so full of himself as full of the intensity of his canyon experiences...Annerino is at his best when he writes about Mexico, especially the Big Bend passage where he talks about the injustices served the Mexican across the river at the hands of our national park there. An optimist who sees great things in the canyons, Annerino neither ignores nor dwells on the obvious problems facing the West like pollution and development. And fortunately, CANYONS OF THE SOUTHWEST is not a treasure map guidebook to these areas. -Desert Skies

John Annerino's pictorial celebration of the canyons of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico is a handsome momento for those who have heard the wind whistling in these haunting canyons, and a beckoning invitation for those who have not yet made the journey. Annerino has spent much of his adult life exploring this territory -- as a wilderness runner, adventurer, and photojournalist -- and here combines his firsthand knowledge with his expertise as a nature photographer and author to create an intimate portrait of some of the most dramatic landscapes in the world. Scores of stunning full-color photographs make plain the basis for the region's appeal. From the centuries-old Anasazi ruins to the breathtaking buttes of Monument Valley, from the Narrows of Zion National Park to the barrancas (canyons) of the frontier of Mexico, CANYONS OF THE SOUTHWEST is a memorable record of one of the earth's most spectacular bioregions.

Everyone knows about the Grand Canyon, but what many of us don't know is that the Southwest is laced with canyons less traveled but no less spectacular. Lucky for us, Annerino spills a few secrets in this book, describing in words and fine photographs such places...an encticement to visit or revisit, in person, this stunning terrain. -Outside Magazine

Dean Porter and his gifted associates have skillfully authored not only the best book ever written about the "Taos School of Art", but the most interesting and educational. Why is their book different? They departed from the standard biographical information generally available everywhere and continually repeated by other authors in every new book and took the time to bring into focus the collectors and art buyers who made it possible for the artists to make a living at their chosen profession. The many stories, glimpes, and setches of both the artists and collectors make this book most interesting and readable. There are also many new paintings never before shown in other books about this group of artist. There is also a art exhibit that compliments the book. This is a must read and must see for those who love and collect the "Taos School of Art". Like a fine red wine, you wish in your heart you could drink on forever.

While the literature on American art history has grown enormously during the last several decades, that devoted to patronage remains very scarce, usually directed toward single supporters such as Luman Reed and Mrs. Jack Gardner. Taos Artists and Their Patrons is probably the finest study to appear devoted to a single school of painting, that which arose in Taos in New Mexico at the end of the nineteenth century. The authors have thoroughly investigated all aspects of patronage--exhibitions, individual advocates, institutional support, and many other forms. At the same time, they have presented what must be the finest study of the work of the artists active in Taos, embellished by a wealth of marvellous images, beautifully reporduced. The book enjoys three major accomplishments: it is a definitive study of the nature of American art patronage; it is a thorough review of one of the most important regional schools of art in this country; and it's a fabulous read!

Excellent book showing a great deal of beautiful art from the Taos artists at the beginning of the century. The book does and excellent job of telling the history behind each painting. The book is also very inspirational to artists. I suggest this book to anyone interested in art, anyone who is an artist, or people interested in art history.

There is no way to give proper tribute to these amazing books in 1,000 words or less. They are must read books for any teenager who wanted to know how to fight evil with good and know how great our God is. With a quoted word from scripture, demons flee in terror. The difference in power between he who lives in this world and He who lives in me is astronomical. Of Christian non fiction out there, this series is one of three I took the time to read, buy, and recommend. Bill Myers is a fanomonal writer. He's right up there with C.S. Lewis. My only question is: who is Z?

hi, this is an awesome book for anyone of all ages and religous backgrounds. i own the entire series and love them all. they're very inspirational and remind me of how powerful the Lord is when i have a problem. has anyone heard anything about another book(#11)?? if so let me know. thanks

This is an awesome series for any Christian teen, and anyone else who wants to read it! It really shows the power of God and how He gives Christians authority over demons, etc. This series can really build your faith! Except the last book made you think another one was coming... what about #11? I hope there is more to come! =)

Little has a unique ability to draw the reader right into the setting, the character and the emotion of the story. I could see the beautiful New Mexico landscape. I could feel Kendall's worries and heartache. This story is both informative and moving - and shows deep respect for the culture of the Acoma.

This book just WON the SOUTHWEST BOOK AWARD! I am so glad ENCHANTED RUNNER won this recognition because it truly deserves it. This book is very emotionally moving, as well as having exciting, dangerous action. The setting is stunning and I loved reading about the Snake Clan and the powerful, magical runners. What a special book! I'm going to use this book in my classroom. I've never read anything else quite like it.

I'm 41-years-old and normally would not read a book targeted for the 9 to 12-year-old age group. But after reading Ms. Liitle's first book, BREAKAWAY, there was no way I'd pass up her second book. And I wasn't disappointed. ENCHANTED RUNNER was awesome! The research that went into the story is probably more than found in most adult novels. I was blown away by what I learned about the Acoma Culture and the Snake Clan. Visiting Sky City is now on my life's list of things to do. Parents: Do yourselves a favor. Buy this book. Read it, then share it with your kids. Ms Little: Thank you for pouring your soul into the story. I look forward to your next effort and hope there is a sequel to ENCHANTED RUNNER!

Native American mythology has always interested me, particularly the coyote archetype. I was pleased that the narrative of The Memory Keeper stayed true to a particular myth, in many ways the characters reenacting certain aspects of the myth. Throughout the story, many of the characters seemed to be responding to the superficiality of contemporary life. It was also interesting that many of the characters were artists. Joseph Campbell once made the remark that psychologists were the modern day version of priests, while artists were the shamans-the artist always seeking to step outside, to question. It is through the work of the artist, such as Jesse (the protagonist of this book) that we find ourselves redirected back to mythology, to the world beyond appearance. This story illustrates this well even through its minor characters, such as the winos in the supermarket who were, in reality, sources of great wisdom. Even Tiffany's character interested me because her shallowness seemed forced, an armor she wore to shield herself from the pain of experience. The author's attraction to myth, as well as to Native American culture, reminded me of the work of José Bedia, a Cuban artist who has spent time among the Navajo.

Many of us are caught in the bind of being tagged with a cultural identity at birth and go through life feeling separated from people of different cultures. Jesse's march into seemingly altogether different cultures, even at the risk of being ostracized (which is reflected in her artwork of discarded objects and shattered mirrors), revealed her deep-rooted desire to break through cultural and racial differences and to find something that bonds everyone together-her identity no longer something that was given to her as much as it was earned. The Memory Keeper is very good.

The Memory Keeper is a fun, exhilarating book that's full of history and life's lessons. It will leave you turning each page saying "Oh my gosh. I can't believe this is happening!" If you want a suspenseful, yet kind-hearted book, read The Memory Keeper.

The Memory Keeper was well written and easy to read. The author captured my attention quickly and painted a vivid picture of the characters and their surroundings. It would make a great movie. It is a story everyone can relate to. It made me realize how little I know about my own family background and how important it is to share with my children. I'm looking forward to giving this book to my family and friends for the holidays.

Memory -- its presence and its absence, its wonder and its terror, its helpfulness and its harm -- weaves its way through Laura Hendrie's REMEMBER ME like a minor-key musical leitmotif. Rose Devonic, lifelong resident of tiny Queduro, New Mexico, struggles against the memories of the townspeople; the failing memory of her sometime-nemesis, Alice Pinkston; the bittersweet memory of a family killed in a car accident when Rose was just 16.

This is a novel about belonging and difference, remembering and forgetting, acceptance and rejection. Hendrie makes you care about Rose, seeing the world through her slightly offbeat, but clear and decisive eyes.

I opened REMEMBER ME at bedtime and turned the last page at 5:00 AM. I couldn't rest without knowing how Rose's life turned out.

Read this book. Now.

It is a rare find to read a book that is able to capture and develop the nuances of human emotion in its characters. Laura Hendrie's Remember Me is full of brilliant, vivid characters who all have an inescapable connect with one another. Hendrie has presented these characters and their complex relationships with such grace, intensity and passion as I have never read before in a novel. This book is a must read! I cannot wait for her next!

What remains sacred when everything is for sale? What happens to a tightly-knit community when heritage is traded for an illusory economic security?

Laura Hendrie sets "Remember Me" in the forgotten New Mexico town of Queduro. The residents, once miners and shepherds, now rely on tourists for economic survival. Queduro is the most isolated of mountain towns, cut off from the rest of the world in October through May by impassible snows. The town has long spent its winters bent to embroidery, but only in recent years has the outside world developed a taste for their intricately worked crafts.

Into this picture of a town struggling to create and maintain the perfect tourist enviroment are set some fairly eccentric characters. Rose Devonic, a twenty-nine year old woman who's been an orphan for the last thirteen years, is in Queduro because it's the only home she's ever known. Rose is as stubborn as she is strong, and she's determined to chart her own course in spite of the town elder's wanting her to spout the tourist line. Already teetering on the far edge of acceptance, Rose crosses the invisible line when she challenges Alice, the sister of a local motel owner, who has returned to this town she'd rather forget to sell her brother's business.

Queduro residents, sharply attuned to the business damage eccentrics could wreak, have had it with Rose. Alice presents a different, but fully equal challenge. Though she comes across as a strong and determined seventy-year-old, her mind has started to wander. It is only a matter of time before the town begins to turn on her as well.

Laura Hendrie crafts an incredibly lovely and moving tale in this first novel. Though set in the west, her themes are universal. Rose's loss of her home is paralleled by Alice's struggle to hold on to her memory. It's a conflict which unites some very unlikely allies.

It would be easy, and unfair, to characterize this work as a book which would appeal only to women. The main characters are women, but the issues raised by this work cross gender lines as easily as they do geographic ones. It is a book that looks at what makes a hero, and how does one make a home. It seems, in Hendrie's vision, home has very little to do with physical grandeur, and a whole lot to do with what you love.

This is a wonderful story, beautifully told, and a total immersion experience that should not be missed.

This book was a pleasure to read. The prose is right on, the characters are people you'd like to hang out with, and the evocation of the small, dusty towns of northern New Mexico puts you right there.

Summer Wood's book, Arroyo, tells a sublimely beautiful tale. The insight Ms. Wood has into humanity is profound; her characters are believable; attention to detail is exraordinary; and the humor that pervades this story is magical. As I read Arroyo, I felt as though my heart was being filled with love.

In my opinion, one of the most important jobs an author has is to bring a satisfactory conclusion to all of the story lines that take place in their book, and Ms. Wood wraps things up perfectly. Upon finishing this story, my eyes filled with tears, and for thirty minutes all I was capable of doing was sit in my chair reflecting on the beauty of what I had just read. It was two weeks before I could even think of reading another book because I wanted to hold onto the feeling Arroyo left me with.

Do yourself a favor and treat yourself to this book. You will be hard pressed to find a more uplifting experience, and it is likely that you will walk away from Summer Wood's Arroyo with a new found joy in your heart.

I loved this book. The characters are so well drawn that they truly came alive for me. The story is both tender and tough, quiet and explosive. I was sorry when I came to the end. This book will live in my heart for a long, long time.

Incredible story of how a relatively disorganised bunch of gold hungry Spaniards on the edge of the empire and with nothing to lose managed to successfully invade a country with great wealth, an established dynasty, and vastly greater military strength. Poorly written, in as much as Diaz blandly reports some amazing events and characters, but the content is enough to get you through (even if it takes a few sittings).

Also raises the perplexing issue of how far they were actually doing work that extended God's kingdom, despite their greed. They threw down idols and brought knowledge of Christ. They did some other things too...

The Conquest of New Spain, by Bernal Diaz is perhaps the best telling of the events that followed the untimely arrival of Hernan Cortez and his band of Conquistadors in Mexico. Diaz himself was one of those conquistadors, and although his takes on what happened are not without bias, they are nevertheless very informative. When you finish reading this book you will have a near perfect understanding of what happened to the Aztec Empire in Mexico.
This book gets the highest recommendation possible.

I bought this book while on vacation in Oaxaca. A friend of mine had told me to read it before I went there, and I now know why.

In Oaxaca, I was struck by the beautiful old churches, some dating from the 1500s, that seem to be every other block. As a Catholic, I am used to blood with my Jesus and my saints, but these churches were overwhelmed by it. Along with the red paint though, was the gilt, representing the riches that lured the Conquistadores to the New World.

Diaz's account is thorough, and detached, given the gore, the wars, and the grand and terrible horrors and majesties that he encountered as a captain for Cortes. This quest for gold becomes a war between Christian soldiers and (sometimes) peaceful cannibals, between noble savages and savage nobles, between the old world and this old new world, between ways of living very differently lived.

Diaz is not a historian. He is an excellent reporter. His report is incredible, and true, which makes it even more incredible.

His eyewitness accounts of the temples stacked with torsos, red to the ceilings with blood - the grandeur of Mexico City - listening to captured friends being sacrificed to the gods - Cortes' cynical manipulation of tribal conflicts - to me explain much about the "modern" Mexico.

River of Souls is a fast paced story of the American west, that is full of historical nuggets. The characters are colorful and rich. The author does a great job of weaving the lives of his characters into the fabric of the events of the times. The author vividly shows the landscape, freedom and harsh justice of that era. It's a good, fun read.

River of Souls has a great combination of historical facts and fictional characters. The plot is solid and the story moves quickly. The dialog is little hard to follow at first , but is acurate and fun. The main charcters are brought to vivd life and you find yourself caring deeply about what happens to them. The author hooks you in to wanting more at the end by not tying up all the lose ends. Will Pete and the girl fall in love? Will Black Hess arise to take his revenge on the family that has defeated him twice? If you want to escape for a while and learn about the early South West, read River of Souls!

River of Souls transports the reader into the real southwest and uses this as a backdrop for exploring coming of age issues in a turbulent time. None of the western stereotypes exist, so when the reader connects with tangential facts and events, it seems all the more real and satisfying. The historical reality combined with the interpersonal intensity of the characters make this a surprisingly enjoyable read.

HOW RED SKY AT MORING IS NOT THE CATCHER IN THE RYE, AND HOW TO READ THIS BOOK IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO READ IT FOR A CLASS:

The back cover of this addition compares Red Sky At Morning to The Catcher In The Rye. But there are few similarities that I can draw between the two books. Two struggling teenage boys, yes, but totally different personalities.

Catcher In The Rye - In short, Holden cracked. His brother died and Holden had so many emotional problems that he ended up in a mental hospital. (It's hard to catch but in last chapter Holden makes reference to "psychoanalyst guys." The entire story is not being told to the reader, but to a psychiatrist).

Red Sky At Morning - Josh is composed and has control over emotions. He is able to take charge of things and responsibility for other people, such as his mother. He narrates the book in a way that lets the reader understand that he has control. Things are said bluntly and firmly, he doesn't question anything.

Josh has control, Holden does not.

Being from the Southwest would probably help the reader's interest. There are some parts of the culture that could be new to the reader, (just as they are to from-Alabama-Josh). This isn't a standard required reading assignment for people who don't live in New Mexico just for that reason.

But for those of you who don't a) have to read it for a class or b) aren't comparing it to The Catcher In The Rye, it is a funny, touching book, with a little bit of a Southwestern twist. Setting is everything in this story, and it brings an atmosphere that can either captivate or discourage a new reader.

My opinion: give it a try, try to read with an open mind, and don't analyze too much.

It's funny; I've read this book at least 10 times and I see from the reviews here that lots of people have seen fit to revisit Red Sky at Morning.

I, too, grew up in the "real" Sagrado. In fact, Bradford's son and I were briefly acquainted as teenagers. I think the book is more autobiographical than Bradford would like to admit; my aunt has said that almost all of the teenaged characters were recognizable as actual people at the local high school at that time--especially Chango.

Any time I'm homesick, all I have to do is reread the book and I'm right back home again. I'm glad that so many people from so many walks of life have enjoyed it as much as I have. It totally captures, very affectionately, all of the GOOD things about Northern New Mexico--things you wish would stay the same forever.

It's like Catcher in the Rye, but it's warmer. It lovingly represents the wholly unique people of Northern New Mexico, who are unlike people anywhere else in the world. But it also reflects human nature and adaptation through scenes of humor, pain, the clashing and meshing of cultures, and the inevitable unwelcome changes that come with the passage of time. Red Sky at Morning bears witness to the coming of age of Joshua Arnold--the futile battle to remain young and untouched by the uglier side of the world, the bittersweet and inevitable transformation of boy to man. It was originally an allegory, I believe, parelleling Josh's growing pains with those of a post-war America. Ironically, it is now an allegory for what has become of the "real" Corazon, Sagrado--full of bittersweet memories--the end of an old road and the beginning of newer, less innocent one.

Just beware: you won't be able to put it down and you WILL read it again and again. It really is that good.

It has been so long since I've had time to read anything fictional. There's not a lot of time in a middle-aged guy's day to spend on fluff like that. Then I ran across this book at an estate sale my wife was dragging me through one day (I collect books but rarely read them) and the short exerpt of Mr. Arnold's admonition to Josh to take care of his mother while he was away on the cover leaf caught my eye. Throughout the book there is a frankness between Josh and his father that I strive for with my son ... sometimes successfully. Mr. Arnold had come to the conclusion that he has brought into the world an intelligent young man and he treats Josh just that way. If more fathers would have a relationship like this with their kids most of this country's problems would disappear in less than a decade! This book is worth more than its weight in 24k GOLD. It will always be one of my most cherished garage sale finds. (Its the fifth printing version of the 1968 release)

Josh, himself, is a smart kid. Perhaps it's because his author is pretty sharp himself as youthful ignorance seems to be missing in much of Josh's observations and narration. Nevertheless, this story takes me back so smoothly, successfully and with such wonderful dead-pan humor that I made time for it almost every night before my eyes slammed shut until I'd read the whole thing. Now I ache for my kids to add this book to their reading experience. Once I read with incredulity of that Southern delicacy called Coca-Cola ham I was hooked and laughed my way through the rest of the book. I fervently hope my kids will too.

My wife is Mexican-American. I was always jealous of the kids that could speak Spanish in school and thus maintain their privacy in a crowd. That makes our kids half Mexican and our son speaks it regularly with his abuela. Our daughter, welllll... I delved into my Spanish/English dictionary, and my wife's knowledge, many times throughout this book because it thrills me to learn what I can of this language in an everyday setting. This being the case, it makes this book doubly good for those who have an interest (if you don't you ought to) in our country's "second" language. Even though many of the phrases may be from a era strange to us now it opens a wonderful and accurate picture into the Hispanic community in a much simpler time. This book will help those of us outside the Hipanic community understand the pride that comes from being born into it and the distinct priviledge of being welcomed into it.