Most academic books about Natives tend to look at a single tribe at a time, completely missing the extraordinary balances struck by tribes moving through each other's lands or competing in hunting or trading. Meredith (Longhair Clan Cherokee) illustrates that, while WAR is the metaphor for human relationships in Anglo-Saxon cultures, DANCE is the metaphor for tribes on the Southern Plains. Illuminating!

Mr. Chalfont has provided a truly an outstanding and original contribution to knowledge on the Mexican War of 1846-1848. Often under reported by many authors who concentrate on the more famous actions south of the Rio Grande, the campaign to secure the Santa Fe Trail was crucially important to President Polk's wider efforts at expanding the boundaries of the United States. Presaging by decades the later Indian Wars, the Santa Fe Trail between 1846 and 1848 saw some of the first concerted efforts by the US Government to utilize its military forces in the preservation of an economic pipeline. The author has also avoided the tendency of many "specialists" to present his research as a litany of dull facts. He has opted instead to relate history as a sequence of connected narratives that succeeds in conveying the flavor of the times as well as the historical substance. Replete with excellent photos and maps, I highly recommend this book to anyone with a serious interest in this important conflict.

Defiant Peacemaker is a fantastic biography that covers the entire life of Nicholas Trist. Any one who enjoys a good biography will love this one. I find the subtitle 'Trist In The Mexican War' to be misleading. It is a true indepth bio of the life of a man who lost his father at a young age, married Thomas Jefferson's grand daughter, worked at various political appointed job which made him well known around Washington DC, also was Ambassador to Cuba. Trist is the only man in American history who single handedly ended a war. He negotiated the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo to end the Mexican War. He never held a political appointment after. A great biography details the changes of fortunes of a life, good times and bad times. Mr. Ohrt addresses these details so well, you leave this book feeling that you really know Trist and feel for his misfortunes, especially considering the contribution he made to his country, and to know his country never recognized his efforts.

This book is a treasure. Mr. Van Dyke obviously has the soul of a poet, and within his graceful prose he paints vivid and soul-stirring pictures of some of the most beautiful places on earth. He describes in fine detail observations he made on a long trip, on horseback in 1898/99, over, around, and through the lower deserts of Arizona and California. He leaves no stone unturned as he describes the magnificence and beauty of each aspect of the desert, and pulls no punches in his criticism of man's destructive intrusions. To Van Dyke, the play of light and shadow, the star-pocked night skies, the ragged and jagged ranges of mountains, the perfectly adapted plants and animals, the sometimes shifting sands, and the silent river barrier known as the Colorado are each part of the unique sum which is, in its own harsh and angular way, a paradise of color, form, and life: "The Desert."

Speaking as one who has lived on and wandered through this same desert for nearly forty years, I can attest to the accuracy of Van Dyke's physical descriptions and, perhaps more importantly, I can note that I've found here both the magic and the majesty which he so ably describes. Still, this isn't a book for everyone. Those who prefer the gleam of glass towers and the roar of jet planes to flaming sunsets and yapping coyotes, save your money. Van Dyke wrote, "Not in the spots of earth where plenty breeds indolence do we meet with the perfected type. It is in the land of adversity ... that finally emerges the highest manifestation."

He was right, and he leaves us "The Desert" as evidence.

There has been a rush on new books about desert gardening lately, but most of them don't contain the secrets required to be successful. A Desert Gardener's Companion provides practical, only-learned-through-experience knowledge. In the manner of a confidante, it relays the intimate wisdom gained from a close, day-by-day relationship with a garden in the desert climate. With ecological explanations of why things happen, the suggestive advice makes good sense. This book could only have been written by a Master Gardener with a real love for their garden and the earth.

I have this book, but it was published in 1990. In other words, I do not have the revised and updated version.

However, if this one is anything like the copy I have, it is wonderful. The full color pictures are lovely and are used to enhance the text.

Although this book doesn't tell the history of these states, it visits historic places within each state. Much of the history of these four states (NM, AZ, NV, UT) is told through the landscape and historic buildings of each state.

I have enjoyed every place that I have visited and my visits have only been enhanced by using this book as a resource in my travels.

Desert Style is a superbly presented and informative interior decorating resource characterized by a keen eye toward aesthetics in keeping with desert climate. Homes with open interiors and patios, warm and earthy tones, and a visual vibrancy are splendidly conveyed through and enhanced by the full color photography by Matthew Reier which permeate the pages this beautiful and practically written guide and reference by Mary Whitesides. Desert Style is as much fun to simply browse through as it is an invaluable resource from to draw interior design ideas and concepts.

We camped for a week in the Davis Mountains in west Texas in a section of the Chihuahuan desert last summer. This was not our first desert experience - we have hiked and camped across much of the Southwest over the last twenty years or so. This was an unplanned trip as we were headed toward southern Colorado, but we became fascinated by the Chihuahuan desert and somehow we never drove any further.

We were similarly quite lucky to find a copy of the first edition of Peggy Larson's Sierra Guidebook in a bookstore in Alpine, Texas. She presents the deserts of the American southwest (and northern Mexico) in a literate and educated fashion. She manages to discuss individual plants and animals in some detail while painting a large scale, beautiful portrait of the four major deserts of North America. Detailed ink drawings - landscape, geology, plants, and animals - are scattered throughout the narrative and add considerable value. She knows her subject and shares her knowledge in an intriguing fashion. She effectively uses scientific names of desert plants and animals interchangeably with common (but less unique) names without intimidating the reader. This is not a novel and it is quite possible to skip to selected chapters of personal interest, but I highly recommend exploring all chapters, all topics. Peggy Larson's style is really quite good.

If you are already familiar with the American deserts, you will find "The Deserts of the Southwest" a rewarding visit with an old friend. If you are somewhat new to the deserts and possibly have only sampled the deserts from a highway perspective, I suspect that after reading Peggy Larson's book you will likely change your travel plans to include a personal visit to an American desert.

This book is beginning to attract quite a bit of attention from historians, history buffs, and general readers alike. While there are a multitude of books recounting the history of the California, Santa Fe, Mormon and other historic trails, surprisingly little has been done on a little known Trail that originated in Ft. Smith, Ark., traversed southern Oklahoma, crossed the northern tip of Texas into New Mexico and Arizona and ended at the Colorado River crossing on the California-Arizona border. I predict it is the first of a flurry of studies looking at an amazing story this is largely untold.
In 1857 the War Department, eager to find an alternative route to the main California Trail that was considered risky given the mounting pressure to subdue Mormons in Utah, and the lengthy Southern Route that ran through Apache territory, commissioned a survey that resulted in the Beale Wagon Road. It was to be the first federally funded interstate road to traverse the rugged southwest desert, canyons, and rocky terrain obtained from Mexico at the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848. Edward Fitzgerald Beale, a retired Navy Lieutenant, was chosed to survey and construct a road that was to attract emigrant wagon trains and save an estimated 200 miles and thirteen days of travel. Not only was the mission unique but also his crew of 50 men traveled with a most unusual contingent of pack animals: 22 camels from the Middle East were used to carry the supplies and equipment for the expedition.
The book traces the history of the Beale Road in general terms and specifically recounts the experiences of the first emigrant wagon train to attempt the crossing in 1858. The story of what came to be known as the Rose-Baley wagon train, comprised of a group of Missouri and Iowa emigrants that met in Albuquerque, is an exciting and tragic account of an effort to arrive in California and the "land of plenty." To say the attempt was a disaster is perhaps charitable. The road was not as passable as the civic leaders in Albuquerque stated; water was much more scarce as originally thought; the so-called experienced guide was lacking in knowledge and directional aptitude; the peaceful Hualapais Indians were more hostile than advertised; and the reception encountered at the Colorado River crossing, instigated by the Mojave Indians, was deadly.
In a highly readable, narrative style Baley recounts the story and reviews its aftermath and legacy not only for the Rose-Baley emigrant party but also for the Mojave's and Beale's Wagon Road. There is an index, bibliography, appendix, extensive endnotes, and helpful maps and photos. This is a major contribution about the first emigrants attempt to traverse what was then known as the 35th paralled. Most now know it as old Route 66 and I-40. Highly recommended.

This useful guide will help you make the most of your trip. It not only explains the significance of each site but also tells the practicalities to minimize frustration and maximize the benefits of the visit. There is a useful bibliography of kids book that are great to supplement the visit. We found most of the books at park and museum gift shops. What a pleasure to visit a park and then have your child anxiously read more about what they have seen and explain something to you! What a change to have your car full of books rather than cheap plastic souvenirs. We stopped at Wal Mart and bought a "milk" crate for them all. We were doubtful when we started on this trip, as it certainly was a digression from Disneyland, but the kids loved learning and the book helped us enhance that.