I was not happy using this book. I would strongly recommend finding another source for climbing route info than this vogel dude. All of his books that I have seen are too vague to use. The pix are poor and the route descriptions lacking. Boo!

The mind does work in mysterious ways, as evidenced by this strange collection of sometimes hardly believable correspondance. Those with a hardy passion for NM history will enjoy reading a semblance of what might of been going on in DeVargas head. Alot of imagination required. Clearly good scholarship at work, though their intentions will probably be far different from yours.

I first discovered this book, when it was a required reading for folklore class I had in college. This book not only includes information about what happened in Kentucky in the past, it also includes a lot of customs of the present day. One chapter focuses on hangouts and customs of young people in Kentucky, including cruising and string racing. Montell also includes a lot of pictures. I was amazed to see some pictures of people and places from my own county. Although I prefer Montell's other books (like Ghosts Along the Cumberland) that focus on particular folk stories, this was still interesting enough for me to read.

This book provided a view into the Warm Springs Reservation, whether or not it is a realistic view remains to be seen. The "voices" the authors chose to include in the book were not the best "voices". Some of the people interviewed were newcomers to the reservation, had only lived on the reservation for a short period of time years ago, and a couple were bigots who lived in the border town. Since the authors seemed to focus a lot on educational issues and youth issues, it would make sense to include interviews of youth. None were included. Also lacking in the book were the "voices" of tribal elders and leaders. Where were they? The authors give no explanation for the lack of these "voices". I believe that they would have provided important and informative viewpoints. Perhaps if the authors had included a list of interviews they tried to obtain, I might not have such a harsh opinion of the authors and their work.

If there has ever been a demonstration for the necessity of a good editor, this is it. "Legends" seems to be a loose aggregate of a huge pile of note cards without much shape or accuracy. Every page or two I find a mistake. These mistakes are often minor (like mis-copying the name of Baron v. Egloffstein from Walace Stegner's superior "The Hundreth Meridian"), but it certainly undermines everything else the author says. Aside from that the author is rather hypocritcal - he sneers at the racist Anglos in the Southwest, but has no problem refering to Chinese owners of dry cleaners as a mafia. He complains about the waste of water in the arid Southwest, but he makes sure to play a round of golf whenever he finds a green. I find the book rather irritating, and the only thing that keeps me going is the fact that the disjointed nature of the narrative makes it of no consequence if you read the book in daily five minute increments. If you want to read about the history of the Southwest, try Wallace Stegner's books, Anne Zwinger's "Deserts of the Southwest" or "Cadillac Desert", but don't waste your time or money on this.

I've got to agree with several of the other reviews that this is a poor book about the southwest, he did seem to get facts wrong or what I have learned from over 25 years living here was wrong - the Anasasi are always refered to here as "The Acient Ones" never the "The Enemy Ancestors". I got the feeling that during his visit here people were just putting him on, he was falling for it and put it in this book. This book reminds me of "The Solace of Fierce Landscapes" by Belden Lane who was also not a desert resident, from St Lewis, but trying to write a meaningful book about the desert. You need to live in the deseret for a long, long time before it 'happens' to you, and for most people it never does. To think you are going to go on vacation and then write a meaningful book about the desert is completely missing the point. Come out and sit on a rock for ten years - then write.
An additional point to note is that a golf course is the negation of the desert.

I've explored a little southwestern desert over the 19 years I've lived in the West and believed I was learning from the book and was certainly enjoying it. I discovered an error that tipped me off to do a little research here on what I was reading. As I learn of all the other errors, the book now seems a little suspect. I'm scratching my head wondering if I should continue. I think not, even though I was truly enjoying it.

P.S. The author referred to the place where the Mormons, in search of a short route to the Pacific, chipped and dynamited their way through the redrock canyon wilderness near Escalante, Utah, approaching the Colorado River, to make room for their wagons and handcarts.

The author referred to that place as "Hole in the Wall." It should be "Hole in the Rock." Hole in the Wall is a place in Johnson County, Wyoming where Butch, Sundance and assorted outlaws used to hide from the law (the members thereafter known as "The Hole in the Rock Gang").

I don't know why they still sell it here, but this is an old edition now, and when it comes to guide books - obsolete. Go for the 8th edition which is the newest (as for this date), and which I have extensively reviewed.

A lot of the content of this book seemed familiar to me - as if I had read it before somewhere in another (superior) guide.

Generally I am a fan of the Lonely Planet series and I have bought a guide for every destination I have visited in the past few years. This book really disapointed me, mainly because it is so out of date by now. It is PAST time for a new edition (and the update available on lonelyplanet.com is scant at best). Of course with some guidebook companies refusing to write a Myanmar guide because of the political situation, what alternative do travellers really have? Nearly everyone we met on our November 2001 trip was carrying this guide, and everyone complained about it. So what to do? Go to the Internet! Although I cannot list the URLs here, I found several recent travelogues on Myanmar that were extremely helpful.

We often followed the LP's restaurant tips and found the food at these establishments barely edible. Remember LP's disclaimer "prices go up, good places go bad..."? Well, apparently many of these places have gone bad in the past 3 years since this edition was written. So, I will send my comments to LP and await the next edition. Until then, take what you read in this book with a grain of salt, and do your Internet research before you go. Happy travels.

Ms. Rickett's work is a necessary addition to the cannon of scholarly research on the subject of the Mormon Battalion. Her work is the best attempt to date at reconstructing a battalion roster. She has filled in many "gaps" that previous historical accounts have overlooked, e.g. her treatment of non-enlisted service personnel, her excellent treatment of post-war activities, and the inclusion in Appendix A of the names of men who were crossed out on the original muster-in rolls.

It is about time that I write a review of Norma Ricketts' the Mormon Battalion U.S. Army of the West 1846-1847. I bought the book when it first came forth. I found it to have many short comings, especially with depth and inadequate background of major events and it provided no new intrpretation, just continuing the old themes. Yet, since that time I have come to realize that Mrs. Ricketts' has assembled an outstanding research and resource tool. I have nearly worn out my copy from my hundreds of times in looking up information and facts. It is invaluable to any serious student of the Mormon Battalion. I recommend it to all readers, especially those who desire to write or publish anything dealing the Mormon Battalion. Even with its weaknesses and old school approach in scholarship, it is still an important asset.

As a historical geographer and recent author of a related work covering the 1846-50 period of Mormon history, I found this book to be quite illuminating -- and a great reference. It was particularly good at weaving the numerous diaries of actual members of the Mormon Battalion together into an understandable fabric. This book is the result of a lifetime of devoted research by Ms. Ricketts. While she may be faulted for her lack of military acumen and historical context, she is at her best in fathoming the emotions of these oft ignored and long forgotten volunteer Mormon soldiers who became a benevolent postwar occupational army the likes of which has seldom been seen since. This is particularly interesting in the light of their recent forcible expulsion by mobs and night riders from their homes in Nauvoo, IL. If anyone had a right to revolt against the nation by whom they had been "ethnically cleansed," these men did. Instead, they honored the country they yet loved by leaving their families at the Missouri River to suffer through countless privations in one of the longest (if not THE longest) forced infantry marches in U. S. military history -- from Council Bluffs, IA to Fort Leavenworth, KS to Santa Fe, NM to Tuscon, AZ and finally to San Diego, CA. Once arrived, rather than adding privations upon the local Californios, they set about finding ways to serve them. Today, such a unit would likely be a much honored National Guard unit. Then, they were quickly forgotten. In fact, within ten years, most of these men were forced to defend their homes and families against the very same Army of the West in which they had so loyally served. Great work, Norma!

There are some books which glorify everything a Native American ever said or did, and blame all history's woes on evil white men. Those are usually called "politically correct," because they basically tell palatable lies to people who, for political reasons, prefer them to the truth.

There are also some books which vehemently deny that a white American could ever have committed an atrocity. These are equally politically correct; their palatable lies just service a different audience.

This book falls into the latter category. Sorry, but Scott plainly ignores a vast body of evidence against Chivington. Were all the thousands of people who reported seeing children's body parts displayed as trophies in on the great conspiracy? How about the dozens of oral histories provided to the descendants of soldiers, which mesh reasonably well with those of the Cheyennes?

There are plenty of historical acts of aggression, against Native Americans or anyone else, which could be reasonably argued to have been at some level justifiable. Scott chooses not to take any of them on. By refusing to accept that ANYTHING a white guy did could possibly be evil--even killing pregnant women and keeping the fetuses as souvenirs--Scott effectively puts himself in the same boat, if the opposite end, as the misty new-age folks who refuse to believe Native Americans knew what evil was before the Europeans got here.

In 1864, when the Sand Creek massacre happened, most of the plain indian nations, including the Cheyenne nation, had already been the victims of enumerous massacres, broken treaties, invasion of remote and ancient tribal hunting grounds, mass deportation, restrictions to hunting and trapping, inhumane treatment and inhuman conditions on reservations. Mr. Scott starts his book with the massacre of a corporal, a driver and seven weakened soldiers sick with scurvy. This massacre became known as the Cottonwood Massacre. He then suggests that the nine men were massacred by Cheyenne Dog Soldiers. It is known now, that most propably southern Lakota (Oglala or Brule) were involved in this raid. These warriors had propably relatives that had also been brutally slaughtered by General Harney's troops in 1855, when he ordered his soldiers to surround and attack a peacefull mixed Oglala and Brule Lakota village by the Blue Water area in Nebraska. When this massacre was over, about one hundred women and children had been killed. This was just one of the unspeakable and enumerous massacres committed for 372 years before Sand Creek by europeans and caucasian americans against native americans, since Colmubus landed in October 21,1492. It is true that the Cheyenne, the Comanche, the Kiowa and many other plain indian nations sometimes killed, scalped and mutilated white people, raped white women, and ocasionally also killed white children, as Spanish, Portuguese, British, French, Russian and later American soldiers indiscriminately and repeatedely massacred, murdered, dismenbered, scalped,raped, deported, robbed and kidnaped more than two hundred million men, women and children native americans between October 1492 and December 1890. In 1864, the Cheyenne nations ancestral hunting grounds were being invaded. The Cheyenne were a nomadic,spiritual and warlike society, clashing with a sedentary agrarian caucasian society wich showed no respect for the natural enviroment around them, for the values and spirituality of the resident indian nations, while most of the time treating native americans as wild beasts. Mr. Scott reveals himself as a able researcher when it comes to present a report of the unfortunated settlers, trappers and soldiers killed by Cheyenne warriors in eastern Colorado, western Kansas and Southern Nebraska, but he did not care to present a list of the thousands of men, women and children Navajo, Apache , Blackfeet, Comanche, Kiowa, Lakota, Dakota, Nakota, Arapaho and Cheyenne killed approximately between 1780 and 1890. Mr. Scott, in this book, did not show to have any knowledge about the indian nation he is talking about. He wrote that chief Bull Bear, one of the four council chiefs of the Dog Soldier cheyenne died in Sand Creek, when any respected american historian such as George Bird Grinnel, Alvin M. Josephy Jr.,John Moore, William Chalfant and others, all know and have written that Chief Bull Bear was still leading Cheyenne Dog Soldier war parties in the early 1870s. He also refers that Roman Nose was a Chief and a Dog Soldier Cheyenne. In fact Roman Nose was a Northern Cheyenne, of the Omeheshes Cheyenne tribe and was only a proeminent warrior. He also suggets twice through obscure reports from soldiers present at the Sand Creek massacre, that probably 450 Cheyenne warriors were killed in Sand Creek. In 1864, the whole population of the Cheyenne nation was about 3600 people, including no more than 1000 able warriors, of wich probably half were in the north with the Omeheshes Cheyenne and the northern Sutaeo Cheyenne. So, it means, that according to Mr. Scott, the whole Southern Cheyenne male population was killed in Sand Creek. How come Mr. Scott at the end of the book refers that seven hundred southern Cheyenne Dog Soldier warriors participated in the battle of Beecher Island? Maybe someday we will have Mr. Scott writing a book entitled "Sand Creek 1864, the great Cheyenne Baby Boom". Then, Mr. Scott will eventually announce that for almost two hundred years the American Government had been hiding from the American Public that the Cheyenne population in 1864 was probably about fifty thousand people, including ten thousand warriors. Afterwards, he will most probably suggest that Genereal Lee was considering giving half of his weaponry to the Cheyenne nation, so they could invade Saint louis, Chigago and Tacoma Washington, because he keeps refering that the Confederates were turning the Cheyenne and other plain indian tribes against the Union in 1864. The whole book reveals that Mr. Scott did not care about doing any serious research about the Cheyenne nation or the Sand Creek massacre. He even suggests that almost no women or children had been killed in Sand Creek, when recognized and respected caucasian american historians like Dee Brown, Alvin Josephy, George Bird Grinnel and others have always given us the straight picture about the horrors that were commited against the Cheyenne Heviksnipahis and the Cheyenne Hisiometaneo at Sand Creek. Is Mr. Scott trying to call us all stupid? Everything in this book has something evil about it, as the massacre itself. Even the photo of chief Black Kettle was deformed to make him look like a demon, when compared with the original photo, that shows us the face of a kind and handsome man. It is a dangerous book for the people that never had the chance to do any research about native americans. Mr. Scott has the ability to start slowly portraying the Cheyenne people as a bunch of bloodthirsty savages, but maybe that is as far as he can get about native americans. This book is a shame, it is an indecent and racist attempt to cover one of the most horrendous act of war commited by the american army against native americans. Mr Scott uses obscure reports from soldiers present at Sand Creek, to finnaly have the demerit of suggesting that almost no Cheyenne children or women were assassinated in Sand Creek. You might expect me to teel you not to read this book, but on the contrary I will advise you to buy it and read it, to offer it to your family and friends and ask them to read it, because we all have in our hearts that angel that alaways let us know what is a lie and what is true, what is wrong and what is right. After all the suffering they endured, the Cheyenne American did not deserve to have to be the witnesses of such an aberrant book.

Blood at Sand Creek by Bob Scott tells the story of the Sand Creek Massacre (and the events leading up to and following it)through a non-politically correct viewpoint. The author doesn't try to portray the Plains Indians (Cheyennes in particular)as savages or "noble red men." He also doesn't absolve whites of guilt in the Indian Wars. In fact, neither side comes off very positively. Instead, Mr.Scott gives a balanced view through both Indian and white accounts, which are frequently quite different. His goal is to perhaps clear John Chivington of some of the enormous blame that has been laid on his shoulders. Scott acknowledges that the Cheyennes, Arapahos, Kiowas, and other Plains Indians were indeed hostile and committed numerous and terrible acts of torture, murder, rape, and theft and the fact that the U.S. Army could be quite brutal when dealing with the Indians. He supports his view that Black Kettle and his Cheyenne were indeed at least somewhat hostile and that Chivington was not the psychotic murderer that he is believed to be The author uses considerable evidence, with numerous accounts from both sides. Much of the incriminating evidence against Chivington is indeed questionable. (i.e. Jim Beckwourth was actually a murderer, horse thief, and prolific liar-not the hero he is made out to be.)It is true that there are numerous accounts of babies being butchered, genitalia taken as souviners, etc. However, none of these are documented in a manner that is historically acceptable. Unfortunately for revisionist "historians", as appealing as these stories may seem, historical sources need to be documented in a detailed manner. Oral history may sound good and can certainly be accurate, but it must be used carefully. Mr. Scott realizes that these accounts can be misleading or false. All in all, Scott's thesis is convincing and tears away the politically-correct nonsense about helpless women and children being slaughtered at Sand Creek. However, it will never be a popular idea. The history found in modern textbooks is very politically correct. The winners don't always write the history. The idea of Indians as killers and rapists is distasteful to modern readers and historians. The Indians Wars were a very complex series of cultural conflicts-the primitive nomads vs. the modern might of the whites. There were no bad guys or good guys, just two very different cultures colliding in violent wars where there could only be one winner. Mr. Scott is able to present a balanced account with no bad guys-there will always be plenty of misdeeds and glory for both sides.

It's the best I've found for true SW style homeplans, but many of the plans are not SW -- just houses with tile roofs. They're all 2,000 sq. ft & up, many twice that size, which puts them out of reach for me (too expensive to build)

Although the book does have a few Pueblo-style plans like those featured on the front and back cover, very little of the book is devoted to them. Most of the houses it contains are what I would term as fairly traditional, nonsouthwestern houses; their tile roofs seem to be the basis for their inclusion. I have yet to find a good collection or two of southwestern plans. Most of the floor plans were unappealing to me as well.

However I just wished there had been more real life photos instead of the monochrome sketches to help actually visualize what the house would look like after construction. Definitely useful for someone planning to build adobe style.

This book is too dry for such a fascinating, larger-than-life Apache woman. Try Ghost Warrior by Lucia St.Clair Robson instead - a much more intersting story that does justice to Lozen.

Historical fiction from a white male Arizona State University Professor. He makes up a biography of the Story of Lozen, Apache Warrior and Shaman.

This book, though rather dry at times, is still a fascinating account of a forgotten warrior. Detailing the life of Lozen is a worthy endeavor (though it's been done before in another book called "Lozen: Apache Woman Warrior" - which is also worth reading by the way.) I found this book to be well worth reading, as well - it's one of those history explorations that seem to take you back to the time and place of it's account, and spark your imagination to what the life of the people of that time might have been like. I hope more people read this book so that Lozen's name is not forgotten (as so many great, historical women in other cultures are) I would love it if one day her name were as recognizable as Geronimo or Crazy Horse. Maybe this book will help with that - who knows!