New Mexico's Land of Enchantment

Historically, the Southwest has attracted people with yearnings for freedom and adventure, people who define themselves as individuals. Unlike their husbands and brothers, women in the Southwest did not, for the most part, subdue and tame the land; but their character and individuality were manifested as they lived with and improved upon conditions as they found them. Their fascination with their way of life and the need for self-expression led them to write of their experiences, providing them with a creative outlet and offering those who came later a unique window into the past. “A Quilt of Words" won the Border Regional Library Association 1989 Southwest Book Award for literary excellence and enrichment of the cultural heritage of the Southwest. It was also awarded the National Federation of Press Women first prize for history in 1989.

Originally published in 1992 and available now only from UNM Press, An Illustrated History of New Mexico combines more than two hundred photographs and a concise history to create an engaging, panoramic view of New Mexico’s fascinating past. For thousands of years various cultures have filtered into New Mexico, and each has adapted to the land. New Mexico has become a cosmopolitan society of many nationalities and ethnicities, all influenced by those who came before, and all part of a distinctive New Mexican culture that thrives today. Combines more than two hundred photographs and a concise history to create an engaging, panoramic view of New Mexico’s fascinating past.

Sinclaire, a certified tour guide, and Barkan, who has a background in newspapers and art history, describe the flavor of New Mexico. Their delightful effort details the opera, Native American pueblos, Anasazi ruins, village towns, and the homes and studios of artist Georgia O'Keeffe. The authors relate history, geography, and the fascinating culture of the region. The appendixes, alone worth the price of the book, are extremely helpful, with a glossary and pronunciation guide, a calendar of pueblo events, pueblo etiquette, hiking possibilities, birding information, restaurant recommendations, tales of New Mexico, and recommended reading.

Georgia O'Keeffe, a pioneer of modern American painting, is strongly and justifiably identified with New Mexico in art, life, and legend. Georgia O’Keeffe, a pioneer of modern American painting is strong and justifiably identified to New Mexico in art, life and legend. She first traveled to New Mexico in 1917 when she was 13 years old. In 1929, she made New Mexico her permanent home and stayed there until her death in 1986.

This comprehensive view of carvings and paintings on stone by Native Americans from 200 B.C. through the nineteenth century surveys the rock art of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, northern Mexico, and west Texas, providing an incomparable visual record of Southwest Indian culture, religion, and society. Rock carvings and paintings are important sources in the archaeological and historical interpretation of Southwest Indians. Rock art reflects the cosmic and mythic orientation of the culture that produced an understanding of prehistoric peoples, both hunters and gatherers and the Hohokam, Anasazi, Mogollon, and Fremont cultures, and the Pueblo, Navajo, and Apache Indians. The illustrations--thirty-two color plates, nearly 250 photographs, and numerous line drawings--bring together in one volume petroglyphs and rock paintings that are scattered over thousands of miles of desert and mesa, giving the reader an overview of Indian rock art that would be nearly impossible to achieve in the field.

Capturing the essence of the Southwest in 1915, Oliver La Farge's Pulitzer Prize-winning first novel is an enduring American classic. At a ceremonial dance, the young, earnest silversmith Laughing Boy falls in love with Slim Girl, a beautiful but elusive "American"-educated Navajo. As they experience all of the joys and uncertainties of first love, the couple must face a changing way of life and its tragic consequences.

Mary Colter may well be the best-known unknown architect in the world: her buildings at the Grand Canyon National Park--which include the Lookout Tower, Hopi House, Bright Angel Lodge, and many others--are admired by almost five million visitors a year. In addition to creating the "National Park Service Rustic" style, as it came to be known, Colter, a contemporary of Frank Lloyd Wright, is also remembered as designer of three classic hotels: El Navajo (Gallup, NM), La Posada (Winslow, AZ), and Painted Desert Inn (Painted Desert, AZ), where Colter called on Hopi, Zuni, Navajo, and Mexican motifs. The final chapter describes the fates of many Colter buildings, including the restoration of some survivors.

From the rugged beauty of the Chihuahuan Desert to the windswept alpine heights of the Pecos Wilderness, the New Mexico Wildlife Viewing Guide will lead you to 76 premier wildlife viewing areas and will better your chances of seeing wildlife once you arrive. Included are detailed descriptions of each viewing site and its wildlife, maps and access information.

A very good reference book with over 900 pages of information on Arizona, New Mexico,and Utah.

The story of Abiquiu is a freelance writer's acute, compelling history of one of America's more endangered landscapes. The austere beauty of northern New Mexico's Piedra Lumbre basin has been seared into the American imagination by the paintings of its most famous resident, Georgia O'Keeffe. Her stark images of cow skulls and sensuous landscapes contributed greatly to the Southwest's “transition from a country of hardship and struggle to a land of mythic beauty and serenity''. The hardship was caused by the land's isolation and barrenness and complicated by a convergence of Native American, Spanish, and Anglo cultures. Dubbed “the land of war'' by the conquistadors, the area became a flashpoint for violence during centuries of expansion by Spain, Mexico, and the US. The transformation to “the good land'' accelerated with the discovery of New Mexico by Depression-era East Coast intelligentsia, O'Keeffe chief among them. Ultimately, the story of the region is the record of locals losing control of their land. Digging deeply into the history of a place, Poling-Kempes mines a rich vein of lore and myth that sadly suggests that natural majesty is no match for human folly.

This volume, brought together around the theme of how women experience the Southwest, gathers new and previously published works by such well-known writers as Barbara Kingsolver, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Leslie Marmon Silko. The nearly 100 poems and essays chronicle a variety of encounters with the Southwest, from hiking, camping, and eating to, in a sharp departure, Nancy Mairs' eloquent report on the unforgiving landscape's difficulties for the wheelchair-bound. Accounts of inner discovery take precedence over the beauty of natural vistas, but all the pieces share a feeling of awe and a sense of female empowerment.