Santa Fe Hispanic Culture: Preserving Identity in a Tourist Town Andrew Leo Lovato, 160 pages, hardcover $24.95. University of New Mexico Press, 2004. As author Andrew Leo Lovato writes, Santa Fe is not only a “city of ancient traditions” but one of “invented traditions” — in other words, it’s a true tourist town. “It is […]
Book Reviews
Posted inApril 4, 2005: Calling It Quits
Diminished Democracy: From Membership to Management in American Civic Life
Diminished Democracy: From Membership to Management in American Civic Life Theda Skocpol, 384 pages, softcover $24.95. University of Oklahoma Press, 2004. Harvard University professor Theda Skocpol wants to know where all the volunteers have gone. Americans today are less likely to join volunteer groups than at any other time in the past, and the ubiquitous […]
Posted inApril 4, 2005: Calling It Quits
Common Southwestern Native Plants: An Identification Guide
Common Southwestern Native Plants: An Identification Guide Jack L. Carter, Martha A. Carter and Donna J. Stevens, 214 pages, softcover $20. Mimbres Publishing, 2003. This user-friendly guide includes photos and descriptions of 108 woody species and 38 flowering plants found throughout the Southwest. Bonuses include a ruler for measuring leaves and flowers and an illustrated […]
Posted inMarch 21, 2005: An Empire Built on Sand
The life of an unsung Western water diplomat
Mark Twain once remarked that in the West, “whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting.” But Delphus E. Carpenter, who spearheaded the 1922 Colorado River Compact among seven states, would have disagreed twice over. Carpenter not only abstained from spirits, but believed water problems could be resolved through diplomacy instead of fisticuffs. His life […]
Posted inMarch 21, 2005: An Empire Built on Sand
Gators, dirt and hot tubs in the Cowboy State
Readers will recognize the collection of colorful characters in Proulx’s latest installment of Wyoming fictions. The 11 stories in Bad Dirt feature trailer types, Eastern transplants, local roughnecks, and eccentric elders, living in a zero-sum economy of extractive plunder that would make native son Dick Cheney giddy with pride. In “Wamsutter Wolf,” mountain man wannabe […]
Posted inMarch 21, 2005: An Empire Built on Sand
Seeds of Deception
Seeds of Deception Jeffrey M. Smith, 280 pages, softcover $17.95, hardcover $27.95. Chelsea Green Publishing, 2003. Despite the reassurances of big biotech companies that genetically modified foods are safe and healthy, Jeffrey Smith says that just isn’t so. He investigates the many things that can go wrong with “Frankenstein foods,” explaining how unintended consequences can […]
Posted inMarch 21, 2005: An Empire Built on Sand
State of the World 2005: Redefining Global Security
State of the World 2005: Redefining Global Security The Worldwatch Institute, 237 pages, softcover $18.95. W.W. Norton & Company, 2005. The Worldwatch Institute’s latest annual report offers insight into issues from nuclear weapons proliferation to renewable energy. In a chapter on water, researchers provide examples in which locals and religious organizations, as well as water […]
Posted inMarch 21, 2005: An Empire Built on Sand
UFOs Over Galisteo and Other Stories of New Mexico’s History
UFOs Over Galisteo and Other Stories of New Mexico’s History Robert J. Tórrez, 160 pages, softcover $16.95. University of New Mexico Press, 2004. A retired state historian, Tórrez creates vivid vignettes of New Mexico’s past. He enlivens his accounts of arranged marriages, water disputes and stagecoaches with historical photos and documents. The book also contains […]
Posted inMarch 7, 2005: Anarchy in the Gas Fields
Forty-four years of poetry from the Land of Enchantment
I’m engaged to New Mexico. I’ve been engaged for eighteen years. I’ve worn its ring of rainbow set with a mica shard. I’ve given my dowry already, my skin texture, my hair moisture. I’ve given New Mexico my back-East manners, my eyesight, The arches of my feet. New Mexico’s a difficult fiancé. —excerpt from “Something […]
Posted inMarch 7, 2005: Anarchy in the Gas Fields
On the dark side of the park: a ranger’s memoir
Park ranger Jordan Fisher Smith dreamed of a career in Yosemite or Grand Teton, but fate led him to California’s Auburn State Recreation Area, a place he calls “the inverse of Yellowstone.” During his 14 years as a ranger in the canyons of the American River, the long-planned Auburn Dam loomed over the place, always […]
Posted inMarch 7, 2005: Anarchy in the Gas Fields
Western Voices: 125 years of Colorado Writing
Western Voices: 125 years of Colorado Writing Edited by Steve Grinstead and Ben Fogelberg 396 pages, softcover $19.95. Fulcrum Press, 2004. Editors from the Colorado Historical Society chose the essays in this diverse collection, and they chose well. There’s Muriel Sibell Wolle describing the intense two-year lifespan of a mining town too high to endure […]
Posted inMarch 7, 2005: Anarchy in the Gas Fields
The Last Refuge: Patriotism, Politics, and the Environment in an Age of Terror
The Last Refuge: Patriotism, Politics, and the Environment in an Age of Terror David W. Orr, 172 pages, hardcover $20. Island Press, 2004. David Orr, professor of environmental studies and politics at Oberlin College, explains how our centralized, industrialized, corporate way of life makes us more vulnerable to acts of terrorism. But he offers a […]
Posted inMarch 7, 2005: Anarchy in the Gas Fields
As if We Were Grownups: A Collection of ‘Suicidal’ Political Speeches That Aren’t
As if We Were Grownups: A Collection of “Suicidal” Political Speeches That Aren’t Jeff Golden, 147 pages, softcover $12. Riverwood Books, 2004. Sick of endless political spin? Oregon writer Jeff Golden is, too. He makes the case that politicians need to treat voters like adults and tell us the difficult truth, even if it’s not […]
Posted inFebruary 21, 2005: Have Environmentalists Failed the West?
From folk singer to fierce activist — the life of Katie Lee
Among desert rats and river lovers, folk singer and activist Katie Lee is legendary. A Hollywood actress in her youth, Lee started running Southwestern rivers in her 30s and became an outspoken defender of her beloved Colorado River. She fought the damming of Glen Canyon, and celebrated its beauty and mourned its loss in All […]
Posted inFebruary 21, 2005: Have Environmentalists Failed the West?
You, too, can be in the know about California’s H2O
Mention the word “cyborg” in Sacramento, and the name of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pops immediately to mind. It’s easy to forget that the state he governs — part natural waterscape, part ingeniously engineered plumbing system — is a hydraulic cyborg that could probably kick even the Governator’s butt. One number pretty much speaks for […]
Posted inFebruary 21, 2005: Have Environmentalists Failed the West?
The Basket Maker
The Basket Maker Kate Niles 224 pages, hardcover $22.95.BR> GreyCore Press, 2004. This first novel by a college writing instructor in Durango, Colo., tells a searing story of incest and compassion from five perspectives, including the ghost of the Ute Chief Ouray. Surprisingly, the device works, and we are gripped. This article appeared in the […]
Posted inFebruary 21, 2005: Have Environmentalists Failed the West?
The Meat You Eat: Corporate Farming and the Decline of the American Diet
The Meat You Eat: Corporate Farming and the Decline of the American Diet Ken Midkiff 240 pages, softcover $23.95 St. Martin’s Press, 2004 Midkiff shows us the ugly underbelly of industrialized meat production: “Mad cow” disease scares, farm animals shot full of massive doses of hormones and antibiotics, and giant farms producing giant amounts of […]
Posted inFebruary 21, 2005: Have Environmentalists Failed the West?
Of Chiles, Cacti, and Fighting Cocks: Notes on the American West
Of Chiles, Cacti, and Fighting Cocks: Notes on the American West Frederick Turner 297 pages, softcover $16.95 Fulcrum Press, 2004 First published in 1990, this book of deft essays is back in print and as engaging as ever; it even includes some new work. Whether he’s describing cock fights, the artist Georgia O’Keeffe’s solitary ways […]
Posted inFebruary 7, 2005: The Asphalt Graveyard
Everyday objects and extraordinary journeys
The word “relic” conjures up a host of connotations, from human remains to a historic souvenir. It can denote a custom from the past, the remnants of an ancient language, or a fragment of a whole. It can represent the last of a dying species, or an indefatigable survivor. > —Jack Nisbet Northwestern writer Jack […]
Posted inFebruary 7, 2005: The Asphalt Graveyard
Forcing nomads to farm — the Utes’ sad story
In “The Utes Must Go!” Peter R. Decker explores how fear-mongering politicians and settlers suppressed the Ute bands in the 1800s