The Southwest: Gold, God, and Grandeur

Rating:
Summary: A STUNNING PICTORIAL CHRONOLOGY
Review: As we are reminded in this stunning pictorial chronology there is little on our shores to rival the grand beauty and dramatic history of the Southwest. Photographer George H. H. Huey illustrates the volume with contemporary photos of landscapes from Arizona, California, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, and Utah.

Presenting the stories of this region and its peoples - Indian, Hispanic and Anglo - the author begins with the Clovis people, who can be traced back some 13,000 years, and then he moves on to the Pueblo and Hopi tribes who found homes on in the mesas of Arizona.

Spanish and French missionaries and explorers also play a role in the area's rich cultural background. Among the first missionaries to pioneeer the Southwest were Eusebio Kino and Junipero Serra who traveled to California to convert the native peoples and claim land for the Spanish king. Expeditions from France were largely focused on Texas.

Perhaps most impressive of all is the recounting of William Becknell's forging of the Santa Fe Trail.

Walker brings the area to the present with nuclear research, contemporary border issues, unparalleled growth, and diminishing resources.

Both fascinating and edifying, "Gold, God & Grandeur" will be of interest to all Southwesterners.

- Gail Cooke