Rating: 
Summary: A beautifully written book
Review: A new Bishop, Father Jean Marie Latour, is sent by Rome to spread Chrisitanity through new territory purchased in the Americas as part of the Gadsden Purchase. Father Latour takes with him his close friend, Father Jospeh Vaillant, to help with this cause. Latour is handsome, non-judgemental, amiable, keeps himself in check; Vaillant is his opposite, being not so pleasant of face but very very sociable and incredibly strong in faith.There isn't much of a plot for this novel. It's more of a photo album or a series of episodes about the unexplored Western United States. The reader sees what the territory of New Mexico, Arizona and Mexico were like before trains, when the desert was both a beautiful and a harsh place. And, the reader learns about the people living there, from the French Fahters sent to Chrisitanize the Indians to the Mexican and Spanish settlers to the native Indians who are untrusting of white men and still hold to their gods. And the reader sees it all through the eyes of Father Latour so we get his wonder and awe at this strange, new world into which he's been sent to spread the word of God.
Rating:
Summary: Don't worry. It gets better.
Review: After reading this book, I would not name my Great Dane Willa Cather, but I did very much enjoy her portrait of the Bishop Lamy of Santa Fe. I am sympathetic with those who say that the Bishop is a harbinger of capitalism and out-of-touch with the Indians and Mexicans, and at first I was bothered by Cather's acceptance and relative lack of bias towards all groups. Although she seemed to occasionally stereotype, for the most part she didn't seem to take sides at all. I wanted her to be more critical and judgmental! It is a rather slowly told tale, but not difficult for any level of reader. And finally near the end she begins to achieve beauty. My favorite landscape line: "Elsewhere the sky is the roof of the world; but here the earth was the floor of the sky". My favorite explanation of alone time: "It was not a solitude of atrophy, of negation, but of perpetual flowering." And finally she hints at environmental destruction and the difference in how different people treat the planet, discusses the plight of the Navajo, and calls Kit Carson, who until nearly the last page has been a gentleman and a scholar, "misguided". I was relieved. Go get 'em Willa. It may be slow going at first, but it's rewards are many especially if you are interested in history. In Stuart Udall's The Founding Fathers, you will also find some discussion of Bishop Lamy.
Rating:
Summary: A good historical novel of early New Mexico...
Review: A story about two French priests, Bishop (later the Archbishop of the title) Jean Marie Latour, and his longtime friend and colleague, Father (later Bishop) Joseph Vaillant, who take on the job of traveling to Santa Fe and Albuquerque, New Mexico, the newly acquired territory of the United States of America, to act as missionaries in that country, and the events of their lives as they meet Kit Carson and his wife and all sorts of Indians and Mexicans. Good historical but fictional account of life after the acquisition of New Mexico to the United States.
Rating:
Summary: NOT a novel of love and sacrifice
Review: Yes, it evokes the landscape--but in a telling passage, Latour looks at the mountains in the landscape and sees them as scattered buildings that look "like mountains" and in a later passage says the terrain is waiting to become a landscape. Really in touch, isn't he? And then, rather than challenge the white people who keep a slave, he secretly gives the enslaved woman a religious medal that's supposed to make feel better. This is the church as promising a good life in heaven and ignoring the very real social ills that hamper the growth of people on this earth. Finally, that yellow cathedral he builds is built on the backs of workers who have to lug that stone for him, piece by piece, in a harsh terrain of desert heat. These men are anything but sweet and simple--in fact they are the forerunners of the spread of capitalism and the forstering of racial discrimination. I would agree with all those who see this is a wonderful novel, but not for the same reasons. It's a wonderful example from a novelist who truly loves the landscape but certainly doesn't know doodly-squat about the indigenous people who live in it.
Rating: 
Summary: really helpful
Review: Does a great job summarizing and analyzing Willa Cather's book. My whole academic decathlon team is using it this year, and so far we're doing pretty well comprehending the material presented in her book. Didn't particularly enjoy the book too much, but as far as being a comprehensive study aide, this one does the trick.
Rating:
Summary: A western classic
Review: This wonderful novel from Willa Cather is loosely based on a true story. It is the tale of Father Jean Marie Latour, a Catholic Bishop from France who is sent to be the first Bishop in the newly annexed territory of New Mexico, in the late 1850s. Latour and his companion, Father Vaillant, toil over the course of many years to build and develop the church there, strengthening the faith of Mexican and Indian alike. Latour's labor of love becomes a great cathedral in Santa Fe, completed before his death, while Vaillant is sent to spend the rest of his days working among the miners at Pike's Peak and throughout Colorado.
This is a fairly simple tale of two very faithful men, whose love for their work created a legacy for each. Despite its simplicity, however, this novel approaches epic proportions, as the two men work side by side to, literally, convert the world. Over about thirty years and in an area covering thousands of square miles, these two Fathers fight almost alone to cleanse the church, purify the faith, and propagate their religion to everyone in the Diocese.
This novel is a classic in Western literature, and definitely earns its place as one of the greatest stories of the American West. It belongs in the library of any fan of Western literature, or even American literature in general.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful writing and beautiful imagery.
Review: I recently read My Antonia. This was my second novel by Willa Cather and was equally enjoyable and thought provoking. This novel beautifully illustrates how the Southwest was shaped by the Catholic Church and heroic missionaries such as the emotional and intuitive Father Valliant and the gentle and cerebral Father Latour . My youth was spent in Colorado, but nothing has taught me more about the forces (natural and human) which shaped this region than Death Comes for the Archbishop. Just as Father Latour builds his simple yellow cathedral one stone at a time, missionaries like Latour and Valliant built the Catholic Church in the Southwest one soul at a time over their lifetimes. Through this lifetime of work they became inextricably attached to the people and the landscape. This is a profoundly beautiful book and well worth reading.
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Summary: Prose Written as Beautifully As Poetry
Review: I became interested in Willa Cather after watching a C-Span segment featuring Women Authors of the American West--a program sponsored by Laura Bush. I haven't read Willa Cather since high school and remember her writing as being beautiful but uninteresting. What a pleasant surprise to pick up this book and fall in love with it. I found the descriptions of the two French missionaries, their adventures, the people they met, and the Southwestern landscape indescribably tender and evocative. I loved this book so much that I have resolved to make it part of my home library.
Rating:
Summary: A Great and Beautiful Classic
Review: Willa Cather is one of the great American writers of the 20th century, and this is perhaps her greatest book. If you have not read it since high school, give it a chance now; you will be surprised at its depth and beauty.
Rating:
Summary: THE ARCHBISOP OF NEW MEXICO
Review: TWO COMMITTED PRIESTS SERVE MEXICAN AND INDIAN SETTLERS OF THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST. FATHER'S LATOUR AND VALLIANT ARRIVE TO THE NEW MEXICO FRONTIER FROM FRANCE VIA A SHORT TOUR IN OHIO. BOTH PRIESTS ARE DEVOTED TO THEIR GOD AND TO THEIR FLOCKS. THEY SELFLESSLY SERVE THE PIOUS MEXICAN CIZENS OF THE REGION AS WELL AS THE INDIANS WHOSE HOMELANDS HAVE BEEN DISTURBED BY THE ARRIVAL OF WHITE SETTLERS. WE ARE INTRODUCED TO ALL KINDS OF CHARCTERS; AMONG THEM PRIESTS WITH PERSONAL MOTIVES RATHER THAN GODLY ONES, BRUTAL WHITE SETTLERS, POOR AND DEVOUTLY PIOUS MEXICANS, ADVENTUERERS SUCH AS KIT CARSON, NAVAJOES, AND WEALTHY LANDOWNERS. MS. CATHER BRILIANTLY DESCIBES BOTH THE HARSHNESS AND BEAUTY OF THE SURROUNDING LANDSCAPE. THE NOVEL IS ORGANIZED INTO SMALL STORIES OF THE PRIEST'S EXPERIENCES. THE THEME THROUGHOUT IS CONSISTENT AND THE HAND OF GOD IS PRESENT IN EACH CHAPTER. DEATH COMES TO THE ARCHISHOP IS UNCOMPLICATED AND EASY TO READ. THROUGH IT THE READER CAN EXPERIENCE THE TRUE SACRIFICES THAT SOME MEN MAKE FOR THE SAKE OF MANKIND.
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