Historians have long admired Ralph Emerson Twitchell's "The Leading Facts of New Mexican History," considered the first major history of the state. Put succinctly by former State Historian Robert J. Torrez, Twitchell's work (of which this is one of the first two volumes Sunstone Press is reprinting in its Southwest Heritage Series) has "become the standard by which all subsequent books on New Mexico history are measured." As Twitchell wrote in the...

"I first saw New Mexico as a kid, in 1950," the author says. "At once I fell under its hypnotic spell, as have so many others. My commitment to become a writer about things New Mexican was born shortly thereafter. From more than a half century of prowlings along the byways of the state, I've managed to glean a fair knowledge of its peoples and culture."What continues to impress me is that history in New Mexico lies so close to the surface. Here

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New Mexico Historical Biographies is an encyclopedia of the people of New Mexico-the 47th State in the Union. It is a cross-section of people who have had an influence on life-and sometimes death-in the Land of Enchantment, from the time before the first Europeans arrived around 1540 until today. There are entries for over 1,500 people in New Mexico's history. Possibly the most important book on New Mexico history since Ralph Emerson Twitchell, 100...

New Mexico's Spanish legacy has informed the cultural traditions of one of the last states to join the union for more than four hundred years, or before the alluring capital of Santa Fè was founded in 1610. The fame the region gained from artist Georgia O'Keeffe, writers Lew Wallace and D.H. Lawrence and pistolero Billy the Kid has made New Mexico an international tourist destination. But the Spanish annals also have enriched the Land of Enchantment...

Nasario García grew up in Ojo del Padre, a village in the Río Puerco Valley northwest of Albuquerque, the way rural New Mexicans had for generations. His parents built their own adobe house, raised their own food, hauled their water, and brought up their children to respect the old ways. When he was young, García's mother taught him to mend his clothes and enlisted his aid in slaughtering chickens. Here he offers detailed accounts of these and...