Behind the Mountains

by Oliver La Farge

With the powerful simplicity that characterizes the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Laughing Boy, Oliver La Farge depicts the colorful and true accounts of the enchanting life of his wife Consuelo Baca and her family on a sprawling sheep ranch in the 1920's. Set in a valley nestled in the mountains of Northern New Mexico, Behind the Mountains is full of lively and poignant anecdotes about the Baca household, the village people, and a New-world Spanish style of life that was ended by the Depression and the encroachment of the outside world.

Genres: Nonfiction

185 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1951

About the author

Oliver Hazard Perry La Farge was an American writer and anthropologist, perhaps best known for his 1930 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Laughing Boy. Named for his father, Oliver H.P. Lafarge, he is the grandson of the artist and stained-glass pioneer John La Farge, nephew of the noted Beaux-Arts architect Christopher LaFarge and the father of the folk singer and painter Peter La Farge.

La Farge's short stories were published in The New Yorker and Esquire magazines. His more notable works, fiction and non-fiction, focus on Native American culture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_L...

Reviews

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice way to see what things were like in the Rociada, NM area in the early part of the 20th century.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short essays focused on a remote Hispanic village in the Northern New Mexico mountains. I found the stories interesting because I have traveled in the area and have some knowledge of the culture.

[Wayne Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Especially poignant now that the US Forest Service has completely destroyed the area with one of they un"controlled" burns.

[Lynda Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Will buy for Anouk. I read Sherri’s copy.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having just come back from New Mexico I really enjoyed this autobiographical book about the family that La Farge married into, a family that lived in the ranges of New Mexico for many generations. The Bacas ran a large ranch, employing local families, until the death of the patriarch and the depression forced them to sell and move into the city. This is really a tale of a lost time, when there was little migration within the community, little communication - phones and autos just replacing horses, donkeys and walking. Seems long ago. Class differences and conflicts ignored in the telling - as this is how the family really saw themselves.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting stories about life in Rociada, NM, in the early 1900s, made more interesting by the fact that the central characters are relatives of my husband. The author paints vivid pictures of life in the Old West as it is giving way to the modern era.

[Rick Muir · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a slow and meandering book of several cultures in early 1900's New Mexico basically stating that happiness resides in close families and family traditions. I liked it very much.

[Madeleine Marie Wolfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

delightful! and in New Mexico!