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New Mexico: A History
Since the earliest days of Spanish exploration and settlement, New Mexico has been known for lying off the beaten track. But this new history reminds readers that the world has been beating paths to New Mexico for hundreds of years, via the Camino Real, the Santa Fe Trail, several railroads, Route 66, the interstate highway system, and now the Internet.
This first complete history of New Mexico in more than thirty years begins with the prehistoric cultures of the earliest inhabitants. The authors then trace the state’s growth from the arrival of Spanish explorers and colonizers in the sixteenth century to the centennial of statehood in 2012. Most historians have made the territory’s admission to the Union in 1912 as the starting point for the state’s modernization. As this book shows, however, the transformation from frontier province to modern state began with World War II. The technological advancements of the Atomic Era, spawned during wartime, propelled New Mexico to the forefront of scientific research and pointed it toward the twenty-first century.
The authors discuss the state’s historical and cultural geography, the economics of mining and ranching, irrigation’s crucial role in agriculture, and the impact of Native political activism and tribe-owned gambling casinos. New Mexico: A History will be a vital source for anyone seeking to understand the complex interactions of the indigenous inhabitants, Spanish settlers, immigrants, and their descendants who have created New Mexico and who shape its future.
This first complete history of New Mexico in more than thirty years begins with the prehistoric cultures of the earliest inhabitants. The authors then trace the state’s growth from the arrival of Spanish explorers and colonizers in the sixteenth century to the centennial of statehood in 2012. Most historians have made the territory’s admission to the Union in 1912 as the starting point for the state’s modernization. As this book shows, however, the transformation from frontier province to modern state began with World War II. The technological advancements of the Atomic Era, spawned during wartime, propelled New Mexico to the forefront of scientific research and pointed it toward the twenty-first century.
The authors discuss the state’s historical and cultural geography, the economics of mining and ranching, irrigation’s crucial role in agriculture, and the impact of Native political activism and tribe-owned gambling casinos. New Mexico: A History will be a vital source for anyone seeking to understand the complex interactions of the indigenous inhabitants, Spanish settlers, immigrants, and their descendants who have created New Mexico and who shape its future.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published September 26, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 12, 2019
Quick Read History of Land of Enchantment
This is a well-written, very readable history of the Land of Enchantment. I read it in preparation for a visit. It does exhibit some political bias of the author. But I expect it to be useful for our visit.
This is a well-written, very readable history of the Land of Enchantment. I read it in preparation for a visit. It does exhibit some political bias of the author. But I expect it to be useful for our visit.
June 17, 2025
One More off the Fanciers’ Shelf
Reading "New Mexico: A History" felt like sitting around a fire pit with the old ones, listening close while the wind carries stories full of pain, power, and persistence. From Blackwater Draw to the birth of Statehood, the book digs deep into the layered soil of this land, unearthing a past that don't just belong in museums-it lives in us. It don't shy away from the hard truths either: Bosque Redondo haunts the pages like a sorrowful hymn, reminding us of what happens when power forgets its own humanity. And the Japanese internment camp in Santa Fe? That chapter stings too, quiet but potent, like a scar we carry just below the skin. These aren't side notes-they're central to the soul of the state. From the Santa Fe Ring's backroom deals to the Battle of Glorieta Pass that turned the tide of the Civil War out here where the mountains breathe deep, it's all laid out like a woven tapestry-raw, beautiful, and unfinished.
Motifs of survival and sacred duty keep showing up-whether it's land grants passed down like heirlooms, or the New Deal hammering hope into adobe walls when the country near gave out. Even the Manhattan Project doesn't get off easy-there's awe, sure, but also the weight of what it meant to test fire that kind of power on ground already blessed and burdened. The archetypes rise from the dust: the farmer with calloused hands who never left the land, the child translating for their abuela at town meetings, the activist pushing back against erasure, the storyteller stitching it all together with words that remember. The book makes it clear-New Mexico wasn't just shaped by conquest and compromise, but by care, by ceremony, by community folks refusing to be forgotten.
I gave it four stars because, for all its strength, it mostly circled around the big cities-Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Las Cruces. And while they got their place, it left me wishing for more light on the parts of New Mexico that live slower but just as true-Hobbs with its oilfield grit and gospel roots, Farmington holding Diné and Anglo in a delicate balance, Truth or Consequences where healing springs meet hard history, and Ruidoso nestled in the pines like a sacred hush. Those places deserve more than a footnote. Still, the book stirred something deep in me. It's not just a history-it's a homing call. It reminded me that governance and memory, land and law, past and present, they're all braided together like chile ristras on a porch-meant to be seen, shared, and respected.
Reading "New Mexico: A History" felt like sitting around a fire pit with the old ones, listening close while the wind carries stories full of pain, power, and persistence. From Blackwater Draw to the birth of Statehood, the book digs deep into the layered soil of this land, unearthing a past that don't just belong in museums-it lives in us. It don't shy away from the hard truths either: Bosque Redondo haunts the pages like a sorrowful hymn, reminding us of what happens when power forgets its own humanity. And the Japanese internment camp in Santa Fe? That chapter stings too, quiet but potent, like a scar we carry just below the skin. These aren't side notes-they're central to the soul of the state. From the Santa Fe Ring's backroom deals to the Battle of Glorieta Pass that turned the tide of the Civil War out here where the mountains breathe deep, it's all laid out like a woven tapestry-raw, beautiful, and unfinished.
Motifs of survival and sacred duty keep showing up-whether it's land grants passed down like heirlooms, or the New Deal hammering hope into adobe walls when the country near gave out. Even the Manhattan Project doesn't get off easy-there's awe, sure, but also the weight of what it meant to test fire that kind of power on ground already blessed and burdened. The archetypes rise from the dust: the farmer with calloused hands who never left the land, the child translating for their abuela at town meetings, the activist pushing back against erasure, the storyteller stitching it all together with words that remember. The book makes it clear-New Mexico wasn't just shaped by conquest and compromise, but by care, by ceremony, by community folks refusing to be forgotten.
I gave it four stars because, for all its strength, it mostly circled around the big cities-Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Las Cruces. And while they got their place, it left me wishing for more light on the parts of New Mexico that live slower but just as true-Hobbs with its oilfield grit and gospel roots, Farmington holding Diné and Anglo in a delicate balance, Truth or Consequences where healing springs meet hard history, and Ruidoso nestled in the pines like a sacred hush. Those places deserve more than a footnote. Still, the book stirred something deep in me. It's not just a history-it's a homing call. It reminded me that governance and memory, land and law, past and present, they're all braided together like chile ristras on a porch-meant to be seen, shared, and respected.
May 9, 2023
A dry history and one that didn’t include enough about natives or people who lived in the region. For a history about a supposedly “unified” racial population, despite differences, this book walks on eggshells when speaking about the darker pasts of all ethnicities. It is common knowledge that has been handed down through most Pueblo tribes that onate chopped off one hand and one foot of each acoma puebloan when they defeated one of his relatives in a battle. The book only gives an empirical account, which, conveniently, the only solid evidence of any violence on the acoma people was his sentence of 25 feet. The book presents this, but doesn’t mention the story, curiously. I’m worried about other important details that may or may not be empirical that were left out in the name of it.
November 27, 2018
The content of this book was fine. I felt like the author really started letting his own political views shine through in the last third of the book, which should not happen in a good history book. He also switched so rapidly between every topic that it made for very dry reading. If I hadn't been reading it for my daughter's history curriculum, I would have let it sit on a shelf to collect dust way before finishing it.
Don't think I will be using this one for my son when it comes time for state history.
Don't think I will be using this one for my son when it comes time for state history.
December 9, 2024
It's a decent introduction to the state's history that serves as an excellent starting point for the newcomer The structure of the chapters post-1850 became increasingly scattered and difficult to focus on. It's a good book to begin your studies with though, with a great list of suggested reading at the end. I used it to help structure a year of New Mexico history reading with a book club and ultimately ended the year with it.
October 31, 2018
REad this for a New Mexico history class. It's a nice book on New Mexico.
Read
July 10, 2022Fine for the general contours, but another one that’s spottily edited at best.
January 31, 2018
This is...exactly what it says it is, a history of New Mexico. Published to celebrate the state's 100th anniversary of being part of the union, it begins with the first known human habitation of the area and proceeds to the present day. In broad strokes: Pueblos and other tribes settle, the Spanish arrive to preach and mine, Mexico revolts, Texas invades, cattlemen and sheep-ranchers fight, rail lines bring farms and tourism, World War 2 brings a lot of military investment, Indians organize for civil rights, and the cities pursue their own individual identities: Santa Fe as the ancient and mysterious capital, Albuquerque as the progressive center of business, Las Cruces as a haven for low-income residents, and Roswell as...well, you know Roswell. If you have an interest in the state, it's an helpful book, particularly given that New Mexico is home to three cultures which have been rubbing off on one another for centuries.
June 9, 2015
"On passing El Morro (Inscription Rock), he [Governor Onate] paused long enough to leave a message for posterity. The inscription reads: 'Paso por aqui del Adelantado don Juan de Onate del descubrimiento de la mar del sur a 16 dia del Abril ano 1605' (The Adelantado don Juan de Onate passed by here from the discovery of the South Sea, on the 16th day of April 1605.' In New Mexico literature, the words paso por aqui came to represent the metaphorical idea that humanity since the beginning of time has and continues to pass by here." (42)
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews