What Men Call Treasure

by David Schweidel, Robert Boswell

In 1937, Doc Noss—part-adventurer, part-conman—and his wife Babe discovered fabulous treasure inside the caverns of New Mexico’s Victorio Peak. They dynamited the tunnel to hide the treasure from other treasure hunters. At least that’s what they said happened. Babe’s grandson Terry Delonas grew up listening to his grandmother’s magical stories about her dead husband and Victorio Peak. Her stories were his legacy. In the 1980s, Terry, a gay man, tested positive for HIV. He decided that searching for Victorio’s lost treasure was the only dream that would give his life meaning. With his grandmother’s grit and her gift for talking her way through tough places, he found money and support to follow his dream and overcome many obstacles—bad weather, broken equipment, the army, Congress, and other fortune hunters. But Victorio Peak, that inscrutable and mysterious mountain, would not give up its treasure. "This book’s truth is…not about gold, but a tale (history, fiction, philosophy, and authorial intervention). That is why the book’s incomplete title (“What men call treasure…the gods call dross”) is so It is the story, in all its complications, winding paths, claustrophobia, and sometimes frustrating dead ends, that is the true wealth." — San Antonio Current Robert Boswell , an acclaimed novelist, is the author of seven books, most recently Century’s Son (Picador, 2003). His stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Best American Short Stories, and other magazines. He shares the Cullen Chair in Creative Writing at the University of Houston with his wife, novelist Antonya Nelson. David Schweidel , who grew up in El Paso on the Mexican border, remembers feeling like an anthropologist long before he knew what an anthropologist was. His first novel, Confidence of the Heart, won the 1995 Milkweed National Fiction Prize. He lives in Berkeley with his wife Linda and works at the University of California.

352 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2008

Reviews

[Mindi]

It was hard for me to follow at times just because of all the names & places that are discussed and it jumps back & forth in time, but I did get wrapped up in the hunt for treasure.

[Gwen]

Interesting to read about Las Cruces area history. I don't think anything has happened with Victorio Peak lately.