Books published by publisher University of New Mexico Press

The long pilgrimage of LeRoy Chatfield weaves its way through multiple collective projects designed to better the condition of the marginalized and forgotten. From the cloisters of the Christian Brothers and the halls of secondary education to the fields of Central California and the streets of Sacramento, Chatfield's story reveals a fierce commitment to those who were denied the promises of the American dream. In this collection of what the author calls Easy Essays, Chatfield recounts his childhood, explains the social issues that have played a significant role in his life and work, and uncovers the lack of justice he saw all too frequently. His journey, alongside Cesar and Helen Chavez, Marshall Ganz, Bonnie Chatfield, Philip Vera Cruz, and countless others, displays an unwavering focus on organizing communities and expanding their agency. Follow and explore a life dedicated to equality of opportunity for all. May it inspire and guide you in your quest for a fairer and more just society.

Awarded a 1961 Newbery Honor, Old Ramon tells the timeless coming-of-age story of a young boy who spends a summer with an old shepherd in the Mojave Desert. He leaves his textbooks behind for real life lessons with Ramon as his mentor. He learns not only how to care for the sheep but how to overcome fear, how to face death and responsibility, and the difference between being alone and being lonely. Written in Schaefer's charming and engaging style, the novel details a boy's discovery of both the value of friendship and the hardship of life.

Here is a genuine Little Big Man story, with all the color, sweep, and tragedy of a classic American western. It is the tale of Herman Lehmann, a captive of the Apaches on the Southern Plains of Texas and New Mexico during the 1870s. Adopted by a war chief, he was trained to be a warrior and waged merciless war on Apache enemies, both Indian and Euro-American. After killing an Apache medicine man in self-defense, he fled to a lonely hermitage on the Southern Plains until he joined the Comanches. Against his will, Lehmann was returned to his family in 1879. The final chapters relate his difficult readjustment to Anglo life.Lehmann's unapologetic narrative is extraordinary for its warm embrace of Native Americans and stinging appraisal of Anglo society. Once started, the story of this remarkable man cannot be put down. Dale Giese's introduction provides a framework for interpreting the Lehmann narrative.

The Place Names of New Mexico is an invaluable guide to the state's geography and history. It explains more than 7,000 names of features large and small throughout the state--towns, mountains, rivers, canyons, counties, post offices, and even abandoned settlements--as well as providing relevant information about location, history, and current status. The revised edition contains more than fifty expanded and updated entries. The accounts are also journeys into New Mexico's past, offering glimpses of the lives and values of the people who named the place. Humor, tragedy, mystery, and daily life--they can all be found in this book.

Powwow's coming, hear the beat?Powwow's coming, dancing feet.Powwow's coming, hear the drum?Powwow's coming, everyone!Frustrated as a schoolteacher not being able to find good instructional materials on American Indians, Linda Boyden has bypassed the tired stereotype of Indians on horseback or hunting game and placed them in today's setting of a powwow. Powwow's Coming provides children with a foundation for understanding and celebrating the enduring culture and heritage of American Indians. Boyden's exquisite cut-paper collage and engaging poem visually place readers within the scenes of a contemporary Native American community while offering a thoughtful look at powwows and their meanings to the Native participants.

Now available only from UNM Press, Stories on Stone introduces young readers to the rich history and mystery of rock art in the Southwest. As a youngster growing up in the American Southwest, Jennifer Dewey became fascinated with the images she saw carved in stone years before by the area's natives. For this book, Dewey has produced original color drawings that vividly recreate the images painted and carved into rocks centuries ago. Dewey explores who the original artists were and what their rock art meant, introducing young readers to the beauty and mystery of these images and stories on stone. Dewey begins by pointing out that rock art is a mysterious but readable record of early human history in the Southwest. The author goes on to describe how rock art images came to be chipped and etched on stone and suggests some of the likely inspiration behind the images. Throughout the book, Dewey helps readers encounter the past with respect and understanding while opening their imagination to the stories told in these ancient works of art. This striking book will appeal to anyone wanting to share the power of rock art's ability to intrigue."What could be a dry and difficult subject is made enjoyable in a brief, readable text surrounded by Dewey's soft monochromatic illustrations of common rock art subjects. This attractive book will provide background knowledge for families who are planning to visit the Southwest and could be used in the classroom as enrichment for a unit on ancient cultures."--BooklistAges 7 and up; reading level grade 6

In this book Kyong Hwa Lee combines the art of origami and the science of flight to create unique paper airplane designs for aviation enthusiasts of all ages. Featuring thirty-two designs, Amazing Paper Airplanes showcases models resembling real-world aircraft, including the F-22 fighter jet, a P-51 World War II plane, the Convair F-102 Delta Daggerâ€"the first supersonic delta-wing interceptor airplane of the US Air Forceâ€"and more. For these models, Lee provides information along with an image of the real plane to encourage interest in aerospace technology. Every design has been flight-tested and presents complete step-by-step folding instructions. In addition to showing basic and advanced folding techniques and providing templates for each plane, the author explains the theory behind flight and offers tips to fine-tune paper airplanes for optimal flying.

Winner of the 2018 NACCS Tejas Foco Fiction Book AwardWinner of the 2017 Writers' League of Texas Fiction Discovery PrizeLife in the parched landscape of El Paso is the setting for this book of stories about people navigating their way through dysfunctional lives with the help of friends and family--people like Moníca Montoya, a housewife and mother whose affair leaves her pregnant, causing her to revisit the legacy of her father, a man who maintained two separate families on either side of the Mexican-American border. In spite of their bad choices, the characters in this collection never give up.

The Education of Little Tree tells of a boy orphaned very young, who is adopted by his Cherokee grandmother and half-Cherokee grandfather in the Appalachian mountains of Tennessee during the Great Depression."Little Tree" as his grandparents call him is shown how to hunt and survive in the mountains, to respect nature in the Cherokee Way, taking only what is needed, leaving the rest for nature to run its course.Little Tree also learns the often callous ways of white businessmen and tax collectors, and how Granpa, in hilarious vignettes, scares them away from his illegal attempts to enter the cash economy. Granma teaches Little Tree the joys of reading and education. But when Little Tree is taken away by whites for schooling, we learn of the cruelty meted out to Indian children in an attempt to assimilate them and of Little Tree's perception of the Anglo world and how it differs from the Cherokee Way. A classic of its era, and an enduring book for all ages, The Education of Little Tree has now been redesigned for this twenty-fifth anniversary edition.

This collection of essays features twelve “heroes” from the American West. Schaefer profiles pioneers of the West—the doctors, explorers, and cowboys who settled the challenging landscape and built communities in the Old West. These unsung champions highlight the unglorified work of the West that was achieved without violence and gunslinging. Schaefer shares the lives of Grizzly Adams, George A. Ruston, John “Snowshoe” Thompson, John Phillips, Washakie, John S. Chisum, Thomas J. Smith, Valentine T. McGillycuddy, Charles Fox Gardiner, and Elfego Baca. Western enthusiasts and history buffs will welcome the refreshing biographies of the men found in this volume.ABOUT THE AUTHORJack Schaefer was a journalist and writer known for his authentic and memorable characters set in the American West. Schaefer received the Western Literature Association’s Distinguished Achievement Award in 1975 and the Saddleman Award in 1986 from the Western Writers of America. His popular Western novels include Shane (1949) and Monte Walsh (1963).ACCLAIM“The rhetorical flourishes are those of the born storyteller and legend builder.” -- Kirkus

Based on a Cheyenne legend, this novel holds universal appeal as it explores the theme of a man’s conflict with his culture. It is the story of how Little Bear, a Cheyenne warrior who opposes war, reconciles the conflict between his personal values and the demands of his tribe. The dilemma faced by Little Bear gives rise to a story that is at once a compelling adventure tale, an authentic description of Indian life and ritual, and a parable of self-realization.First published in 1953, Schaefer considered The Canyon one of his personal favorites. This new release will be welcomed by Schaefer’s enduring admirers and by new Western literature enthusiasts. It is a classic not to be missed.ABOUT THE AUTHORJack Schaefer was a journalist and writer known for his authentic and memorable characters set in the American West. Schaefer received the Western Literature Association’s Distinguished Achievement Award in 1975 and the Saddleman Award in 1986 from the Western Writers of America. His popular Western novels include Shane (1949) and Monte Walsh (1963).ACCLAIM“A legendary feeling to the detail of Indian life and ways, a deep sense of Indian psychology and character give this simple tale depth and vision.” -- Kirkus

Having left her much-loved San Diego barrio, Yolanda Sahagún is now living in the university dorms when a series of events--her mother dies and her father sells their home--forces her to re-examine her life. Yolanda visits her parents' hometown of El Grullo, Mexico, struggling to understand the ghosts in her life--her mother, her father, and her seemingly idyllic childhood. She fears losing herself in the disintegration of the family. For Yolanda, her father is her enemy (or so she thinks), and in the course of the novel we see him at his best and worst, and we see Yolanda at her best and worst.This is a story of Yolanda's initiation into womanhood and about her fierce struggle to make sure her family does not dissolve. Family and sexual politics; love, death, and abandonment; the struggle to resolve a personal identity in the context of a shattered, first-generation immigrant American family--these are the hugely painful obstructions Yolanda must surmount or incorporate into her own being as she makes her life's journey. Ghosts of El Grullo is a sequel to Santana's critically acclaimed and prize-winning Motorcycle Ride on the Sea of Tranquility.