Bøker av Marc Simmons

A monograph on the Southwest.

Author, photographer, historian, archeologist, and preservationist, Charles Fletcher Lummis stood tall in the affections of American Southwesterners at the turn of the 20th century. A flamboyant figure of enormous energy, he championed Indian rights and Hispanic culture, while introducing Easterners, through his many books, to the rich heritage of New Mexico, Arizona, and California. After years of fading from view, the large Lummis legacy is being rediscovered. His works are coming back into print and in 2006 the city of Los Angeles inaugurated an annual Lummis Day Festival. This little book can acquaint readers with a remarkable recorder of history and can help to reawaken interest in his efforts to preserve the distinctive cultures of the American Southwest. Additionally, this book contains, as its first chapter, the complete contents of the classic "Two Southwesterners: Charles Lummis & Amado Chaves" by Marc Simmons, originally published by San Marcos Press in 1968 and long unavailable until now. Marc Simmons, besides being an aficionado of the writings of Charles F. Lummis, is himself a historian and prolific author. In 1993 he was knighted by order of the King of Spain for his publications on Spanish colonial history of the Southwest. Among his most recent books are "New Mexico Mavericks," "Stalking Billy the Kid," and a new edition of "Southwestern Colonial Ironwork," all published by Sunstone Press.

Author, photographer, historian, archeologist, and preservationist, Charles Fletcher Lummis stood tall in the affections of American Southwesterners at the turn of the 20th century. A flamboyant figure of enormous energy, he championed Indian rights and Hispanic culture, while introducing Easterners, through his many books, to the rich heritage of New Mexico, Arizona, and California. After years of fading from view, the large Lummis legacy is being rediscovered. His works are coming back into print and in 2006 the city of Los Angeles inaugurated an annual Lummis Day Festival. This little book can acquaint readers with a remarkable recorder of history and can help to reawaken interest in his efforts to preserve the distinctive cultures of the American Southwest. Additionally, this book contains, as its first chapter, the complete contents of the classic "e;Two Southwesterners: Charles Lummis & Amado Chaves"e; by Marc Simmons, originally published by San Marcos Press in 1968 and long unavailable until now.

When was Santa Fe under siege? Who was the local witch reputed to fly around in an egg? Which governor found his chair thrown into the street? Why were Judge Eaton's burros so expensive? What was the Santa Fe-Granada, Spain connection? What city celebration was sixty years too soon? Which governor paid a bribe to win a horse race? Who was "e;Telegraph"e; Aubry and why was he famous? What ended the usefulness of the Santa Fe Trail? If you don't know the answers to these questions, Marc Simmons does. And in this witty but historically accurate book, he takes readers on a fact-filled but fun journey into Santa Fe, New Mexico's unusual past.

"Having written about New Mexico history for more than forty years," explains the author, "it was perhaps inevitable that in time I should publish a few articles on Billy the Kid. After all, he is the one figure from this state''s past whose name is known around the world. The Kid''s career, although astonishingly short, nonetheless, left an indelible mark in the annals of the Old West. And his name, William H. Bonney, alias Billy the Kid, seems locked forever into the consciousness of the starry-eyed public. "Upon request," the author continues, "I was able to assemble a collection of my varied writings pertaining to some of Billy''s real or imagined deeds. Each section opens a small window on an aspect of his tumultuous life, or casts light upon others whose fortunes intersected with his. In this book, I have stalked Billy in an erratic rather than a systematic way, taking pleasure merely in adding a few new and unusual fragments to his biography. I trust that readers who have a fascination with the history and legend of Billy the Kid will find in these pages something of interest and value. As Eugene Cunningham wrote more than seventy years ago, ''in our imagination the Kid still lives--the Kid still rides.''" Marc Simmons is a professional author and historian who has published more than forty books on New Mexico and the American Southwest. His popular "Trail Dust" column is syndicated in several regional newspapers. In 1993, King Juan Carlos of Spain admitted him to the knightly Order of Isabel la Cat├│lica for his contributions to Spanish colonial history.

"e;Having written about New Mexico history for more than forty years,"e; explains the author, "e;it was perhaps inevitable that in time I should publish a few articles on Billy the Kid. After all, he is the one figure from this state's past whose name is known around the world. The Kid's career, although astonishingly short, nonetheless, left an indelible mark in the annals of the Old West. And his name, William H. Bonney, alias Billy the Kid, seems locked forever into the consciousness of the starry-eyed public. Upon request,"e; the author continues, "e;I was able to assemble a collection of my varied writings pertaining to some of Billy's real or imagined deeds. Each section opens a small window on an aspect of his tumultuous life, or casts light upon others whose fortunes intersected with his. In this book, I have stalked Billy in an erratic rather than a systematic way, taking pleasure merely in adding a few new and unusual fragments to his biography. I trust that readers who have a fascination with the history and legend of Billy the Kid will find in these pages something of interest and value. As Eugene Cunningham wrote more than seventy years ago, 'in our imagination the Kid still lives--the Kid still rides.'"e;

"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 one continually runs into Indians, Hispanos and fourth or fifth generation Anglos whose lives and outlook are firmly rooted in the years before yesterday. Moreover, their personal histories are enriched by the backdrop of an extraordinary landscape. These realities have provided me an abundance of material for carving out the series of short narratives compiled in the book." Marc Simmons is a professional author and historian who has published more than forty books on New Mexico and the American Southwest. His popular "Trail Dust" column is syndicated in several regional newspapers. In 1993, King Juan Carlos of Spain admitted him to the knightly Order of Isabel la Cat├│lica for his contributions to Spanish colonial history.

"e;I first saw New Mexico as a kid, in 1950,"e; the author says. "e;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."e;What continues to impress me is that history in New Mexico lies so close to the surface. Here one continually runs into Indians, Hispanos and fourth or fifth generation Anglos whose lives and outlook are firmly rooted in the years before yesterday. Moreover, their personal histories are enriched by the backdrop of an extraordinary landscape. These realities have provided me an abundance of material for carving out the series of short narratives compiled in the book."e;

The rock-ribbed hills surrounding Cerrillos, New Mexico, are honeycombed with mineshafts and it is these mines that have shaped the history of the town and of the district over which it presides. The Pueblo Indians for untold ages took out turquoise; the Spaniards in their turn found gold, silver and lead; and finally, the Anglo-Americans exploited all of these in addition to copper, zinc and coal. Mining gave life to Cerrillos and to neighboring towns such as Bonanza City, Carbonateville, Waldo and Madrid. And when the boom passed and the mines closed, that life ebbed away. Scattered over the hills and in the valleys everywhere are skeletal remains of mining activity: deserted buildings, black and foreboding entrances to shafts, broken tools and equipment, fallen timbers from the windlasses, gallows and hoist houses, tailing dumps and slag heaps. These offer silent testimony to the once prosperous past of the Cerrillos mining district and are an appeal for all students of history.

Manuel Antonio Chaves' life (1818-1889) straddled three eras of New Mexican history. A Spanish frontiersman, his long career was interwoven with almost every major historical event which occurred during his adult life-the Texan-Santa Fe Expedition, the Mexican War, the Civil War, skirmishes with Utes, Navajos, and Apaches.