Book Chat

Visit your local bookstores to buy books. Send your book for review to: Book Chat, 614 Don Gaspar Ave., Santa Fe, NM 87502

The Dream Vacation:

Written in lengthy detail, this sci-fi/ history book is about Paul, a working class fellow, who buys a secluded farm outside of Frankfort, Kentucky for his dream vacation. He plans to hang out and get back to nature. Instead, he finds an old engraved watch and discovers in a nearby cave a military cannon and the skeletons of Union soldiers. He spends the night there and wakes in the midst of a Civil War battlefield. Paul is able to convince the Captain that he comes from the future and helps the Union soldiers win their battle. But Paul spends most of the time trying to explain “the future” to the laughing infantry. “Some cars can even go over a hundred miles an hour, but you can’t go that fast or you’ll get pulled over by the police and they’ll give you a ticket.” “A ticket to where?” someone asks. Paul has a goaround with a bear and meets historic characters like Major General Burnside. By Michael Martin • Publish America PublishAmerica.com • 301-228-3853

Memories of Torreón NM:

This book is a celebration community spirit, cultural traditions and historic details of rural life in a New Mexican village with vignettes, photographs and art work from various residents of Torreón, New Mexico. Set in the Manzano moun

Environmental Justice in NM:

Many out-of-towners driving through the state abandon their unwanted animals in remote areas. Researchers have measured high concentrations of PBCs in the tissue of fish caught at the Taos Junction Bridge. Dumping paint, pesticides, herbicides, and automotive fluids in arroyos presents a severe water quality problem in the Rio Grande, the source of drinking and irrigation water for downstream Pueblos, Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Four toxic landfills at Kirtland Air Force Base have leaked carcinogenic Ethylene dibromide that is now moving in a plume through the main aquifer less than a mile from Albuquerque’s most productive drinking water wells. In whose backyard shall we store nuclear waste that will be radioactive for thousands of years? Native Americans, who recognize the sacredness of nature, believe they have been “pushed off a cliff” by thoughtless environmental contamination. By Valerie Rangel • The History Press ArcadiaPublishing.com • 843-853-2070

tains east of Albuquerque, most of the 36 stories are from the 50s and 60s. Whether the children were dancing “The Twist” to a 45 record, watching a flood roil through the village, shooting a BB gun or making stilts out of tin cans, the reader enjoys the slow pulse of life that was “bright and secure.” Carmen Trujillo Luna experienced the Catholic church as a holy, affirming, life-giving source. Carmela Garcia-Anaya

Lincoln County and Its Wars:

Nora True Henn lived in Lincoln County for nearly 50 years, many of which she spent meticulously researching the Lincoln County Wars of 1878-1880 when two factions of civilians and businessmen fought for financial power and control over the new territory. Henn’s wellresearched and documented book might be the last word on the subject. Reluctant to publish, she was a great source of information for anyone working on a story or a book about the Lincoln County Wars. Her book, published posthumously, offers 62 pages of sources, appendices, maps, photographs by unknown photographers, and 17 delicate pen and ink drawings of various historic buildings by Walter Richard Henn. Nora Henn also collected historic letters from various sources, some handwritten, that capture the tactics and skullduggery of both sides. By Nora True Henn • Henn-Johnson Library • Local History Archives amazon.com

remembers, “We were not poor, but we were not rich. Frijoles were all we had almost every day for lunch and dinner…” So it was a great occasion when they butchered a pig. “Everyone rushing together to get things done gave me the feeling of a festive atmosphere.” Delightful and authentic. A good read. Judy Alderete Garcia • Blurb.com amazon.com