A World Elsewhere

In this lively yet systematic commentary a Welshman surveys the American Southwest with the steady perceptive eye of a stranger who has grown to appreciate it. He finds in its history and topography signs that nature still holds its own against the human hand. One is aware that such immense landscapes must existbut until one views them for oneself it is impossible to grasp their impressiveness or experience their liberating quality.White is equally fascinated with the people who have moved across this spectacular stage and those who inhabit it now. Trained as an anthropologist and archaeologist as well as in literature he traces the Indian history of the region from the Anasazi-Pueblo peoples to Geronimo Mangas Colorados and Cochise the horse Indians with their fierce Faustian view of the world to todays Navajo silversmiths. Following stage coach lines and railroads Spanish conquests and cattle drives he leads us through the domain of gunmen like Billy the Kid and good guys like Kit Carson through the world of Hispanics and Anglos through the literature that portrays the regional drama. With him we experience repeatedly and delightedly the small peculiar thrill of discovery.