Book Description

Some of these tales are about genuine heroes. Some are about dastardly villains. Others you’ll have to decide for yourself: hero or villain? You’ll recognize these people, even if you don’t remember their names. They are Spanish colonials, Mexicans, and Anglos all the way to the present. They are even aboriginal Americans predating the arrival of Europeans. These are personal tales—gossip, you might say—and, when you finish a story, if you’re like me, you’ll be able to say, “I didn’t know that!” Now, don’t you think knowing the quirks and grit of those who peopled the pages of your history textbooks—rather than all those dates and places—is more interesting? The author always thought so. After a dozen years writing travel stories about New Mexico, he undertook writing yarns of adventure, intrigue, failure, and even death. Open the book to Elfego Baca’s story and learn why one Mexican had no fear of American cowboys. Or how Navajo Chester Nez, who was denied the right to speak his native language, used Navajo words to help win World War II. Or even how the haughty wife of a colonial governor was falsely denounced to the Inquisition as a Crypto-Jew. Fact or imagination? Sometimes it’s hard to know which it is, but these, at least, are true life episodes. Includes Readers Guide.