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Table of Contents
About The Book
The Jemez Mountains are a quintessential New Mexico landscape. For centuries, Pueblo, Spanish, and Anglo cultures have mixed and melded here. Many ancient villages are scattered across the mesas and in the canyons below the Valles Caldera, the crater of a giant, slumbering volcano. The rocks and trees of this landscape tell tales of eruptions, lava flows, droughts, floods, forest fires, and hot springs damming a river. Stories abound of battles for land and water between conquistadores, pueblos, and priests, and of farming and sheep herding disrupted by raiders and rustlers. In the modern era, forest rangers, scientists, and hippies have played an important role in shaping the area.
In forty brief chapters, this book recounts some of these fascinating stories, accompanied by more than a hundred photographs, maps, and drawings. Matched photographs of the same views taken up to 150 years apart attest to striking change and apparent stasis. Major alterations have occurred in some places over the past two centuries due to human activity, and increasing climate change threatens further transformation.
For those new to the Jemez Mountains, these stories and images will provide an introduction to the cultural and natural history of the area. Residents and long-time aficionados of the Jemez will find both familiar and surprising stories and will gain a renewed sense of this magnificent place.
In forty brief chapters, this book recounts some of these fascinating stories, accompanied by more than a hundred photographs, maps, and drawings. Matched photographs of the same views taken up to 150 years apart attest to striking change and apparent stasis. Major alterations have occurred in some places over the past two centuries due to human activity, and increasing climate change threatens further transformation.
For those new to the Jemez Mountains, these stories and images will provide an introduction to the cultural and natural history of the area. Residents and long-time aficionados of the Jemez will find both familiar and surprising stories and will gain a renewed sense of this magnificent place.
Product Details
- Publisher: UNM Press (April 1, 2025)
- Length: 320 pages
- ISBN13: 9780826367761
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Raves and Reviews
“Thomas Swetnam offers a fascinating collection of historical anecdotes and natural history insights in The Jemez Mountains. Amid a parade of unusual personalities and extraordinary events, we learn not just about the land but about the varied lenses through which people saw it and saw each other. The result is a composite portrait of one of New Mexico’s most diverse and best-loved regions.”
– William deBuys, author of Enchantment and Exploitation: The Life and Hard Times of a New Mexico Mountain Range, Revised and Expanded Edition
“Thomas Swetnam grew up in the Jemez Mountains as the son of the Forest Service’s Jemez District Ranger before moving to his science career at the University of Arizona, and he has now come full circle as the author of The Jemez Mountains: A Cultural and Natural History. Swetnam recounts dozens of stories, legends, myths, and historical accounts of life in the Jemez Mountains over the last nearly five hundred years. Topics include personal family stories, Pueblo life, the Spanish entrada, early settlers, ranching, mining, forestry, military actions, banditry, religion, scientific studies, recreational development, natural disasters, wildlife encounters (think grizzly bears!), and many more. His book provides amazingly detailed insights into the peoples of the Jemez Mountains and their interactions with each other and their environment.”
– Robert Parmenter, former chief of science and resource stewardship for the Valles Caldera National Preserve
"[The Jemez Mountains] is a compilation of true stories skillfully and unhurriedly told."
– David Steinberg, Albuquerque Journal
"The 40 short chapters explore colorful topics ranging from Penitentes and grizzly bears to hippie communes—each told in conversational prose and grounded in first-hand knowledge."
– Candolin Cook, New Mexico Magazine
"A rich tapestry of sources, narratives, and meditations that reaffirm the enduring human fascination with this landscape….The Jemez Mountains is best understood not as a traditional work of academic history but as a generous invitation for readers to engage with a place that has shaped the author’s life and imagination…. It serves as a refreshing reminder that the places we study are not only intellectually stimulating but also personally meaningful and deeply real."
– Zachary Crouch, H-Environment, H-Net Reviews
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Book Cover Image (jpg): The Jemez Mountains
eBook 9780826367761
