Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop
You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on
bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations: Traditional and Contemporary Native American Recipes
by Dr. Lois Ellen Frank
In this gloriously photographed book, renowned photographer and Native American–food expert Dr. Lois Ellen Frank, herself part Kiowa, presents more than 80 recipes that are rich in natural flavors and perfectly in tune with today's healthy eating habits. Frank spent four years visiting reservations in the Southwest, documenting time-honored techniques and recipes. With the help of culinary adviser and Navajo Nation tribesman Walter Whitewater, a chef in Santa Fe, Frank has adapted the traditional recipes to modern palates and kitchens. Inside you'll find such dishes as Stuffed Tempura Chiles with Fiery Bean Sauce, Zuni Sunflower Cakes, and Prickly Pear Ice. With its wealth of information, this book makes it easy to prepare and celebrate authentic Native American cooking.
A History of Spirituality in Santa Fe: The City of Holy Faith
by Ana Pacheco
Santa Fe city historian Ana Pacheco documents the rich religious and spiritual history of this high-mountain metaphysical community.
New Mexico's Stolen Lands: A History of Racism, Fraud and Deceit
by Ray John De Aragon
This book begins with the end of the Mexican-American War and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo guaranteeing land to Spanish, Mexican and Native people. It details how organized crime rings lead to decades of poverty for these people. Then the Tierra Amarilla Courthouse Raid in 1967 brought this struggle over land to the national spotlight.
Roots of Resistance: A Land of Tenure in New Mexico
by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Details the history of land ownership from 1680 to present and how Indigenous and Mexican communities preserved their way of life despite losing their land to Capitalism.
An Indigenous People's History of the United States
by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
From the perspective of Indigenous People, this book demonstrates how policy against Native people was designed to displace and eliminate them and how they fought back, resisting the expansion of the West.
A Land Apart: The Southwest and the Nation in the the Twentieth Century
by Flannery Burke
Discusses how Indigenous, Hispanic and non-white people have established their place in the land that is rightfully theirs.
Ancient Peoples of the American Southwest
by Stephen Plog, Amy Elizabeth Grey (Illustrator)
This illustrated introduction provides an in-depth look at the ancient cultures that first inhabited the pueblos and cliff dwellings of the American Southwest. Organized chronologically, it features hundreds of maps, mostly black-and-white photographs and site diagrams.
Indian Arts of the Southwest
by Susanne Page
Featuring color photographs of the basketry, pottery, weaving, jewelry, and carvings of 200 noted artists, this book is both a collector's guide and cultural history of the Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Pueblo peoples and other native peoples.
The Great Taos Bank Robbery
by Tony Hillerman
Nine indelible tales of life in New Mexico by the great newspaperman and author of the terrific series of mysteries set on the Navajo Nation.
Talking With the Clay, The Art of Pueblo Pottery
by Stephen Trimble, Tom Ireland (Photographer)
With color photographs throughout, this 20th anniversary edition of Trmible's portrait of the Pueblo people as revealed through pottery traditions includes interviews with a new generation of artists.
American Indian Myths and Legends
by Richard Erdoes, Alfonso Ortiz
An illustrated collection of 180 traditoonal stories from all over North America.
New Mexico, A History
by Joseph P. Sanchez
This cooperative effort between three native New Mexicans is the first complete history of New Mexico. It charts the state’s development from 16th-century Spanish colony to frontier province, from its 1912 American statehood to a hub of (often classified) scientific research. A vital source for anyone seeking to understand the complex history of the West.
Edge of Taos Desert, An Escape to Reality
by Mabel Dodge Luhan
First published in 1937, this story reveals the spiritual awakening the New York socialite experienced through Taos, the Pueblo Indians and Indian Tony Luhan, whom she later married.
The Art of New Mexico: How the West Is One
by Traugott, Joseph
An illustrated compendium of New Mexico art from the 1880s to the present that considers historical and cultural significance with a wealth of information about the artists and their pieces. Written for a broad audience.
The Spell of New Mexico
by Tony Hillerman (Editor)
A selection of 12 thoughtful essays on the New Mexico state of mind by great writers, including C.G. Jung, Mary Austin, D.H. Lawrence and Lawrence Clark Powell. Hillerman succeeds in communicating the lure of the desert Southwest in this wonderful, literate introduction to the state.
Santa Fe, History of an Ancient City
by David Grant Noble (Editor)
A revised edition of of this classic history of Santa Fe to the mid-nineteenth century, featuring essays by ten scholars and hundreds of archival photographs, drawings and maps.