The History of New Mexico

THE HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO: The American Heritage



From prehistoric Clovis hunters to atomic scientists, this authoritative account reveals New Mexico as America's most compelling crucible of cultures.

Spanning 12,000 years of human experience, this meticulously researched history examines how three distinct peoples-Native American, Hispanic, and Anglo - forged a unique American state against an extraordinary landscape. Readers will encounter the monumental Pueblo Revolt of 1680, when indigenous peoples temporarily expelled European colonizers, and witness the dramatic American conquest in 1846 that forever altered the region's trajectory.

Discover why Spanish colonists ventured north in 1598, how Mexican independence transformed the territory in 1821, and why Congress delayed statehood until 1912 - revealing deep truths about American identity and expansion. The book examines the traumatic Navajo "Long Walk" of 1864-1866, the Lincoln County War that made Billy the Kid infamous, and the 1945 Trinity Test that ushered in the atomic age.

Based on extensive archival research spanning Spanish colonial documents to Los Alamos laboratory records, this book presents New Mexico not merely as a scenic backdrop but as a profound answer to what the United States truly is-a complex nation where cultures clash, coexist, and create something entirely new.

For anyone seeking to understand America's past and present, this definitive history of New Mexico proves essential reading. The state's story - with its ancient pueblos, Spanish missions, Wild West conflicts, and space-age innovations-illuminates the broader American experience in ways both enlightening and surprising.