Southwest Books of the Year 2013: Top Picks

In the Footsteps of the Padres

by Burckhalter, David L.

Book - 2013

Baja California Missions is part coffee table art-and-architecture book, part travel account, part guide book and a little 17th- and 18th-century history....Show more Baja California Missions is part coffee table art-and-architecture book, part travel account, part guide book and a little 17th- and 18th-century history. David Bruckhalter and Mina Sedgwick present the eight Spanish missions remaining on the peninsula where Roman Catholic missionaries established thirty-four missions to “conquer, congregate, and convert” Baja’s four indigenous tribes. The missions were abandoned after more than 90 percent of the population perished from European-introduced disease, but the stone buildings survive. Bruckhalter’s and Sedgwick’s photographs are hauntingly beautiful--from landscapes through exterior and interior architectural shots, to details of the baroque altars, statuary, and art, they capture caretakers, restorers, participants in festivals, even Sedgwick herself. The book offers maps and directions for reaching the sites by car; it invites a road trip. –Christine Wald-Hopkins Also Selected by W. David Laird Show less

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The Emerald Mile

The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon

by Fedarko, Kevin

Book - 2013

Fedarko, an award-winning journalist and part-time river guide, captures in all its heart-stopping twists and turns the epic 1983 speed run of three dared...Show more Fedarko, an award-winning journalist and part-time river guide, captures in all its heart-stopping twists and turns the epic 1983 speed run of three daredevil boatmen through the flood-gorged Grand Canyon. Iconoclast extraordinaire Kenton Grua occupies center stage as the mastermind behind the astonishing feat, but Fedarko’s supreme accomplishment lies in his remarkable ability to place Grua and his companions within the pantheon of other great canyonland adventurers from Spanish times to the present, and in his equal respect for the engineers and dreamers whose attempts to tame the Colorado River averted disaster when put to the test. The Emerald Mile earns its place among the classic accounts of Grand Canyon adventure and exploration. –Bruce Dinges Also selected by Bill Broyles, W. David Laird, Christine Wald-Hopkins and Helene Woodhams Show less

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Everything Begins & Ends at the Kentucky Club

by Sáenz, Benjamin Alire

Book - 2012

The Kentucky Club of this collection of borderland short stories is a once-elegant Juárez bar, the Tiffany dome and gleaming wood and glass of which remin...Show more The Kentucky Club of this collection of borderland short stories is a once-elegant Juárez bar, the Tiffany dome and gleaming wood and glass of which remind one character of a church. "[I]sn't that what bars are,” he muses, "churches for people who'd lost their faith?" That sense of loss, of emotional isolation, and of the yearning to connect are common to Sáenz's seven thoughtful, sculpted stories: an aging writer doesn’t know what he’s missing until he gains—and then loses—a lover; the grown children of wealthy, negligent parents seek emotional connection through risky behavior; a boy raised in Juárez is dumped unwanted on his American father’s doorstep and needs to negotiate his fractured world. At some point, they all pass through the Kentucky Club. And in his spare, luminous poet's voice, this one-time priest accords each a measure of redemption. –Christine Wald-Hopkins Also selected by Bruce Dinges and Helene Woodhams Show less

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A Natural History of the Santa Catalina Mountains, Arizona, With An Introduction to the Madrean Sky Islands

by Brusca, Richard C.

Book - 2013

Rockhounds, naturalists and sightseers visiting the Santa Catalina Mountains now have an exceptionally fine guide to help them appreciate a unique Southe...Show more Rockhounds, naturalists and sightseers visiting the Santa Catalina Mountains now have an exceptionally fine guide to help them appreciate a unique Southern Arizona destination. One of the Madrean sky islands that connect the Sierra Madre Occidental and the Colorado Plateau, the iconic Santa Catalinas rise straight up from the desert floor and transition rapidly through a series of biomes that are rich in biodiversity and geologic history. Authors Brusca and Moore take a well-organized approach to their subject, beginning with the significance of sky islands and then moving on to the geologic, natural and even cultural history of the Santa Catalinas. This lavishly-illustrated volume provides maps, pictorial guides to flora and fauna and historic profiles of people and events. Information is presented in easy-to-understand language, and travelers on the Mount Lemmon Highway will appreciate how the biomes are identified at ten stops along the route. If you’re heading for the hills, don’t leave home without this excellent book. --Helene Woodhams Also selected by W. David Laird Show less

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The Rules of Wolfe

A Border Noir

by Blake, James Carlos

Book - 2013

Deft plotting and crisp, clean prose transport readers into the cartel underworld where a young gunman makes a break for the Arizona border after killing ...Show more Deft plotting and crisp, clean prose transport readers into the cartel underworld where a young gunman makes a break for the Arizona border after killing the brother of a Sonoran drug kingpin. There are rules even among killers, and few writers are better than Blake when the time comes to tally the price of honor among thieves. Without a wasted word, he has crafted a pitch-perfect borderlands thriller. --Bruce Dinges Also selected by Christine Wald-Hopkins Show less

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Simple Dreams

A Musical Memoir

by Ronstadt, Linda

Book - 2013

Apparently there can be more to getting to Carnegie Hall--or Madison Square Garden--than "practice, practice, practice." The girl from Tucson wh...Show more Apparently there can be more to getting to Carnegie Hall--or Madison Square Garden--than "practice, practice, practice." The girl from Tucson who became a huge rock star did the practice thing, but this memoir shows she also made thoughtful and strategic decisions along her career path. Ronstadt’s book is entertaining, her prose reflecting her speaking voice--tumbling, descriptive, at times politically tinged. She writes of her childhood in Tucson, of the music traditions of her Mexican-American family, her roots in local venues; of her choice of LA over UA; of the heady musical environment of the sixties, and of going from girl singer to versatile star, crossing genres and venturing out of rock into musical theater, American standards, opera and mariachi. She doesn't dish (well, aside from one unattractive portrayal of a drunken Jim Morrison), doesn't take us into her famous romantic partnerships, but the memoir reveals a musician genuinely appreciative of other musicians, and a serious student of musical styles, influences, and expressions. –Christine Wald-Hopkins Also selected by Bruce Dinges Show less

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Son of A Gun

A Memoir

by St. Germain, Justin

Book - 2013

In the late summer of 2001, Debbie St. Germain was brutally murdered by her fifth husband in their trailer outside Tombstone, AZ. In his soul-searing memo...Show more In the late summer of 2001, Debbie St. Germain was brutally murdered by her fifth husband in their trailer outside Tombstone, AZ. In his soul-searing memoir, Debbie’s son sifts through the shards of his mother’s tragic life for clues to her death and to make sense out of his own fractured childhood. This stubbornly unsentimental book, spun out against the backdrop of Tombstone’s glorification of Wyatt Earp and the O.K. Corral gunfight, is a sobering commentary on personal loss, unmoored personalities and the violent mythology of the new Old West. –Bruce Dinges Also selected by Helene Woodhams Show less

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