When the Spanish began colonizing the Americas in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, they brought with them the plants and foods of their homelandùwheat, melons, grapes, vegetables, and every kind of Mediterranean fruit. Missionaries and colonists introduced these plants to the native peoples of Mexico and the American Southwest, where they became staple crops alongside the corn, beans, and squash that had traditionally sustained the original Americans. This intermingling of Old and New World plants and foods was one of the most significant fusions in the history of international cuisine and gave rise to many of the foods that we so enjoy today.  Gardens of New Spain tells the fascinating story of the diffusion of plants, gardens, agriculture, and cuisine from late medieval Spain to the colonial frontier of Hispanic America. Beginning in the Old World, William Dunmire describes how Spain came to adopt plants and their foods from the Fertile Crescent, Asia, and Africa. Crossing the Atlantic, he first examines the agricultural scene of Pre-Columbian Mexico and the Southwest. Then he traces the spread of plants and foods introduced from the Mediterranean to Spain's settlements in Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and California. In lively prose, Dunmire tells stories of the settlers, missionaries, and natives who blended their growing and eating practices into regional plantways and cuisines that live on today in every corner of America.

Gardens of New Spain: How Mediterranean Plants and Foods Changed America

Politics & Social Sciences

Dunmire, William W.

Anthropology

University of Texas Press

When the Spanish began colonizing the Americas in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, they brought with them the plants and foods of their homeland—wheat, melons, grapes, vegetables, and every kind of Mediterranean fruit. Missionaries and colonists introduced these plants to the native peoples of Mexico and the American Southwest, where they became staple crops alongside the corn, beans, and squash that had traditionally sustained the original Americans. This intermingling of Old and New World plants and foods was one of the most significant fusions in the history of international cuisine and gave rise to many of the foods that we so enjoy today.
Gardens of New Spain tells the fascinating story of the diffusion of plants, gardens, agriculture, and cuisine from late medieval Spain to the colonial frontier of Hispanic America. Beginning in the Old World, William Dunmire describes how Spain came to adopt plants and their foods from the Fertile Crescent, Asia, and Africa. Crossing the Atlantic, he first examines the agricultural scene of Pre-Columbian Mexico and the Southwest. Then he traces the spread of plants and foods introduced from the Mediterranean to Spain's settlements in Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and California. In lively prose, Dunmire tells stories of the settlers, missionaries, and natives who blended their growing and eating practices into regional plantways and cuisines that live on today in every corner of America.

History

Americas

This survey of the history of livestock in New Mexico is the first of its kind, going beyond cowboy culture to examine the ways Spaniards, Indians, and Anglos used domestic animals and how those uses affected the region's landscapes and cultures. Dunmire mines the observations of travelers and the work of earlier historians and other scholars to provide a history of livestock in New Mexico from 1540 to the present. He includes general background on animal domestication in the Old World and the New during pre-Columbian times, along with specific information on each of the six livestock species brought to New Mexico by the early Spanish colonists.

New Mexico's Spanish Livestock Heritage: Four Centuries of Animals, Land, and People

University of New Mexico Press

More than a field guide, Mountain Wildflowers of the Southern Rockies offers cultural and botanical essays that present useful and fascinating facts about seventy-five species of wildflowers, including strategies for survival, plant evolution, origins of common and scientific plant names, family characteristics, and their roles in human history.
The Laramie and Medicine Bow Mountains of southern Wyoming, the principal ranges in Colorado, and the Sangre de Cristo, Jemez, and Sandia Mountains in New Mexico are home to over a thousand species of wildflowers. The striking samples included here were selected not only because they are characteristic of this region, but also because they have interesting stories to tell. Grouped by family and arranged in natural order, each featured profile is accompanied by a color photo and most include a drawing by wildflower artist Walter Graf.

Mountain Wildflowers of the Southern Rockies: Revealing Their Natural History

Science & Math

Dodson, Carolyn

Biological Sciences

The Spanish introduced European livestock to the New World--not only cattle and horses but also mules, donkeys, sheep, goats, pigs, and poultry. This survey of the history of domestic livestock in New Mexico is the first of its kind, going beyond cowboy culture to examine the ways Spaniards, Indians, and Anglos used animals and how those uses affected the region's landscapes and cultures.The author has mined the observations of travelers and the work of earlier historians and other scholars to provide a history of livestock in New Mexico from 1540 to the present. He includes general background on animal domestication in the Old World and the New during pre-Columbian times, along with specific information on each of the six livestock species brought to New Mexico by the early Spanish colonists. Separate chapters deal with the impacts of Spanish livestock on the state's native population and upon the land itself, and a final chapter explains New Mexico's place in the larger American livestock scene.

Wild Plants of the Pueblo Province: Exploring Ancient and Enduring Uses

The homelands of the Pueblo people - New Mexico's Pajarito Plateau and middle Rio Grande Valley - are home as well to an abundantly diverse plant community that is virtually unrivalled in western North America. Plant biologist and former US Park Service ecologist Dunmire and botanist/anthropologist Tierney have written a book that combines a high degree of scholarship with a delightfully accessible trail-guide approach to the traditional uses of wild plants in the Pueblo world. This is an important book about the region's plant life and its vital interplay with cultures. Its sturdy laminated paper cover and cloth spine provide ideal backpack durability but will equally satisfy the armchair naturalist and weekend anthropology enthusiast. Colour landscape photographs and individual line drawings of sixty profiled plants blend to create a book that is visually rich and absorbing while educational and useful.

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Tierney, Gail D.

Nabhan, Gary

Gardening & Landscape Design

Museum of New Mexico Pr

This book emphasizes prehistoric uses of plants in the Four Corners area, focusing on Mesa Verde National Park, Chaco Canyon, Canyon de Chelly, Aztec Ruins, Hovenweep, and other major sites of the region once occupied by the Navajo, Ute, Paiute, Hopi, and Apache peoples. Dunmire and Tierney are able to eloquently illustrate the importance of the people-plant relationship that has existed throughout the ages among Native peoples and how ancient traditional uses of these plants inform contemporary uses today. Through vignettes of background information drawn from lore and cultural traditions and interviews with tribal elders, Wild Plants and Native Peoples of the Four Corners describes uses for edible, medicinal, and dye plants, as well as plants used for making baskets, tools, and shelters. Complementing these essays are profiles of fifty new trees, shrubs, herbaceous perennials, and grasses common to traditional Native America.

Wild Plants and Native Peoples of the Four Corners

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Alternative Medicine

Museum of New Mexico Press

This is a guide through the eco-regions and down the scenic byways of the state's natural world, from grasslands to mountains to deserts, focusing on some of the most interesting landscape features and the plants and wildlife found therein. The six eco-regions include the Chihuahuan Desert, bordering Mexico; the Great Basin Desert, spilling over from Nevada, Utah, and Arizona; the Great Plains Grassland covering the eastern prairies; the Great Basin Grassland occupying the middle Rio Grande Valley westward; the alpine montane forests of the Sangre de Cristo and Sandia Mountains; and the piñon-juniper woodlands scattered throughout the mountain bases. New Mexico is third among states of greatest natural diversity, exceeded only by Texas and California. The elevation ranges from 2,842 feet where the Pecos River flows out of New Mexico to 13,161 at the snowy summit Wheeler Peak. A gamut of geological substrates and soil types provide a wide range of growing conditions for plants. More than nine-tenths of New Mexico's land remains in native or near-native condition, unchanged by human hands. This "living landscape" is wonderfully varied, ranging from vast rose-colored deserts that contrast with expanses of native grasslands, endless mesas and escarpments, fresh black lava flows, river valleys, and rugged mountains. This colorfully illustrated book provides readers with an understanding of the natural elements that define the environments of New Mexico and directs road travelers to some of their more interesting features.

New Mexico's Living Landscapes: A Roadside View: A Roadside View

Arts & Photography

Photography & Video

From Climbing Peaks to Saving Our Planet: Outdoor Adventures that Shaped My Life

With a light, often humorous hand, Bill Dunmire traces his fascinating experiences during the outdoor adventures that shaped his life. He began as a serious climber of mountains throughout the world before spending twenty-seven years with the National Park Service as a Park Naturalist in five national parks and a Park Superintendent of two. Those assignments included witnessing spectacular volcanic eruptions and a deadly tsunami at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, watching wolves capture moose at Isle Royale National Park in Michigan, enjoying back-country ski adventures at Yellowstone, and facing down his Department of the Interior bosses at Carlsbad Caverns National park in New Mexico. He followed his NPS career by serving as a field biologist for The Nature Conservancy in New Mexico. Written in lively prose, From Climbing Peaks to Saving our Planet will keep outdoor enthusiasts spellbound. Spectacular color photographs illustrate each chapter, drawing readers into the action as Bill's stories are brought to life....

Biographies & Memoirs

Professionals & Academics

FriesenPress

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Dunmire, William W.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Dunmire, William W.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Dunmire, William W.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Gardens of New Spain: How Mediterranean Plants and Foods Changed America

Gardens of New Spain: How Mediterranean Plants and Foods Changed America

New Mexico's Spanish Livestock Heritage: Four Centuries of Animals, Land, and People

Mountain Wildflowers of the Southern Rockies: Revealing Their Natural History

New Mexico's Spanish Livestock Heritage: Four Centuries of Animals, Land, and People

Wild Plants of the Pueblo Province: Exploring Ancient and Enduring Uses

Wild Plants and Native Peoples of the Four Corners

New Mexico's Living Landscapes: A Roadside View: A Roadside View

From Climbing Peaks to Saving Our Planet: Outdoor Adventures that Shaped My Life