Today, as much as ever before, the red-rock, pinon-covered state of New Mexico remains tierra encantada, "the land of enchantment," to Indians, Anglos, and descendants of the conquistadores. New Mexico's long history of intermingling peoples and of efforts to balance human needs with nature's resources can instruct a nation facing similar hard decisions in the late twentieth century. It is a story, believes author Marc Simmons, that contains within it a perpetual declaration of independence.

New Mexico: A History (States and the Nation)

Children's Books

Simmons, Marc

History

W.W.Norton&Company

On the Santa Fe Trail

On the Santa Fe Trail, a collection of first-hand accounts by nineteenth-century overlanders, offers an intensely personal view of that arduous trip. In retrospect, the history of the Santa Fe Trail--crossing forests, prairies, rivers, and deserts--seems overlayed with the gloss of romance and chivalry. It is set off by heroic attitudes and picturesque adventures. And it has left a deep imprint on one region of the American West. The trail crossed parts of five modern states--Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and New Mexico. From the perspective of the overland trade, those five are forever bound in historical communion. The route began in Missouri and ended, after almost a thousand miles, in New Mexico. But it was Kansas that claimed the largest share of the trail: from a beginning point at either Kansas City or Fort Leavenworth it angled across the entire state, exiting over four hundred miles later in the southwestern corner. It would be no exaggeration to say that trade and travel on the Santa Fe Trail derived much of its special flavor from the Kansas experience and that, in turn, the presence of the trail went a long way toward shaping the early history of the state. Many participants in this story, overlanders of various kinds, wrote down what they saw and learned on the way to Santa Fe. It is with that in mind that Marc Simmons has here collected a dozen narratives and reports from the middle years of the trail's history--from the early 1840s to the late '60s—that is, just after New Mexico had passed into American hands. It was a period of intense Indian-white conflict and before the establishment of rail lines along the route. The authors of these narratives--among them several teenagers, a Spanish aristocrat, an Indian agent, a German immigrant lady, a government scout, and a young New Mexican drover of the peon class--qualify as plain folk who, without quite intending to, got swept up in the westering adventure. Simmons has written an introduction to the collection and to each of the narratives.

Americas

University Press of Kansas

Witchcraft in the Southwest: Spanish and Indian Supernaturalism on the Rio Grande

"Occasionally a truly remarkable book appears-one that takes a topic in need of discussion, thoroughly researches it, and presents credible results in a fascinating and extremely well manner. Witchcraft in the Southwest is such a volume, and as such, is a must for all readers, be they scholars, students, or others. . . . The volume devotes equal time to Spanish and Indian supernaturalism along the Rio Grande. Opening with a succinct review of the meaning and evolution of witchcraft in Europe and Spain, Simmons establishes the existence of many similar beliefs among native inhabitants of the New World. Moving chronologically to Spanish colonization, the author vividly conveys Spanish reactions to Pueblo life and religion, the fears of witches and other supernatural forces that plagued Spanish colonists. . . . Emphasizing the beliefs and nature of witchcraft rather than the actual mechanics (which are secret), he follows Hispanic communities into the late 19th century. . . . Readers learn how witchcraft fits into the Pueblo world view and how it compares and contrasts with European and Spanish varieties in such areas as motivation, types, powers, beliefs and means of acquisition. . . . Simmons' study provides a needed overview and one that is carefully based on available ethnohistorical documents and credible anthropological data."-American Indian Quarterly A professional historian, author, editor, and translator, Marc Simmons has published numerous books and monographs on the Southwest as well as articles in more than twenty scholarly and popular journals.

Bison Books

The Little Lion of the Southeast: A Life of Manuel Antonio Chaves

Ohio Univ Pr

Manuel Antonio Chaves’ life straddled three eras of New Mexican history: he was born (1818) at the tag end of the Spanish colonial period, he grew to manhood in the rough and heady days of the Santa Fe trade during the quarter century of Mexican rule (1821–1846), and he spent his mature years under the territorial regime established by the United States. Manuel Chaves’ long career (died 1889) was interwoven with almost every major historical event which occurred during his adult life—the Texan-Santa Fe Expedition, the Mexican War, the Civil War, skirmishes with Utes, Navajos, and Apaches. He was called El Leoncito, The Little Lion, having earned the name as an Indian fighter. He lived for two years in St. Louis and was a well-travelled man, doing business in New Orleans, New York, and Cuba. A hundred years ago when men still gathered around campfires and storytelling was a well-developed art, Chaves’ exploits were known to all New Mexicans. But history has a capricious memory and his name became virtually forgotten. Around the turn of the century, Charles F. Lummis’ flowery pen recalled brief attention to Chaves’ life, and in 1927 he appeared as a minor character in Willa Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop—but otherwise was virtually forgotten. Alas. Too few of our Spanish frontiersmen have been studied in depth. Manuel Chaves and his life should not be lost. He was one of the legendary but real men who pioneered and built the 19th century Southwest. Howard R. Lamar laments: “The Spanish-American population of New Mexico still lacks a historian.” Marc Simmons’ biography of Manuel Chaves helps fill that gap.

The Little Lion of the Southwest: A Life Of Manuel Antonio Chaves

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

SWALLOW PRESS+

This book chronicles the life and frontier career of Don Juan de OÃ±ate, the first colonizer of the old Spanish Borderlands. Born in Zacatecas, Mexico, in the mid-sixteenth century, Don Juan was the prominent son of an aristocratic silver-mining family.
In 1598, in his late forties, OÃ±ate led a formidable expedition of settlers, with wagons and livestock, on an epic march northward to the upper Rio Grade Valley of New Mexico. There he established the first European settlement west of the Mississippi, launching a significant chapter in early American history.
In his activities he displayed qualities typical of Spainâ€™s sixteenth-century men of action; in his career we find a summation of the motives, aspirations, intentions, strengths, and weaknesses of the Hispanic pioneers who settled the Borderlands.

The Last Conquistador: Juan De Onate and the Settling of the Far Southwest (Oklahoma Western Biographies)

Historical

Univ of Oklahoma Pr

This book chronicles the life and frontier career of Don Juan de Oñate, the first colonizer of the old Spanish Borderlands. Born in Zacatecas, Mexico, in the mid-sixteenth century, Don Juan was the prominent son of an aristocratic silver-mining family. In 1598, in his late forties, Oñate led a formidable expedition of settlers, with wagons and livestock, on an epic march northward to the upper Rio Grade Valley of New Mexico. There he established the first European settlement west of the Mississippi, launching a significant chapter in early American history. In his activities he displayed qualities typical of Spain’s sixteenth-century men of action; in his career we find a summation of the motives, aspirations, intentions, strengths, and weaknesses of the Hispanic pioneers who settled the Borderlands.

The Last Conquistador: Juan de Onate and the Settling of the Far Southwest (Volume 2) (The Oklahoma Western Biographies)

University of Oklahoma Press

Albuquerque

University of New Mexico Press

Along the Santa Fe Trail

The Santa Fe Trail was one of the most important overland trade routes in the nineteenth century. For nearly sixty years, from 1822 to 1880, it carried traders, army troops, and pioneers west from Missouri until it was superseded by the railroad.This book presents two personal, contemporary views of the trail, both of which pay tribute to the trail's role in westward expansion and document what remains today after a century of disuse.Joan Myers's haunting, evocative photographs depict both the landmarks and the vast empty space of the trail. She captures the sense of what these places must have felt like to voyagers facing 900 miles of treacherous desert, mountains, and prairie.As he retraces the trail, Marc Simmons remembers the trials and courage of those who cut this path. He relates modern sites to the people and events connected with them a century ago. The result is an engaging history and a personal exploration of a romantic legend.

Teen & Young Adult

Univ of New Mexico Pr

For all who love New Mexico, and for those who aspire to know the state, this book is a graceful and compelling summary of what has made the Land of Enchantment its distinctive self. Originally published in 1977 to commemorate the bicentennial of American Independence, New Mexico is now available for the first time in a quality paperback edition with a new introduction by the author. 
In writing this book, Marc Simmons sets out to arrive at an understanding of the state's character. His is an interpretive, sensitive, individual--even personal--account. He shows that across the centuries the collision and mingling of cultures dominates New Mexico's history. Out of this complex interplay of human and natural forces he selects his examples of Pueblo life ways, Spanish domination, and Anglo control to make immediate and memorable the state's rich history.

New Mexico: An Interpretive History

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Books by Simmons, Marc