Las Vegas, New Mexico, is the subject and muse of this provocative
case study of "place", exploring the history and geography but most
centrally walking the town and landscape and meeting the people
whose lives tell of the rich complexity of the location. To start
with topography, Las Vegas translates as "The Meadows". The name
refers to the series of spacious grasslands fanning out from the
slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Range where the mountains form the
western terminus of the Great Plains. This fine location allowed
Las Vegas, situated as it was on the Santa Fe Trail and with the
arrival of the railroad, to become New Mexico's handsomest, most
prosperous town. Throughout the opulent years from 1821 through the
first decades of the twentieth century, merchants and businessmen
amassed considerable wealth in grain and lumber from Mora and San
Miguel counties, along with wool, hides, and metals from the Pecos
and Mesilla valleys. The region's decline was spelled out by the
rerouting of the railway along with changes in manufacturing.
Today's Las Vegas is a proud but fading shadow of its former self,
captured in human terms, in families and memories, and still in the
dreams of its people. Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, an accomplished
cultural historian and photographer, includes portraits of some
sixty residents interviewed extensively for the project and dozens
of photographs detailing the town's architecture, public spaces,
and natural features. To comprehend the layout of Las Vegas and
study its architecture, Rogers walked its streets, exploring the
outlying villages and ranches with traces of the Santa Fe Trail at
Fort Union and elsewhere. To visualize its past, she delved deeply
in archives and histories. To feel the pulse of the present, Rogers
interviewed Las Vegans representing different cultural backgrounds,
ages, and walks of life and immersed herself in local events and
social gatherings. The result is an authentic portrait of a unique
cultural place.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
(2)
