Fellow priests called his ministry "just short of a miracle." A superior castigated him as "an adventurer," Apaches and migrant Mexicans claimed him "one of us." To his fellow soldiers he was "a man's man." Of himself he chuckled, "I've been in mischief all my life." He was Father Albert Braun, OFM, in turn mule-headed, explosive, or penitent. Vigorously outspoken, he once charged a group of august bishops to "get off your butts and out among the people." His sense of duty was profound, his humor crusty. He arrived in New Mexico as missionary to the Mescalero Apaches just after Pancho Villa's raid, was a highly decorated chaplain in both World Wars, and after World War II he participated in the top-secret birth of the first hydrogen bomb on a south Pacific atoll. Drawing on archival and military records, letters, memoirs, and interviews, Dorothy Cave chronicles the amazing life of this last of the frontier priests from his birth in the lusty, brawling California of 1889, to his death and burial in 1983 in the church he built for his beloved Mescaleros. This book is at once a biography and a kaleidoscopic history of the tumultuous times in which he lived. From it there emerges the inspiring saga of a man who changed thousands of lives with faith, humor, dedication, and a generous dash of pure hard-headed cussedness. Dorothy Cave spent much of her childhood exploring with her geologist father the isolated villages and mountains of northern New Mexico, a practice she continues today. Although her formal education was at Agnes Scott College and the Universities of Colorado and Wyoming, she feels her true education has come from these remote but rapidly vanishing hamlets and pueblos and from the soil-rooted wisdom of those who live in them. Cave has traveled widely, danced with the Atlanta Ballet, acted, and taught. She is the author of two histories: "Beyond Courage," which won the New Mexico Presswomen's Zia Award, and "Four Trails to Valor," both from Sunstone Press. Her two novels, "Mountains of the Blue Stone" and "Song on a Blue Guitar" were also published by Sunstone Press. Cave served as historical consultant for two documentary films: "Colors of Courage," produced by Scott Henry and E. Anthony Martinez for the University of New Mexico's Center for Regional Studies; and for Aaron Wilson's award-winning "A New Mexico Story," based largely on her "Beyond Courage." She appears in both films as narrator/commentator. "Beyond Courage" also inspired composer Steven Melillo's musical opus of the same title, acclaimed on two continents.

Here are four men, representing the dominant cultures of the American Southwest, who set their feet upon trails which follow the physical and metaphysical journeys of their forefathers--the Pueblos' Cornmeal Path, the Navajo Beautyway, the Spanish Way of the Cross, and the Yankee Trail of Destiny. All lead to the great fact of the past century, World War II, in which each man blazes his own trail in his country's greatest crisis. Each carries to war his people's pride and his father's faith. Through the jungles of Bataan, the bloody battles of Tarawa and Iwo Jima, across the deserts of North Africa, and the formidable Italian mountain chain, each carries his bits of home--medicine bundle or crucifix, sacred cornmeal or pocket Bible--and each clings to the mystic thread that will bring him home. At journey's end the circle closes as each man, each race, each reader, must speculate on the untrodden paths ahead, leaving them, and us, with profound--perhaps painful--questions and a deeper understanding of man's relation to man, and to the trinity of Earth, Sky and Water. Dorothy Cave's literary credits include two Southwest Writers' Awards, the Simon Scanlon Award, and the International Literary Award. She has served as historical consultant for two film documentaries on the Battle of Bataan and the ensuing POW experience, and appears in both films as commentator. Cave's other books, all from Sunstone Press, include "Beyond Courage," "Mountains of the Blue Stone," "Song on a Blue Guitar," and "God's Warrior: Father Albert Braun, O.F.M., Last of the Frontier Priests."

Bataan, the last bastion stemming the Japanese tidal wave across the Pacific, was about to fall. In the midst of crashing bombs and depleted stores, the vastly outnumbered lines broke and commands disintegrated. Only one unit, 'Old Two Hon'erd," a small band of New Mexico National Guardsmen, remained intact. With only rifles, a few rounds of ammunition, and an unshakable esprit de corps, they prepared to die but not surrender. In her award-winning history, Dorothy Cave follows the members of a small unit who played a key role in this pivotal moment in history. They were the first unit to fire when the Japanese struck. They guarded the bridges of the strategic retreat as all others crossed into Bataan to make the now-famous stand. They were the last to lay down arms, and did so only when ordered by the high command. Then followed the Death March, starvation, and brutality of Japanese POW camps and Hell Ships. Laughing at their captors, they sabotaged the Japanese war machine at every chance. They were still fighting in Uncle Sam's army and only half returned. Amid human depravity, described in graphic detail, they kept their faith, honor, and a profound love of their country. Theirs is a legacy of courage and something beyond. Dorothy Cave's literary credits include two Southwest Writers' Awards, the Simon Scanlon Award, and the International Literary Award. She has served as historical consultant for two film documentaries on the Battle of Bataan and the ensuing POW experience, and appears in both films as commentator. This book, now, classic, is widely regarded as "the definitive volume" on the subject. Cave's other books, all from Sunstone Press, include "Four Trails to Valor," "Mountains of the Blue Stone," "Song on a Blue Guitar," and "God's Warrior: Father Albert Braun, O.F.M., Last of the Frontier Priests."

An old promise, a new ghost, and a resurgent mystery send rancher Joe Steele in search of Toro Duran, his army buddy of some 50 years and a war ago. In a barrio called Tuceros Joe finds himself sucked into a fight Toro and his offbeat amigos are waging to save their cantina and its wildly decorated outhouse?