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Don Perkins led a life as one of the most honored athletes in the
history of the University of New Mexico and the Dallas Cowboys. But
Perkins's life was far more complex and, at times, controversial.
He experienced the traumas of racial discrimination, death,
divorce, football-related injuries, and a never-ending search for
his own identity. In his search, Perkins ventured into
sportscasting, public speaking, community relations, big-rig
trucking, government work, and even amateur theater, where he
portrayed Frederick Douglass and other famous Black leaders.
Through it all, he remained a kind, unassuming, charismatic man,
universally admired by family members, friends, and millions of
fans. Don Perkins: A Champion's Life is the final tribute he so
richly deserves.
In October 1913, 261 miners and two rescuers died when a massive
explosion ripped through a mine operated by Phelps, Dodge &
Company in Dawson, New Mexico. Ten years later, a second blast
claimed the lives of another 120 miners. Today, Dawson is a
deserted ghost town. All that remains is a sea of white iron
crosses memorializing the nearly four hundred miners killed in the
two explosions--a death toll unmatched by mine disasters in any
other town in America. Now, to mark the centennial of the second
disaster, veteran journalist Nick Pappas tells the tragic story of
what was once New Mexico's largest and most modern company town and
of how the strong, determined residents of the community coped with
two heartbreaking catastrophes.
New Mexico history is filled with noteworthy men, women, and
children, usually deserving of high praise and admiration. Sadly,
few of these famous New Mexicans are honored with monuments to
remind us of their achievements in every field, from art and
literature to military service and rocket science. Historian
Richard Melzer attempts to rectify this neglect with an impressive
new book about famous New Mexico gravesites, usually the only
monuments left to honor the human treasures who helped shape so
much of our state, national, and often international history. The
gravesites belong to both famous and infamous characters, from
Billy the Kid to Kit Carson, Elfego Baca, Mabel Dodge Luhan, and
Geronimo (buried in exile in Oklahoma). The result of Melzer's
coast-to-coast quest for the gravesites of deserving New Mexicans
is a book filled with vivid photographs, compelling stories,
humorous epitaphs, and valuable information. With so much data
about so many New Mexicans, this book is destined to serve as a
major reference work for historians, genealogists, students, and
librarians for years to come. With so much good history and a
concluding chapter of truly unusual gravesites found in New Mexico,
casual readers will be engaged and entertained as well. Richard
Melzer is a professor of history at the University of New
Mexico-Valencia Campus. He is an award-winning author of many books
and articles about New Mexico, including two grade school textbooks
to be published in anticipation of New Mexico's centennial
celebration of statehood in 2012. He is the President of the
Historical Society of New Mexico. Sunstone Press has published
three of his previous books, including "Ernie Pyle in the American
Southwest, Breakdown: How the Secret of the Atomic Bomb was Stolen
during World War II," and "When We Were Young in the West: True
Stories of Childhood."
Ernie Pyle was different from all the correspondents who went
before him or followed him in the combat zones of the world. While
others reported on the big picture of troop movements and massive
battles, Pyle wrote on the big picture of troop movements and
massive battles, Pyle wrote about the fighting soldier and his
plight on the front lines.
The enormous effort--called the Manhattan Project--that produced
the world's first atomic bomb was supposed to be the best kept
secret of World War II. And the project's Los Alamos, New Mexico
site, where the bomb was perfected, was supposed to have the
tightest security of the project's other 37 installations across
the United States. Even the vice president, Harry S. Truman, was
kept in the dark initially until fate propelled him into the fray.
But this was an illusion. Evidence from Soviet and American sources
have proven that at least three--and as many as six--Communist
spies penetrated the security system at Los Alamos and shared the
secret of the atomic bomb with the Stalin regime in the Soviet
Union before the end of World War II. Historian Richard Melzer now
sheds new light on how security at Los Alamos broke down--not by
examining this isolated site in New Mexico from the outside as many
other authors have--but from within Los Alamos itself. Using
interviews, memoirs, and formerly confidential files, Melzer shows
that spies quite easily obtained security clearances, gained access
to top secret information, and carried this information to their
Soviet contacts without a hitch. What Melzer tells us about the
flaws of security in the past might well help those in charge of
security today as the United States grapples with these problems in
the aftermath of the Chinese espionage scandal that rocked Los
Alamos and the entire American intelligence community. Includes a
bibliography, historic photographs, and index. BOOK NEWS reports:
"A good survey of Los Alamos security and its many breaches." NEW
MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW said: "Anyone interested in the history of
the atomic bombwill gain much from Melzer's fine treatment of the
failure of wartime security and the loss of atomic secrets. This is
a highly readable and recommended book." RICHARD MELZER is a
professor of history at the University of New Mexico-Valencia
Campus. A specialist in twentieth century New Mexico history, he
has written many articles, chapters, and books about the American
Southwest. He is a prize-winning author and a popular public
speaker. Sunstone Press is also the publisher of Melzer's focused
biography, ERNIE PYLE IN THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST and WHEN WE WERE
YOUNG IN THE WEST, TRUE HISTORIES OF CHILDHOOD.
The Teacher Guide Book on CD for use with A History of New Mexico
Since Statehood, will help in structuring lessons, tests, and
student activities.
LeBaron Bradford Prince (1840-1922) was a transplanted New Yorker,
a tireless judge, a controversial territorial governor, a gentleman
scholar, and an early leader of the Historical Society of New
Mexico. In all these roles, and others, he was a passionate
advocate of New Mexico statehood. Prince was born, raised, and
educated in New York. As a young attorney, his political career in
state politics had progressed well until he clashed with leaders of
the state Republican Party machine. Salvaging his political
fortunes in the West, Prince won appointment as the chief justice
of the New Mexico Supreme Court in 1879. By all accounts, no
territorial judge worked harder than Prince, often hearing cases
from 8:00 in the morning until 11:00 at night. In what time
remained in his busy days, Prince compiled a 603-page volume of
territorial laws and began to write history with the clear purpose
of advocating New Mexico statehood. His first work on New Mexico
history, entitled "Historical Sketches of New Mexico from the
Earliest Records to the American Occupation," appeared in 1883.
"New Mexico's Struggle for Statehood" (1910) and "The Student's
History of New Mexico" (1921) followed. All are included in
Sunstone's Southwest Heritage Series. This new edition of "New
Mexico's Struggle for Statehood" includes a facsimile of the
original edition along with a new foreword by Richard Melzer, PhD,
a biographical sketch from "History of New Mexico" (1891) by Helen
Haines, and a tribute to the memory of L. Bradford Prince from a
publication of the Historical Society of New Mexico, No. 25.
LeBaron Bradford Prince (1840-1922) was a transplanted New Yorker,
a tireless judge, a controversial territorial governor, a gentleman
scholar, and an early leader of the Historical Society of New
Mexico. In all these roles, and others, he was a passionate
advocate of New Mexico statehood. Prince was born, raised, and
educated in New York. As a young attorney, his political career in
state politics had progressed well until he clashed with leaders of
the state Republican Party machine. Salvaging his political
fortunes in the West, Prince won appointment as the chief justice
of the New Mexico Supreme Court in 1879. By all accounts, no
territorial judge worked harder than Prince, often hearing cases
from 8:00 in the morning until 11:00 at night. In what time
remained in his busy days, Prince compiled a 603-page volume of
territorial laws and began to write history with the clear purpose
of advocating New Mexico statehood. His first work on New Mexico
history, entitled "Historical Sketches of New Mexico from the
Earliest Records to the American Occupation," appeared in 1883.
This new edition, part of Sunstone's award-winning Southwest
Heritage Series, includes a facsimile of this original edition
along with a new foreword by Richard Melzer, PhD, a biographical
sketch from "History of New Mexico" (1891) by Helen Haines, and a
tribute to the memory of L. Bradford Prince from a publication of
the Historical Society of New Mexico, No. 25. Prince's "The
Student's History of New Mexico" and "New Mexico's Struggle for
Statehood" are also included in Sunstone's Southwest Heritage
Series.
L. Bradford Prince was one of seven territorial governors who
attended the January 15th inauguration of New Mexico's first state
governor, William C. McDonald, in New Mexico's long-awaited
statehood year, 1912. Within a year of that auspicious occasion,
Prince published "A Concise History of New Mexico," a condensation
and revision of his "Historical Sketches" of 1883. His purpose in
1913 was to provide a "little volume" that might be of use in the
now-required teaching of New Mexico history in the state's public
schools. The passage of a public school bill during his term as
governor had been considered an important step toward the
attainment of statehood. The publication of a state history
textbook was meant to be an important contribution to New Mexico
public education once statehood had been achieved. But within a
year of its publication, Prince affirmed that the length and price
of the already brief "Concise History" was excessive for most
public schools and students. While still recommending "A Concise
History" for teachers and most adults, Prince offered an even more
focused, 174-page work, entitled "The Student's History of New
Mexico." Now, instead of using history to argue the case for New
Mexico statehood, Prince's chief goal was to use history to help
create pride in New Mexico for the "clear-eyed, pure hearted, noble
minded youth" of the nation's newest state. These future citizens
could take pride in both their past, "the most interesting of all
American state histories," and in the special qualities of
individual groups whose collective story was "unrivaled in ancient
or modern times." Convinced that "The Student's History" had served
its purpose well, Prince later updated his book with an additional
ten pages about New Mexico's first few years of statehood. This
second edition of "The Student's History" appeared in 1921, a year
before Prince's death, and this is the edition Sunstone Press is
publishing in its Southwest Heritage Series. The second edition of
"The Student's History" is also offered as a brief history of New
Mexico of value to the general reader sophisticated enough to
recognize its biases, but astute enough to appreciate its many
facts. If this unique telling of New Mexico's past adds to our
pride in being New Mexicans-or helps others to better understand
New Mexico-then L. Bradford Prince will have achieved his purpose
long after he departed his beloved New Mexico, once a striving
territory and now a productive member of the nation's family of
states.
Presents biographical sketches of New Mexican children from different cultures, races, and classes who represent the strength and diversity of this state's heritage.
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