Audubon was not the father of American ornithology. That honorific belongs to Alexander Wilson, whose encyclopedic American Ornithology established a distinctive approach that emphasized the observation of live birds. In the first full-length study to reproduce all of Wilson's unpublished drawings for the nine-volume Ornithology, Edward Burtt and William Davis illustrate Wilson's pioneering and, today, underappreciated achievement as the first ornithologist to describe the birds of the North American wilderness. Abandoning early ambitions to become a poet in the mold of his countryman Robert Burns, Wilson emigrated from Scotland to settle near Philadelphia, where the botanist William Bartram encouraged his proclivity for art and natural history. Wilson traveled 12,000 miles on foot, on horseback, in a rowboat, and by stage and ship, establishing a network of observers along the way. He wrote hundreds of accounts of indigenous birds, discovered many new species, and sketched the behavior and ecology of each species he encountered. Drawing on their expertise in both science and art, Burtt and Davis show how Wilson defied eighteenth-century conventions of biological illustration by striving for realistic depiction of birds in their native habitats. He drew them in poses meant to facilitate identification, making his work the model for modern field guides and an inspiration for Audubon, Spencer Fullerton Baird, and other naturalists who followed. On the bicentennial of his death, this beautifully illustrated volume is a fitting tribute to Alexander Wilson and his unique contributions to ornithology, ecology, and the study of animal behavior.

"Neither honor nor glory rode that Hellcat down to the deck, just duty. Navy fighter pilot Lt. Bill Davis was about to bomb the last ship remaining from the attack on Pearl Harbor - and in so doing was about to write the greatest untold story of World War II. Sinking the Rising Sun is that story - a memoir of World War II that traces the path of a young man graduating from the Ivy Leagues to deadly combat in the Pacific in a richly textured story you won't soon forget." In October of 1944, a young Navy lieutenant nosed over his F6F Hellcat and began a dive towards a Japanese aircraft carrier below. "I screamed down on the carrier which now completely filled my gunsights," the pilot wrote in his memoir Sinking The Rising Sun . "I rested my finger on the bomb release button. I kept going." And go he did. U.S. Navy fighter pilot William E. "Bill" Davis had no idea of it then but he was just seconds from taking his place among the many great Americans that have worn a Navy uniform. The ship filling his gunsights was no less than the Japanese carrier Zuikaku, the last of the fleet that had participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor. Unlike today, back in 1941 no one sent out a fleet directive to hunt down those ships but every sailor had a mental list and as each ship was sunk, one name was checked off. Zuikaku was the last. With his F6F Hellcat insanely past the redline, Davis triggered the release, pulled back on his stick, and promptly slumped down into unconsciousness. No, he never saw his bomb but it squarely hit its mark, the beginning of the end for the Zuikaku, closure you might say, but Bill had little time to think about any of that. When his eyes fluttered open, his off-the-charts F6F was headed squarely into the side of the light cruiser Oyodo. Today, 69 years after Pearl Harbor, Bill's bombing run may be the last untold story of Pearl Harbor. He managed to pull his F6F above the gunwales of the Oyodo and he flew through an impossibly small space between the forward gun turret and the bridge; he remembers the white uniform of a Japanese admiral and perhaps he saw his life flash before his eyes as he twisted his plane into a 500-mile-per-hour knife-edge pass and cleared the destroyer. Of course this is the stuff of the Navy's highest honor but none of this had anything to do with why Bill nosed over into a hail of anti-aircraft fire and held steady until his bomb found its mark. Neither honor nor glory rode that Hellcat down to the deck, just duty. Bill did his duty and the reward he fought for was the reward men in World War II wanted more than any medal or ribbon. They wanted to go home. That Bill could do that and provide a measure of closure for the sailors that went down on December 7th was merely the added satisfaction of a job exceptionally well done.

Written by former UNM president William "Bud" Davis, "Miracle on the Mesa" covers the changes and growth experienced by the University since its founding on February 28, 1889.

The story of the "Miracle on the Mesa" is told chronologically, within the framework of each administration, beginning with the "joint presidencies" of Elias S. Stover and Hiram Hadley, who served from 1892 through 1897, and ending with Louis Caldera, current president of UNM. More than just a history of the university, Davis's lively text also provides a unique look at Albuquerque and its citizens during each time period. For example, this colorful description of the equipment football players wore in the 1890s:

"Our canvas suits--those who were fortunate enough to have them--carried little padding except where towels were stuffed over shoulders and knees. Head-gears, nose-guards, and helmets were not yet introduced and all players cultivated heavy heads of hair for protection."--from "Miracle on the Mesa"

UNM alumni, former and current UNM students, and former and current faculty members and administrators will enjoy reading about the efforts that have gone into making the University of New Mexico the quality institution of higher learning that it is today: the Miracle on the Mesa.