BOOKSHELF

BLESSED BY LIGHT: VISIONS OF THE COLORADO PLATEAU, edited by Stephen Trimble. Peregrine Smith Books, P. O. Box 667, Layton, UT 84041. 1986. 75 pages. $34.95, hardcover, plus $1.50 postage and handling.

IMAGES FROM THE SOUTHWEST, photographs by Marc Gaede, essay by David Lavender. Northland Press, P. O. Box N, Flagstaff, AZ 86002. 1986. 89 pages. $35.00, hardcover, plus $3.25 postage and handling. $19.95, softcover, plus $2.00 postage and handling.

The two publications listed above share several characteristics in common. Both deal with the dramatic landscape of the Southwest. Both are rich in the art of the photographer. And both give voice to writers of renown, crusaders for conservation: Edward Abbey and David Lavender. Blessed by Light focuses on the Colorado Plateau, that Sandstone walls of Canyon del Muerto. A snow-covered wagon shed in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of northern New Mexico speaks eloquently of clinging to yesterday in a world of change. The empty stone houses of early settlers in southern Utah and the dusty bones of Father Kino in Magdalena, Sonora, remind us that only the land is immortal. Enhancing this impressive collection of regional unbordered and indefinite land mass drained by the Colorado River and containing the prime canyon lands of southern Utah and northern Arizona. The photographs, all in color, have been contributed by twenty-eight wildernesswise photographers. In this distinguished troupe of artists are such well-recognized names as David Grant Noble, John Running, and the editor, Stephen Trimble. Edward Abbey has written the foreword with his usual, Images is a provocative foreword by Bruce Babbitt, former governor of Arizona. David Lavender, one of the paramount writers of the American West, has contributed a splendid feature essay that begins on Aravaipa Creek, expertly tours the region, and returns to its point of origin.

delightful lack of restraint.

RUINS ALONG THE RIVER: MONTEZUMA CASTLE, MONTEZUMA WELL, AND TUZIGOOT NATIONAL MONUMENTS, by Carle Hodge; photographs by George H. H. Huey. Southwest Parks and Monuments Association, 221 North Court Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85701. 1986. 48 pages. $4.95, softcover, plus $1.50 postage and handling.

In this brief but beautifully produced booklet, two of Arizona's more spectacular assets come together-its unequaled scenery and The engrossing story of those assets, their natural and social history, has been penned in nontechnical terms by the competent science writer Carle Hodge, and embellished by the stunning photography of George H. H. Huey.

northern Arizona.

Spend some time along the Verde, picnic under a sycamore, and read this book. Your enjoyment is Many of Lummis' photographs of those visits have been gathered in the present book. They provide a valuable record of scenes and a life-style no longer visible. The images are coupled with a tantalizingly brief text.

its pre-Columbian civilizations. The river is the Verde, which cuts a green swath across central Arizona, and the ruins are the massive pueblos and cliff dwellings that have been designated national monuments in the area. They are mute reminders of prehistoric Indians who lived in the Verde Valley in the thirteenth century.

guaranteed.

The book should add to the enjoyment of modern-day visits to these Native Americans of the Southwest.

The seven sections of the publication are titled Rock, Water, Canyons, Mesas, Plateaus, Mountains, and Time. The book is poetic, provocative, and colorful.

Images from the Southwest. Historians, geologists, and meteorologists all differ in their definitions of the Southwest. If one drew a great curve on the map from just north of Santa Barbara, California, to Corpus Christi, Texas, it would take in all of Arizona and New Mexico and portions of California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas.

The eighty-nine black-and-white photographs that Marc Gaede has selected for this publication are

- Both reviews by Robert C. Euler

LUMMIS IN THE PUEBLOS, by Patrick T. Houlihan and Betsy E. Houlihan. Entrada Books, Northland Press, P. O. Box N, Flagstaff, AZ 86002. 1986. 155 pages. $29.95, hardcover, plus $3.25 postage; $19.95, softcover, plus $2.00 postage.

From 1888 until early in the twentieth century, Charles Fletcher Lummis, editor, writer, photographer, visited a number of Indian villages, including those of the Hopi of northern Arizona.

stunning images of a vivid land. Some faces reflect the passing of (RIGHT) "San Ildefonso Pottery," by George Molnar; oil on canvas, 30 by 24 inches. Molnar, 33, is known for his meticulous technique in oils. Although he began with still-life renderings and farm scenes, he now finds Indian subjects more satisfying. His portraits are not romanticized, Molnar says; rather they reflect the "realism of imperfection." The artist lives and paints in Prescott.