BOOKSHELF

CROSSING OPEN GROUND, by Barry Lopez. Macmillan Publishing Company, 866 Third Ave., New York, NY 10022. 1988. 208 pages. $17.95, hardcover, postage included.

One year after the Treaty of Paris ended the American Revolution, Congress adopted Thomas Jefferson's plan for governing the western lands. The year was 1784, and the Jefferson plan amounted to an invitation to "conquer the wilderness." The stump of a once-huge tree became a symbol of civilized progress. While that attitude, in context, is understandable, our national values have changed.

Nature writer Henry David Thoreau had been dead 77 years when H. S. Canby published his biography in 1939, but not until 1960 was Thoreau elected to the American Hall of Fame. By then true wilderness was a rarity.

After World War II, our nation gradually began to appreciate the value of what humanity had not yet marred. This enlightenment created the writers to extol it. None has done so with a better blend of science and art than the perceptive observer Barry Lopez. Crossing Open Ground contains 14 of Lopez's essays, all of which focus on the American West. A 10-day float trip through Arizona's Grand Canyon; an archeological field trip amid Anasazi ruins; the stone horse, an ancient intaglio on the desert floor near the California-Mexico border; and the brief, brutal life of a rodeo bull rider are but a few of the subjects Lopez employs in developing his eloquent discussions.

For his monumental work Arctic Dreams, Lopez received the 1986 American Book Award for nonfiction. Of Wolves and Men, several other books, and many articles are of the same high quality. Unlike some nature writers, Lopez has no need to resort to theatrical blustering. He knows his subject.

As a Lopez sampler, Crossing Open Ground is a delight. Its many moods and settings and the variety of subject matter not to mention Lopez's literary style will continue to enchant the reader long after the final page is turned.

ARIZONA PLACE NAMES, by Will C. Barnes. University of Arizona Press. 1988. 503 pages. Available from Arizona Highways, 2039 W. Lewis Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85009; telephone (602) 258-1000. $15.95, softcover, plus $1.00 postage and handling.

First published in 1935, the original Arizona Place Names is an old, dependable, and interesting friend. Later editions have adopted the title and format, but the original Barnes has never been surpassed. "Place names" is a modest description, for the listings unleash a flow of history, folklore, geography, and etymology. And yes, even humor and romance.

Will C. Barnes came to the Arizona Territory in 1880 as a private first class in the United States Army. He won the Medal of Honor, and later became a cattle rancher, state legislator, and U.S. Forest Service official. His life's work was Arizona. He rode across the country, carried on a voluminous correspondence, and compiled about 4,500 file cards of Arizona place names, using the system of the U.S. Geographic Board of which he served as a member and then-from 1927 to 1930-as secretary.

If there is one indispensable Arizona book, Barnes's Arizona Place Names is it. Every man, woman, and child who sets foot in the Grand Canyon State should have this book at hand. In bringing back a classic, the University of Arizona Press has made a major cultural contribution. The entries are arranged alphabetically for quick reference, and the foreword by Dr. Bernard L. Fontana, field historian at the University of Arizona, is a joy.

NATIONAL PARKS OF NORTHWEST MEXICO II, by Richard D. Fisher. Sunracer Publications, Box 40092, Tucson, AZ 85717. 1988. 104 pages. $11.92, softcover, plus $1.00 postage and handling.

This colorful publication goes far beyond look-alike resorts and routine tourist information. It features 86 excellent color photographs, nine full-color maps, seven illustrations, and weather graphs. It takes the mobile or armchair traveler from the backcountry barrancas of the Tarahumara to the oceanside Seris, who in the last three decades have based a stable economy on their exquisite ironwood carvings.

With a sensitive eye to Mexico's tempo, the author gives us a stunning split-level travel guide. Backpack or Club Med-the how, where, when, and who are all here at your fingertips.