Sunday Press Spotlight: University of New Mexico Press
Selected Recent and Forthcoming Titles
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Tia's Tamales (Multilingual Edition)
Hardcover University of New Mexico Press; Bilingual edition (May 15, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0826350267 ISBN-13: 978-0826350268
Ana Baca (Author), Noel Chilton (Illustrator)
Ana Baca's bilingual tale of how two children from different generations learn to make their family recipe for tamales will delight readers of her earlier picture books that combine folklore and traditional cuisine.
Luz's school day is canceled because of snow and her abuela decides it's the perfect time to teach her to make tamales, just as Abuela's father, Diego, was taught by his tia on a long-ago winter day.
As Abuela tells it, when Tia showed up unexpectedly at Diego's home, the pantry was almost bare with only a few dried squash, two pumpkins, three onions, a bundle of dried corn, and one red chile ristra on the shelves. Diego didn't think they'd be able to do much with such meager ingredients, but by the end of the afternoon, Tia had taught him that with laughter and a little embellishment, a delicious meal can be made from almost nothing.
The Maya of Modernism: Art, Architecture, and Film
Hardcover University of New Mexico Press (May 15, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0826349811 ISBN-13: 978-0826349811
Jesse Lerner
From the time when archaeologists first began to discover the civilization's spectacular ruins, Mexico's Mayan past has been a boundless source of inspiration, ideas, and iconography for the modernist imagination. This study examines the ways artists, architects, filmmakers, photographers, and other producers of visual culture in Mexico, the United States, Europe, and beyond have mined Mayan history and imagery.
Beginning his study in the mid-nineteenth century, with the first mechanically reproduced and mass distributed images of the Mayan ruins, and ending with recent works that address this history of representation, Lerner argues that Maya modernism is the product of an ongoing pan-American modernism characterized by a continuing series of reinterpretations, collaborations, and exchanges in which Yucatecans, Mexicans and foreigners, mestizos, Mayas, and others all participate and are free to endorse, misunderstand, reinterpret, or reject each other's ideas.
Cuauhtemoc's Bones: Forging National Identity in Modern Mexico
(Dialogos Series) Paperback University of New Mexico Press (May 15, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0826350372 ISBN-13: 978-0826350374
Paul Gillingham
In 1949, a group of villagers and ad hoc archaeologists dug up what they believed to be the remains of the last Aztec emperor, Cuauhtemoc, in a remote village in the mountains of central Mexico. State and local leaders enthusiastically promoted this remarkable discovery and nationalist celebrations erupted throughout the country.
The festivities ended abruptly when professional Mexican archaeologists denied that the body was that of Cuauhtemoc, igniting what became the greatest scandal in the cultural politics of twentieth-century Mexico. Suddenly, Cuauhtemoc's bones were at the center of debates about the politics and mechanisms of Mexican national identity.
In this engaging study, Paul Gillingham uses the revelation of the forgery of Cuauhtemoc's tomb and the responses it evoked as a means of examining the set of ideas, beliefs, and dreams that bind societies to the nation-state.
Primitive Revolution: Restorationist Religion and the Idea of the Mexican Revolution, 1940-1968
Paperback University of New Mexico Press (June 20, 2011)
ISBN-10: 082634951X ISBN-13: 978-0826349514
Jason H. Dormady
In this intriguing study, Jason Dormady examines the ways members of Mexico's urban and rural poor used religious community to mediate between themselves and the state through the practice of religious primitivism, the belief that they were restoring Christianity – and the practice of Mexican citizenship – to a more pure and essential state. Focusing on three community formation projects -- the Iglesia del Reino de Dios en su Plenitud, a Mormon-based polygamist organization; the Iglesia Luz del Mundo, an evangelical Protestant organization; and the Union Nacional Sinarquista, a semi-fascist Mexican Catholic group -- Dormady argues that their attempts to establish religious authenticity mirror the efforts of officials to define the meaning of the Mexican Revolution in the era following its military phase.
Despite the fact that these communities engaged in counterrevolutionary behavior, the state remained pragmatic and willing to be flexible depending on convergence of the group's interests with those of the official revolution.
Marvels and Miracles in Late Colonial Mexico: Three Texts in Context
(Religions of the Americas Series) Hardcover University of New Mexico Press (June 20, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0826349757 ISBN-13: 978-0826349750
William B. Taylor
Miracles, signs of divine presence and intervention, have been esteemed by Christians, especially Catholic Christians, as central to religious belief.
During the second half of the eighteenth century Spain's Bourbon dynasty sought to tighten its control over New World colonies, reform imperial institutions, and change the role of the church and religion in colonial life.
As a result, miracles were recognized and publicized sparingly by the church hierarchy and colonial courts were increasingly reluctant to recognize the events. Despite this lack of official encouragement, stories of amazing healings, rescues, and acts of divine retribution abounded throughout Mexico.
Consisting of three rare documents about miracles from this period, each accompanied by an introductory essay, this study serves as a source book and complement to the author's Shrines and Miraculous Images: Religious Life in Mexico Before the Reforma.
La Llorona: The Crying Woman (Multilingual Edition)
Hardcover University of New Mexico Press; Bilingual edition (September 15, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0826344607 ISBN-13: 978-0826344601
Rudolfo Anaya (Author), Amy Cordova (Illustrator)
La Llorona, the Crying Woman, is the legendary creature who haunts rivers, lakes, and lonely roads. Said to seek out children who disobey their parents, she has become a 'boogeyman', terrorizing the imaginations of New Mexican children and inspiring them to behave. But there are other lessons her tragic history can demonstrate for children.
In Rudolfo Anaya's version Maya, a young woman in ancient Mexico, loses her children to Father Time s cunning. This tragic and informative story serves as an accessible message of mortality for children. La Llorona, deftly translated by Enrique Lamadrid, is familiar and newly informative, while Amy Cordova's rich illustrations illuminate the story. The legend as retold by Anaya, a man as integral to southwest tradition as La Llorona herself, is storytelling anchored in a very human experience. His book helps parents explain to children the reality of death and the loss of loved ones.
Bruja: The Legend of La Llorona
Paperback University of New Mexico Press (October 15, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0826350526 ISBN-13: 978-0826350527
Lucinda Ciddio Leyba (Author)
In this powerfully eerie tale by Lucinda Ciddio Leyba, the legend of La Llorona is recast as the tale of a witch intent on doing evil in modern Santa Fe.
By the light of the full moon, La Llorona is released from her earthly tomb. Cursed with the memories of her past, she becomes obsessed with reclaiming what was taken from her and preys on Santa Fe's innocent citizens. One of the unwittingly haunted is Christina, a young mother caught up in the ancient tradition of curanderas and witches. As she slips dangerously into the dark recesses of La Llorona's twisted mind, Christina becomes desperate to protect her own children from the terrifying madness, and must find a way to stop the evil that possesses her before she loses her sanity and everything she holds dear.
Amadito and the Hero Children : Amadito y los Ninos Heroes
(Paso Por Aqui Series on the Nuevomexicano Literary Heritage Series)
Hardcover University of New Mexico Press; Bilingual edition (November 15, 2011)
ISBN-10: 082634979X ISBN-13: 978-0826349798
Enrique R. Lamadrid (Author), Amy Cordova (Illustrator)
Recent health scares such as H1N1 influenza have exposed children to frightening information that can be difficult to process. This thoughtful bilingual book helps them understand the abstract concept of largescale sickness and appreciate the role children play in the health of their community. It introduces young readers to a fascinating aspect of southwest history, and invites discussion of folk medicine and science, while also addressing children's curiosities and fears.
Recounting the two most deadly epidemics to strike the Southwest -- smallpox in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and influenza during World War I--this beautifully illustrated narrative reveals that with tragedy comes heroism, as demonstrated by the children who bravely transported the smallpox vaccine from Mexico's interior to New Mexico in 1805.
Through the eyes of the protagonist Jose Amado 'Amadito' Dominguez a real child of the flu epidemic era who would later become Taos County's first nuevomexicano physician -- folklorist Lamadrid weaves together culture, history, mortality, and hope into a life-affirming lesson.
Don't Forget the Accent Mark: A Memoir
Paperback University of New Mexico Press (October 15, 2011)
ISBN-10: 082635047X ISBN-13: 978-0826350473
David Sanchez (Author)
Raised in a Mexican home in an Anglo neighborhood, David Sanchez was fair-skinned and fluent in Spanish and English when he entered kindergarten. None of this should have had any influence on the career path he chose, but at certain moments it did. With the birth of the Chicano Movement and affirmative action, a different and sometimes disturbing significance became attached to his name. Sanchez's story chronicles his life and those moments.
No matter how we transcend our origins, they remain part of our lives. This autobiography of an outstanding mathematician, dedicated to others, whose career included stints as a senior university and federal administrator, is also the story of a young man of mixed Mexican and American parentage.
Sweet Nata: Growing Up in Rural New Mexico
Paperback University of New Mexico Press (May 15, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0826346359 ISBN-13: 978-0826346353
Gloria Zamora (Author)
Grandparents are our teachers, our allies, and a great source of love. They supply endless stories that connect us to a past way of life and to people long gone--people who led ordinary lives, but were full of extraordinary teachings.
This is the subject of Sweet Nata, a memoir about familial traditions and the joys and hardships the author experienced in her youth. Set during the 1950s and 1960s in Mora and Corrales, New Mexico, Zamora reveals her interaction with her parents, grandparents, and other extended family members who had the greatest influence on her life. She paints a picture of native New Mexican culture and history for younger generations that will also be nostalgic for older generations.
Other Mexicos: Essays on Regional Mexican History, 1876-1911
Paperback University of New Mexico Press (December 30, 2010)
ISBN-10: 0826307558 ISBN-13: 978-0826307552
Thomas Benjamin (Author, Editor), William McNellie (Editor)
Examined in this volume is the neglected field of Mexican history at the regional level during Porfirio Diaz's long rule. The panorama of regional perspectives and center-periphery relationships includes essays on eight states that combine original research and synthesis.
These chapters present political, economic, and social developments in specific regions, based on long-ignored archival materials and new points of view. An introductory chapter gives an overview of the period, and the final two chapters respectively indicate promising opportunities for additional research and provide a selection of suggested readings.
Always Messing With Them Boys
Paperback West End Press (April 30, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0982696841 ISBN-13: 978-0982696842
Jessica Helen Lopez (Author)
'Every generation a few select voices seem to rise up and represent a revolution in the mechanics and mission of poetry.
This collection is an exotic, aphrodisiacal perfume wafting through the senses, thickly spiced by the dual nature of a poet whose culture and experience effortlessly blend concrete imagery with a quiet, fierce longing for a world that may only exist within memory -- or verse.
Jessica Helen Lopez sings in these poems; they are signal flares drawn from those pivotal moments of living that evoke the feminine, the sensual and the surreal in equal measure. These are the songs of the bruja, the bread-heavy hands of a mother, the beautiful indignation of a hopeless optimist.'--Zachary Kluckman
The Latest Word from 1540: People, Places, and Portrayals of the Coronado Expedition
Hardcover University of New Mexico Press (October 15, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0826350607 ISBN-13: 978-0826350602
Richard Flint, Shirley Cushing Flint (Editors)
Between 1539 and 1542, some two thousand people under Spanish leadership, mostly Indians from central and western Mexico, made an armed reconnaissance of a place they knew by the name Tierra Nueva, now the American Southwest. They intended to seize control of the people who lived there, in places called Cabola, Marata, Totonteac, Tiguex, Tusayan, and Quivira.
The expedition eventually failed and most of those who survived returned to Nueva Esparza disillusioned and heavily in debt. They left in their wake dislocation and destruction, and their disruptive presence set the stage for further friction when the Spaniards next entered the region.
This book examines the environmental and cultural impact of the Coronado expedition while also placing it in the context of what was happening in Mexico as Spain expanded west and north of Mexico City. Including multidisciplinary studies by archaeologists, historians, and others, the volume gives a much fuller biographical account of the actual members of the expedition as well as a clearer understanding of how and where this large assemblage moved each day.
The Wrath of God: Lope de Aguirre, Revolutionary of the Americas
Hardcover University of New Mexico Press (October 15, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0826350437 ISBN-13: 978-0826350435
Evan L. Balkan (Author)
In 1560, General Pedro de Urs__ led an expedition through the Amazon in search of El Dorado. Three months later, Ursaa was murdered. His replacement, Fernando de Guzman, was also murdered. Emerging from the chaos was the Biscayan Lope de Aguirre, who turned away from El Dorado and led his men to Peru to overthrow the royal forces and declare independence from the Spanish Crown.
When Aguirre was finally killed, the aftermath was astonishing: hundreds dead, entire towns
depopulated, and a nascent revolution quashed.
Deliberately provocative, Evan Balkan's The Wrath of God examines Aguirre, a symbol of Basque fury and rampage, arguing that Aguirre's historical representation as a one-dimensional madman deserves revisiting. Indeed, Aguirre may be the Americas' first true revolutionary, a view shared by Simon Bolivar, among others. 2011 marks the 450th anniversary of one of the most extraordinary and least known events in the history of the Americas, and Balkan's work offers a timely investigation into the revolutionary's life and controversial methods.
The South American Expeditions, 1540-1545
Hardcover University of New Mexico Press (October 15, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0826350631 ISBN-13: 978-0826350633
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (Author), Baker H. Morrow (Editor)
First published in 1555, Cabeza de Vaca's narrative of his South American expeditions is a detailed account of his five years as governor of Spain's province of the Rio de la Plata in South America. Cabeza de Vaca was already a celebrated explorer by the time he went to La Plata, known for his great trek across North America in the 1520s and 1530s and for the Relación he wrote about that journey.
His tales of his river and forest explorations in South America show that he had lost none of his early curiosity and drive. He was the great secular champion of the native peoples of the New World and the only Spaniard to explore the coasts and interiors of two continents.
This book is one of the great first-person accounts of the Spanish conquest of the Americas in the sixteenth century. Morrow's new translation makes Cabeza deVaca's adventures available to a wide English-speaking audience for the first time.
Slavery, Freedom, and Abolition in Latin America and the Atlantic World (Dialogos)
University of New Mexico Press (July 15, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0826339042 ISBN-13: 978-0826339041
Christopher Schmidt-Nowara (Author)
The last New World countries to abolish slavery were Cuba and Brazil, more than twenty years after slave emancipation in the United States. Why slavery was so resilient and how people in Latin America fought against it are the subjects of this compelling study.
Beginning with the roots of African slavery in the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Iberian empires, this work explores central issues, including the transatlantic slave trade, labor, Afro-Latin American cultures, racial identities in colonial slave societies, and the spread of antislavery ideas and social movements.
A study of Latin America, this work, with its Atlantic-world framework, will also appeal to students of slavery and abolition in other Atlantic empires and nation-states in the early modern and modern eras.
The last New World countries to abolish slavery were Cuba and Brazil, more than twenty years after slave emancipation in the United States. Why slavery was so resilient and how people in Latin America fought against it are the subjects of this compelling study.
Beginning with the roots of African slavery in the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Iberian empires, this work explores central issues, including the transatlantic slave trade, labor, Afro-Latin American cultures, racial identities in colonial slave societies, and the spread of antislavery ideas and social movements.
The Women's Suffrage Movement and Feminism in Argentina from Roca to Peron
Paperback University of New Mexico Press (October 15, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0826350550 ISBN-13: 978-0826350558
Gregory Hammond (Author)
On September 23, 1947, the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires filled with jubilant men and women celebrating a new law that gave women the same right as men to vote in all elections.
President Juan Domingo Peron had achieved a major victory for his regime. In the years that followed, Peron, with the help of his wife, Evita, courted female voters and created opportunities for them to participate in his broad-based political coalition. However, the suffrage law generated considerable controversy, including from supporters of the movement.
Harsh criticism came from the Left, especially from the Socialist Party, the earliest advocate of women's suffrage in Argentina. Also, feminists who had done so much to build the case in favor of voting vehemently opposed the reform, viewing the Peronist suffrage plan as a cynical attempt to boost Evita's political career.
Providing an overview of the women's suffrage movement from its earliest stages through the passage of the 1947 law, this study examines what Argentina's history can tell us about the moment when a society agrees to the equal participation of women in the political realm.
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