Customer Reviews

Cities of Gold: A Novel of the Ancient and Modern Southwest

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Cities of Gold is an absolute must read particularly for Coronado and Marcos de Niza aficionados. Hartmann brilliantly weaves 16th century Southwest history with 20th century Southwest mystery to postulate a fresh and thought provoking hypothesis on Marcos.

In 1538, two years before Coronado's entrada, Marcos set out into what the Spanish referred to as the "northern mystery". In a sense he entered the "northern mystery" to solve a mystery--that is, the location of the Seven Cities of Cibola. What _really_ happened on Marcos' journey and what was his path through the Southwest remains an unsolved mystery in and of itself--or does it?
[four centuries later ...]
In 1989 Kevin Scott (Hartmann's lead fictional character) sets out to solve the mystery of Marcos. Kevin has recently joined a Tucson-based land developer who is planning "Coronado Estates" outside of Willcox, Arizona. The land developer wants Kevin to determine if "Coronado Estates" intersects with 16th century history by determining if Marcos (and later Coronado) "marched right across our property". Let the sleuthing begin ...

Hartmann is a renowned expert on Marcos de Niza and Cities of Gold is packed with meticulously researched quotes and translations from participants and historians. This is an important element of the book because Hartmann equips the reader with sufficient historical evidence to support his hypothesis, leaving the reader satisfied that the Marcos mystery has been solved.

Read it for the history. Read it for the mystery. Either way, I think you'll be absolutely delighted.

I was pulled through this book by the suspense of wondering who would win--the good guys (honest historians) or the bad guys (those who forget the past). In Cities of Gold, William Hartmann applies his talent for lyrical description with a novel structure that blends the age of the Spanish explorers--driven by a search for riches--with the present age of developers--driven by a search for riches. Hartmann demonstrates his expertise on 16th century by juxtaposing the exploring monk, Marcos de Niza with his invented idealistic city planner hired by a developer. The planner's job is to prove that Coronado crossed the land of the planned development. Or not. In the parallel story, Marcos finds cities of gold. Or not. The juxtaposition is clever and thought provoking. As a resident of the Soutwest, I found the atmosphere and landscape totally believeable. Generous use of real 16th century Spanish documents helps bring the same believability to the land the Spanish explored. My only complaint is with the publisher's choice of a title which is also on another book about the Southwest. I hope readers will not be confused. This book will be loved by people who like little mystery with their history.

William K. Hartmann has bored into the inner payload of the Southwest ethos: he struck gold...and copper, and silver, and everythings else that gives southern Arizona its mystique.

Dr. Hartmann describes Spanish conquistadores trudging on multifarious missions of futility, the less-than-hospitable attitudes of Zuni tribesmembers, and the capacious appetite for real estate propogated by developers with equal parts wit and meticulousness.

Athough Hartmann has proven himself priestly when it comes to authoring non-fiction, as is evident in DESERT HEART, he has elevated his title to monsignor in tackling the challenging medium that is the contemporary Southwest novel.

Cities of Gold is an excellent book tying together the history of the Southwest with its' present day concerns. Cities of Gold shows where the American mind-set of the west - its treatment of land, people, and economy by treasure-hunters with get-rich-quick schemes - began, and how little has changed even today. William K.Hartmann's treatment of the Spaniard's recognition of the mistakes that were made by Cortes in his conquest of Mexico and how they wanted to avoid repeating those same mistakes, leaves the reader with much to think about in terms of our current relations between Euro-Americans, Native-Americans, Mexicans-Americans, and Mexican Nationals. The Southwest is an area of the United States that has been, and still is, largely ignored, but it is the setting of the initial contact between Europeans and Americans. Cities of Gold gives us a better understanding of the area as well as our selves, and what could have been, and what still can be. It is great writing and research, an entertaining mystery offering plenty to think about.

This is a fascinating book. Bill Hartmann is an outstanding story teller. He has the ability to combine fiction and real history in a way that makes Coronado's entrada in search of the Seven Cities of Gold come alive. I read this book twice and I intend to read it again. In fact, the book inspired me to go on my own expedition in search of the route that Coronado took from Mexico and Arizona to Cibola, modern day Zuni, New Mexico and beyond into Kansas. I also plan to make it required reading in a class I propose to teach on the Coronado expedition.

Well done William Hartmann!!!

If you enjoy reading historical adventure novels/narratives you'll certainly enjoy Cities of Gold! Even the modern-day story that runs parallel to the author's vivid retelling of the quest for the legendary Seven Cities of Cibola is worth reading (albeit it's not as interesting as the actual quest). If you have any interest in learning more about the history of Mexico and the American Southwest, this book is for you! Enjoy!

If you are looking for an exciting adventure novel interwoven with a factual history of the southwestern United States - this book is not for you. The history may be here, but as for being exciting, the book fails dismally. The author tries in a seemly endless amount of words and pages to intertwine a historical documentation with the life of a current day city-planner in his quest to learn lifes hidden truths. The historical research the author did on this book is admirable, but he failed to make the leap in making the book interesting, let alone exciting, to read.
The author would have been better off to forgo trying write an adventure type novel and instead focused his attention on writing a coherent historical novel. By trying to have it both ways (historical and mystery)he fails in both. I found his characterizations to be uninspired and never interesting. I kept waiting for something to happen to keep my interest up but nothing ever did. By the end of the book I felt cheated. Somewhat like Coronada must have felt after traveling for months only to find he was chasing a dream. One star on this book is generous.