Enchantment and Exploitation: The Life and Hard Times of a New Mexico Mountain Range [Paperback]

William deBuys (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0826308201 | ISBN-13: 978-0826308207 | Publication Date: September 1, 1985 | Edition: 1

This unusual book is a complete account of the closely linked natural and human history of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of northern New Mexico, a region unique in its rich combination of ecological and cultural diversity.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Ecological and cultural history of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press; 1 edition (September 1, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826308201
• ISBN-13: 978-0826308207
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #67,539 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

William deBuys's books include River of Traps (reissued in 2008), which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1991. An excerpt from The Walk, which is set in the same mountain valley as River of Traps, won a 2008 Pushcart Prize. He was a 2008-2009 Guggenheim Fellow and spent his fellowship year working on "A Great Aridness: Climate Change in the North American Southwest." Long active in environmental matters in the Southwest, deBuys was the founding chairman of the Valles Caldera Trust (2001-2004), which manages the 89,000-acre Valles Caldera National Preserve in northern New Mexico. Recent writing projects have taken him as far afield as Borneo and Lao PDR. He lives on a small farm in El Valle, New Mexico.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very readable history (and more) of a fascinating area, August 29, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Enchantment and Exploitation: The Life and Hard Times of a New Mexico Mountain Range (Paperback)

William deBuys combines history, anthropology, ethnography, and environmental and land use science to show how all of these threads weave through three cultures -- Pueblo indian, Hispano, and Anglo -- in the Sangre de Cristo range of northern New Mexico to create a unique and fascinating place. The book is scholarly in its scope, but very readable. From the haunting, almost surreal image he paints in the Preface, in which he describes stumbling across a downed airplane in the snowbound mountains of the Pecos Wilderness, to the vivid character study of an Hispano couple reminiscing about their courtship and wedding over sixty years ago, deBuys's writing is consistenly fine. Anyone interested in this part of the country, or anyone interested in how a specific landscape acts and is acted upon by three radically different cultures, will enjoy this book. Highly recommended

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cultural and resource writing of the highest order, February 22, 2007

By 

Norm Cimon "programmer" (La Grande, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Enchantment and Exploitation: The Life and Hard Times of a New Mexico Mountain Range (Paperback)

William deBuys writes with a deep and intimate knowledge of the people of northern New Mexico's Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the place they call home. The book is beautifully integrated with the changing cultural and, as a result, ecological history of the mountains as a focal point. The chapters thus provide a natural history of land use. The book builds to a crescendo with the final chapters providing a solid ecological framework on which to build a future that will meet the needs of the residents and the mountains themselves. This book is a real gem.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Read, A Treasure, A Gem...., December 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Enchantment and Exploitation: The Life and Hard Times of a New Mexico Mountain Range (Paperback)

Very well written, a lovely landscape of history, thoughts, and pictures... one of three books by the same author that lured me to that beautiful land of North Central New Mexico... if only for a visit... worth the money, worth the time, worth the magic.