Bound for Santa Fe: The Road to New Mexico and the American Conquest, 1806-1848 (Hardcover)

by Stephen G. Hyslop (Author) "In early March of 1807, Zebulon Montgomery Pike arrived under Spanish escort in Santa Fe, capital of the province of New Mexico..." (more)
Key Phrases: prairie ports, harmonious intercourse, prose sketches, New Mexico, Bent's Fort, New Mexicans (more...)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 514 pages
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press; 1St Edition edition (May 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806133899
• ISBN-13: 978-0806133898
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #922,114 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #52 in	Books > Travel > United States > States > New Mexico > Santa Fe
  #92 in	Books > History > United States > 19th Century > Expansionism

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Outstanding Synthesis of the Santa Fe Trade, May 26, 2003

By	Roger D. Launius "Historian" (Washington, D.C., United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Once in a while a book attains benchmark status in the historiography of a particular subject. "Bound for Santa Fe," by Stephen G. Hyslop, might well do so. It has many of the necessary ingredients. Its palate is sweeping, and the author's handling of the story both complex and captivating. More than any other recent work of history on the Santa Fe trail and trade, it captures the essence of the story and relates it to an audience removed from it by some 175 years. Most of all, "Bound for Santa Fe" is an exceptionally well-written work of history, tantalizing in its depictions and seductive in the power of its narrative.

Beginning with the earliest exploring parties from the United States into the Southwest, Hyslop takes the reader through the origins and development of the Santa Fe trade, using narratives from the trail as the centerpiece of a journey from Missouri to New Mexico. Along the trail readers meet the native peoples who had made the region their homes for centuries, the Santa Fe culture and its sometimes uneasy coexistence with Anglos from Missouri, and the unique world these various cultures made through their interactions.

At the same time, the interactions proved surprising to both sides. As only one example, Missourians expressed dismay at the mores of the New Mexicans, and that cultural divide never seemed to end despite years of close contact. When trader John Scolly hauled his Latina wife, Juana Lopes, before a Mexican judge for adultery the outcome was remarkably different to what Scolly had expected. Lopes did not deny the charges, instead offering the belligerent explanation, as reported in the court record, that "it was her ass, she controlled it, and she would give it to whomever she wanted" (p. 266). The judge told her to quit "roving" and stay with her family but stopped short of punishing her, as would have undoubtedly been the case in the U.S. Such cultural differences sprinkle this work, demonstrating the oddity and attraction of these two civilizations.

Hyslop completes his work with a discussion of American conquest of New Mexico in 1846-1848. He follows the path of the Army of the West under Stephen Watts Kearny, the experience of Alexander Doniphan and Sterling Price and their Missouri volunteers, the creation of a territorial government under Charles Bent, and the bloody Taos revolt.

In 1979 John D. Unruh Jr. published "The Plains Across: The Overland Emigrants and the Trans-Mississippi West, 1840-60" (University of Illinois Press), unraveling the complex story of the overlanders on America's longest trail. Hyslop offers a work very similar to Unruh's in style and substance for the Santa Fe trail, and it may become a standard on the subject for many years.

2.0 out of 5 stars Confused, December 21, 2007

By	Michael E. Fitzgerald (Kingwood, Texas USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I had very high hopes for this book: The Santa Fe Trail through the eyes of those who were there. Many have used this venue and all of them have always improved the history, imparting a new understanding of events through the eyes of the participants.

Its not that there isn't some good history here, it's that Hyslop applies this technique in a haphazard fashion. We view the trek through the eyes of the same 5-6 participants who traveled the trail at decidedly different points in time. The result is that rather than moving along the trail chronologically, as the participants being quoted did, we visit each point on the trail 5-6 times completely out of chronological sequence.

The result is a hodge-podge of interpretations hopelessly out of sequence. In the end I felt sorry for the author; he obviously spent an immense amount of time in his effort and his work is historically accurate. But it is confusing; it misleads and changes or at least misstates the history that occurred as it unfolded. Taken out of sequence, the story is muted, watered down. And that is a shame because significant effort went into this work.

5.0 out of 5 stars History at its finest, May 14, 2002

By A Customer

This authoritative volume from Stephen Hyslop sheds new light on an important aspect of the American story. Well-written and full of interesting facts, analysis, and captivating stories, this book is no dry history, but a thorough work that should have great appeal beyond the academic market. It is a book all American history buffs should enjoy. I know I did.