It's hard to beat the early history of the American Southwest for its varied, colorful and historically important cast of characters. Soon after 1492, Spanish grandees, roughneck explorers, church friars, military troops, Anglo-American settlers, even African-Americans joined the native inhabitants who already peopled this land to create a new society. Kessell (professor emeritus at the University of New Mexico and author of Mission of Sorrows) chronicles their acts and relationships in a solid narrative that ends well into the national history of the U.S. when these Mexican borderlands became American territory. Covering 350 years of history is not easy, and Kessell brings the job off about as well as can be expected. He doesn't get us far into the heads of his historical figures or inside their societies and cultures, perhaps because there's so much to cover. But the result is a book that effectively draws together recent scholarship and tells in clear prose the required tale even if without grand themes or memorable vignettes. Kessell reminds us that what is now the U.S. was invaded from Mexico at about the same time as it was from the east by new peoples and that its history cannot be read simply as a tale of migration westward from the Atlantic. In an era of multiculturalism, therefore, this synthesis of the founding history of a large part of the nation not usually considered a seedbed of American culture is surely welcome. For a single narrative of its broad subject, the book serves as a useful and pleasing introduction, brought alive by many well-chosen illustrations. (May)
