About the Author

Douglas Preston has written several books on the Southwest. He is also the coauthor of the novels Relic, Riptide, and Thunderhead (1999).

Reviews

aA vivid, often witty, account of riding through some of the most difficult terrain in the Southwest, and of some of the people, including Indians, who still live there. . . . the entire book is sheer pleasure to read.a

aThe Old Westas last glimmers flicker through this piercingly beautiful adventure, an unforgettable saga in which Preston, astride his horse Popeye, traverses the desert and mountain wilderness of Arizona and New Mexico, retracing the trailblazing 1540-1541 expedition of Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado. . . . In place of the mythical winning of the West, Preston unfolds a harrowing tale of loss.a

A vivid, often witty, account of riding through some of the most difficult terrain in the Southwest, and of some of the people, including Indians, who still live there. . . . the entire book is sheer pleasure to read.

The Old Wests last glimmers flicker through this piercingly beautiful adventure, an unforgettable saga in which Preston, astride his horse Popeye, traverses the desert and mountain wilderness of Arizona and New Mexico, retracing the trailblazing 1540-1541 expedition of Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado. . . . In place of the mythical winning of the West, Preston unfolds a harrowing tale of loss.

"The Old West's last glimmers flicker through this piercingly beautiful adventure, an unforgettable saga in which Preston, astride his horse Popeye, traverses the desert and mountain wilderness of Arizona and New Mexico, retracing the trailblazing 1540-1541 expedition of Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado. . . . In place of the mythical winning of the West, Preston unfolds a harrowing tale of loss."

aA vivid, often witty, account of riding through some of the most difficult terrain in the Southwest, and of some of the people, including Indians, who still live there. . . . the entire book is sheer pleasure to read.a
aThe Old Westas last glimmers flicker through this piercingly beautiful adventure, an unforgettable saga in which Preston, astride his horse Popeye, traverses the desert and mountain wilderness of Arizona and New Mexico, retracing the trailblazing 1540-1541 expedition of Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado. . . . In place of the mythical winning of the West, Preston unfolds a harrowing tale of loss.a
A vivid, often witty, account of riding through some of the most difficult terrain in the Southwest, and of some of the people, including Indians, who still live there. . . . the entire book is sheer pleasure to read.
The Old Wests last glimmers flicker through this piercingly beautiful adventure, an unforgettable saga in which Preston, astride his horse Popeye, traverses the desert and mountain wilderness of Arizona and New Mexico, retracing the trailblazing 1540-1541 expedition of Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado. . . . In place of the mythical winning of the West, Preston unfolds a harrowing tale of loss.
"The Old West's last glimmers flicker through this piercingly beautiful adventure, an unforgettable saga in which Preston, astride his horse Popeye, traverses the desert and mountain wilderness of Arizona and New Mexico, retracing the trailblazing 1540-1541 expedition of Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado. . . . In place of the mythical winning of the West, Preston unfolds a harrowing tale of loss."

With a friend, Preston ( Dinosaurs in the Attic: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of the American Museum of Natural History , LJ 10/15/86), attempted to follow Coronado's 1540-41 exploration of the Southwest. This book is an account of their journey through Arizona and New Mexico in the spring of 1989. It is both history text and adventure yarn. It is also a good current cultural geography of the region, written in an entertaining as well as educational style. Preston succeeds in giving the reader a real feel for the country, as it is today and as it was 450 years ago. A map and a decent bibliography complement the text. Recommended for travel and history collections. History Book Club alternate.-- Thomas K. Fry, UCLA Libs.