Books published by Sunstone Press

         Offering an alternative to encyclopedic textbooks that confirm Henry Ford’s complaint that the study of history is just “one damned thing after another,” it provides an informal and conversational narrative history of the American experience from the Colonial period to the present day. Above all, history is a story, and the story of America is a complicated and contested tale. Rather than simply the exceptionalism of a shining city upon a hill, the American saga includes a dark stain of prejudice and nativism still present within the national fabric. Beginning with the assault upon Native lands and culture along with the introduction of racial slavery, patterns of exploitation and greed fostering gender, racial, and class inequality are an essential part of America’s story.         Themes of prejudice and inequality, however, are offset by the promise of social justice and an egalitarian America outlined by Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence, Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s Seneca Falls Declaration of Principles, Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s The Four Freedoms, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” oratory. While considering topics such as Presidential leadership, Talking American History emphasizes the efforts of American reformers, dreamers, freedom fighters, dissenters, radicals, and workers to move the nation toward the democratic promise laid out in its founding documents. The framework is a traditional political history narrative told from a progressive perspective. This is an interpretation with which not all readers will agree, but the intention is to facilitate dialogue and debate that are imperative for the survival of American democracy.

A literary work in prose and rhyme with a focus on the search of ideal love, with the mythical knight Quijóte as mentor and guide.

The Comanche Indians dominated the Southern Plains of America from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. No plains people was more feared or admired for its mastery of warfare and life in a harsh, arid environment. Euro- and Native Americans alike anxiously dreaded the ferocity of Comanche enmity yet avidly sought the uncertainty of Comanche friendship. In this richly textured history, the author recounts the relations of Comanches to Spanish, French, Mexican, American, and Native American neighbors while his vignettes provide vivid glimpses into Comanche culture and society. This book is a sensitive portrait of human society and physical place. By the end of the book we understand the Comanches both as a peerless warrior society and as an embattled people.

In 1821 William Becknell and five comrades traveled from Franklin, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico, then the northern provincial capital of New Spain, the first Americans to do so legally. And thus was born the Santa Fe Trail, a nine hundred mile long road of commerce to a foreign land. During New Spain's reign, foreign trade had been forbidden, but that changed when Mexico wrested control from the European empire in 1821. Never an active immigrant highway, selling merchandise to goods-starved Mexican residents and returning revenue to economically starved Missouri was the Trail's primary purpose. During the formative years but one town, San Miguel del Vado, forty miles east of Santa Fe, existed along the Trail. By the mid-1840s Mexican merchants were dominant, and their children were sent to American schools. The Mexican-American war erupted in 1846, and Brigadier General Stephen Kearny led the Army of the West into battle along the Trail. The victorious United States acquired much of the southwest, from Texas to California. This changed the nature of the Trail when the many military forts that were built to secure the peace required provisions. During this period the trailhead gradually moved west as the railroad chugged in. In 1880 the railroad reached Lamy, New Mexico, twenty miles south of Santa Fe, and there the Trail died. The present work leads the reader along the Trail, describing specific sites and the nature of the area surrounding each, and the author's experiences visiting them.

Set largely in the American Southwest, ten related stories, when read in order, add up to a cumulative whole which lends dimension to each of its parts. Although the introductory story begins with a spirit of youthful adventure, it ends in an awareness of human mortality, an undertone which never entirely disappears throughout. Contemporary political, social and economic discord is also apparent, and comes to a climax in the penultimate story, “Report on the Hadleyburg Renaissance,” which is almost left out by the wavering protagonist who pens it, and who appears, in one place or another, in each of the stories. Includes Readers Guide

         Today the name Gene Kloss, NA, is synonymous with copperplate etchings and when this book was first published by Sunstone Press in the 1970s it quickly became a collector’s item. Her limited edition prints are now becoming priceless on the art market. This book, the sole complete source of information that was selected and personally approved by this outstanding artist, contains black and white reproductions with text by noted author Phillips Kloss.         When Gene and her poet-husband Phillips Kloss arrived in Taos, New Mexico, her first etching press, a sixty-pound machine, was installed at their camp in Taos Canyon by cementing it to a large rock. That press was eventually replaced by a 1,084 pound Sturges etching press purchased from a defunct greeting card company. With the years and the continual dedication came honors, national and international. The Smithsonian, the National Gallery, The Corcoran Gallery of Fine Art, the Library of Congress, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as many others house the works of Gene Kloss in their permanent collections.         From her spare life on the eastern edge of Taos with neither water nor electricity, but plenty of firewood, kerosene and inspiration, Gene Kloss informed the art world of the special beauty inherent in American southwestern images: the churches, the Native American faces, the mountains and valleys, the dances, and intricate rhythms of life in a part of the United States that remains essentially unchanged to this day.

Since Adobe Houses for Today first appeared, interest in energy efficiency has exploded. Showing the pathway to smaller, solar tempered, easy-to-heat homes using adobe, one of the world's most energy efficient building materials, makes this book about adobe houses not only for today, but also for tomorrow. The book features 12 plans for compact, beautifully proportioned adobe homes in modern and traditional styles. The richly illustrated text shows how the basic houses, designed for today's smaller families, can be expanded and adapted to fit readers' own budgets, family sizes, style preferences, and building sites. After a brief look at adobe's history, Adobe Houses for Today surveys adobe's advantages as a building material, illustrates adobe construction, and gives an eye-opening tour through the facts and fantasies of energy conservation. The heart of the book details the plans, using them as examples of design techniques that increase livability and control costs in any house. The book and its minimal-cost construction drawings are valuable, enjoyable tools for those buying, building, or remodeling a house. With this new edition, which includes an additional chapter with stories from people who have built the houses, construction drawings are now available for some of the expanded versions.

Corn Flower, an eleven-year-old Native American girl, is a member of the Kansa tribe living along the Cottonwood River in the 1820s. When winter arrives on the Great Plains, Corn Flower and her best friend Night Sparrow build a sled to challenge their brothers in a hillside race. Because of the icy temperatures, many activities such as bead making, storytelling, and completing the winter count for the yearly history of their tribe remain in their family lodge. As the ice pack hardens, the children participate in the snow snake as they throw a long rod or stick down a narrow channel in the snow. When a stray coyote attacks Corn Flower and her goat along the river, she is saved by her horse Brownie. Along with her father and brothers, Corn Flower travels to the trading post. On her return home, Corn Flower is startled to find that the tribal storyteller Walks at Night has fallen in the snow. Corn Flower nurses Walks at Night back to health by using her wild crafting skills with herbs and roots for healing. At the shell ceremony Corn Flower and Night Sparrow each receive a new shell on their necklace for surviving their twelfth winter season on the Great Plains.

In this speculative socio-political novel, a prestigious think tank-The Cassandra Group-led by a military historian general is aiding the president of the United States behind the scenes in sensitive negotiations with a foreign leader. As part of the plan, three brilliant young predictive historians in the Cassandra Group are assigned to devise a way to uncover the foreign nation's hidden ICBM launch sites. Cassandra has devised a way to locate these "missing" sites by supporting a spin-off group called The Searchers composed mostly of women with highly unusual talents and time-tested old fashioned strategies. But they work. Too well, perhaps. Then bad stuff happens and everything gets messy as each hidden launch site is located. Is The Cassandra Group helping or merely meddling with history? Does this information help with the president's negotiations? Or is it too late? Will both countries be hit hard?The Cassandra Group will tell you its truth-but you may not want to believe it. Shame on you.

The Matachines dance is a ritual drama performed on certain saint's days in Pueblo Indian and Mexicano/Hispano communities along the upper Río Grande valley in New Mexico and elsewhere in the American Southwest. It derives from a genre of medieval European folk dramas symbolizing conflict between Christians and Moors. Spaniards brought it to the Americas as a vehicle for Christianizing the Indians. In this book, Rodríguez explores the colorful, complex, and often enigmatic Matachines dance as it is performed today. In the Upper Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico, the Matachines is the only ritual dance performed in both Indian Pueblos and Hispano communities. There, the dance involves two lines of masked dancers, a young girl in white and her crowned, masked, male partner, a bull, and two clowns. Accompanied usually by violin and guitar, these characters enact a choreographic drama that symbolizes encounter, struggle, and transformation-resolution. In this classic, prize-winning ethnographic study, anthropologist and native New Mexican Sylvia Rodríguez compares Indian Pueblo and Hispano Matachines dance performance traditions to discover what they share, how they differ, what they reveal about specific communities, and what they mean to those who continue to perform them with devotion and skill. Sylvia Rodríguez, a professor of anthropology at the University of New Mexico, studies interethnic relations in the US-Mexico Borderlands, with particular focus on Hispano/Mexicano-Pueblo-Anglo relations in the Upper Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico. She holds degrees from Barnard College and Stanford University, and has taught at Carleton College and the University of California, Los Angeles. Her publications deal with the impact of tourism on ethnic relations; the politics of identity, place, and representation; identity and ritual; and conflict over land and water. She continues to conduct ethnographic fieldwork in and around her home town of Taos.

Here, in a highly readable style, is a lively chronicle of the Navajo people from prehistory to 1868. It is a sympathetic history of a great people who depended on their tenacity and creative adaptability to survive troubled times. The hardships and rewards of early band life, encounters with the Pueblos that revolutionized Navajo culture, the adversity of Spanish colonization, the expansion of Navajo land, the tragic cycle of peace and war with the Spanish, Mexican, and American forces, the Navajo leaders' long quest to keep their people secure, the disaster of imprisonment at Fort Sumner-all combine to express the relevancy of Navajo history to their people today. This book with its extensive archival illustrations and photographs weaves a complex but understandable story in which Navajos changed the future of the Southwestern United States. * * * * * Lawrence D. Sundberg taught for many years among the Navajo in Arizona and has a solid background in not only education and curriculum development, but in Navajo history, language and culture. He has also created materials for Navajo students in Navajo literacy, Navajo as a second language, and Navajo culture and ethnohistory. Mr. Sundberg holds a bachelor's degree in Anthropology from California State University, Fullerton, and a master's degree in Bilingual Education from Northern Arizona University. He is also the author of "Red Shirt, The Life and Times of Henry Lafayette Dodge," from Sunstone Press.

In 1933, newly elected President Franklin Delano Roosevelt summoned ideas that might allay the financial calamity that characterized the Great Depression of the 1930s. Among the myriad programs Roosevelt initiated was the WPA, the Works Progress Administration (later re-named the Work Projects Administration) that was created to provide meaningful work to the unemployed millions throughout America. Thanks to New Mexico Governor Clyde Tingley, a masterful politician who wended his way into Roosevelt's good graces, New Mexico became the recipient of a significant proportion of federal WPA funding that supported thousands of otherwise unemployed men and women. One of the great programs to emerge was in support of the arts, and many painters, writers and musicians were employed to pursue their respective art forms.Helen Chandler Ryan was appointed director of the Federal Music Project (FMP) in New Mexico that lasted from 1936 to 1943. In 1939, it was re-named the New Mexico Music Project, and by 1942, the name was changed yet again to War Services Program--Music Phase. The focus of this project was "music education, performance, and preserving of local musical heritage, especially Hispanic [Hispano] folk music." Under Ryan's direction and that of her co-administrators, musicians and folklorists collected songs and other material that otherwise might have been lost.The transcribed folk songs were mimeographed and distributed to teachers who taught both singers and instrumentalists who then presented the music in public performances. This music project not only funded fieldworkers, it also brought music to the people of the villages of New Mexico in a time when little else was available to lift the hearts of la gente.In this book, materials collected between 1936 and 1941 are assembled in five separate units. Units 1, 2, and 3 are comprised of a series of Hispano folk songs with transcribed melodies and English translations of lyrics. Unit 4 is a collection of thirty Hispano dance songs, some of which remain popular even now. Unit 5 is entitled "Guitar Arrangements of Spanish American Folk Songs."We are fortunate to have this taste of Hispano music of New Mexico from the early twentieth century now available to all. It is integral and vital to the repertoire of musical lore that greatly enhances New Mexico's heritage.

Mixed Greens is an abundant, gallimaufry of poetry praising aging and witnessing an adventurous trek as gifts in the life of ninety year old poet/teacher James McGrath, author of six books of poetry from Sunstone Press. The poems in this book stabilizes the poet's green life of kindling and fueling the poetic fire, creating a response to loneliness, war, love, loss and silence. McGrath ran out of childhood preparing to love the earth and its endless clouds and images. He writes as a loved-one, a witness, a companion, as we all are.

From the inward winding of “Looking Back on Coming Back,” to the rescuing passion of “Rio Mora,” this book of poetry by William Gates traces a tangle of troubles and their one solution: Love, the center and the core. Love of art began it, love of this earth carried it, love of a supreme and delightful woman opened it wide. “Love braving all the future.” Those are the words we take away.

The author says, “There are still places to see and get inspiration. I have been close to nature and its wonders all of my breathing days. But I have always tried to do my work with places that don’t really exist. For me it is wonderful to create a fantasy in whatever medium I am working in. It is very difficult at times to make sure the mind is turned off. On some works I have to turn it back on for details to ensure that the concept leaves nothing to the imagination. My poetry, prose, short stories, sketches and odes are an exception to this self-made rule. To all the wonderful people in this world, I say come travel with me. The gentle works in this book are my view from the moon for you to enjoy.”

A manual on how to teach weightlifting in high school and college.

Hiking New Mexico's Chaco Canyon is a guidebook for informed hikers who want a substantive yet accessible guide to hiking and camping at Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, a World Heritage Site that the Zuni, Hopi, Acoma and other pueblos consider their ancestral homeland. The guide offers advice about what to bring to the canyon, information on camping at Chaco's Gallo Campground, and personal accounts of hiking "Downtown Chaco" and the longer, sometimes remote mesa trails. Included is a summary of the canyon's history before, during, and after the Ancestral Puebloan occupation, as well as an overview of current research in the canyon and a bibliography for those who want to learn more. One thousand years ago Chaco Canyon was a metropolis of massive stone structures at the center of Chaco culture. The book also includes maps and over fifty of the author's photographs.

Little Maria doesn't want to go live with her grandmother. But grandmother is elderly and needs Maria's company even though they have to live in a one-room house away from all the familiar surroundings. Soon a kitten arrives and Maria comes to love her new world in this family story set in rural New Mexico at the turn of the century with photographic re-recreations by Jan Young. Includes glossary of Spanish terms.

With its twisting narrow streets, lacking the familiar grid pattern, it can be difficult for travelers to find their way through Taos, New Mexico. This book is the answer to the traveler’s dilemma.  With a map and color photographs included, this guidebook will enable travelers to successfully find twenty-four sites in and around Taos, including museums, historic homes, and natural wonders. Some sites tucked away on isolated side streets can easily be missed without this guide. Travelers can now find their way to Taos Pueblo, home to native inhabitants since about the year 1350, and to St. Francis of Assisi Church in Ranchos de Taos, the famous church painted by Georgia O’Keeffe and photographed by Ansel Adams. With a short history of each site included, travelers will gain an appreciation of all the ancient community of Taos has to offer.

This book in two volumes is the culmination of over twenty-five years of conjecture. Why didn't archaeologist Stuart Baldwin, PhD (1946-1999) fully write up his research after a decade of work on the now extinct Piro-Tompiro culture in Central New Mexico? Why didn't he return to the Southwest after 1988? What happened to the artifacts and notes from five years of excavation by a University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, field school at Tenabo Pueblo, a large fourteenth to seventeenth century pueblo? The answers to these questions, and a treasure trove of physical evidence and years of scholarship were discovered in 2016. This included detailed reports on the archaeology, ethnohistory and history of the Abo Pass region of New Mexico, along with complete site analyses of numerous surveys and limited excavations carried out in the region. Although completed nearly thirty years ago, Baldwin's work remains the single most comprehensive and accurate presentation on the Native American Pueblo culture in Central New Mexico. In these volumes we tell the story of rediscovering Baldwin's life work and present all of a nearly 1,400 page unpublished manuscript that remained hidden for years in a research library's archives. This is the first of these volumes and is focused on history and ethnology. The second volume deals with archaeology and prehistory, including rock art. As Baldwin wrote in the preface of his "lost" manuscript: "I believe (in) any attempt to pull together and present available information on (a)...cultur(e)..., even if it is 'only' the morality of saving a people from historical obscurity."

This book in two volumes is the culmination of over twenty-five years of conjecture. Why didn't archaeologist Stuart Baldwin, PhD (1946-1999) fully write up his research after a decade of work on the now extinct Piro-Tompiro culture in Central New Mexico? Why didn't he return to the Southwest after 1988? What happened to the artifacts and notes from five years of excavation by a University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, field school at Tenabo Pueblo, a large fourteenth to seventeenth century pueblo? The answers to these questions, and a treasure trove of physical evidence and years of scholarship were discovered in 2016. This included detailed reports on the archaeology, ethnohistory and history of the Abo Pass region of New Mexico, along with complete site analyses of numerous surveys and limited excavations carried out in the region. Although completed nearly thirty years ago, Baldwin's work remains the single most comprehensive and accurate presentation on the Native American Pueblo culture in Central New Mexico. In these volumes we tell the story of rediscovering Baldwin's life work and present all of a nearly 1,400 page unpublished manuscript that remained hidden for years in a research library's archives. This is the second of these volumes and deals with archaeology and prehistory including rock art. Volume I is focused on history and ethnology. As Baldwin wrote in the preface of his "lost" manuscript: "I believe (in) any attempt to pull together and present available information on (a)...cultur(e)..., even if it is 'only' the morality of saving a people from historical obscurity."

Michele Weston Relkin says in her preface to this book: “Many times as an artist and educator the drumbeat of chaos and excitement can develop into a great piece of art. So it is with this highly enjoyable mix of classical paintings and the political faces that make our American history. With these two elements brewing this compilation of imagery was born. Structuring and repainting the portraits so they live well with the famous paintings was a challenge. But the outcome is highly amusing and a great piece of the American political story. I do not side politically with my artwork but try to bring a smile that is nonpartisan.”m

Juan Duval (Juan Bellavista Xicart) was born in Barcelona, the heart of Catalonia, in 1897. He first made a career for himself in his native Spain and later in Paris and London he assumed the stage name “Juan Duval” retaining this for his career in Latin America and the Anglo world of the United States. He was a man of multiple talents: a dancer, (Spanish-Gypsy, French-Apache); a choreographer, and a director and producer of musical revues and movies. He was a poet, linguist, a businessman, and a soldier in two World Wars and the Foreign Legion. He was a musician and composer. He ran his own Spanish dance school on Hollywood Boulevard. A friend of bullfighters. A Hollywood character actor and screenwriter. A writer, amateur historian, and playwright. In short, he was a Renaissance man. In America he was a friend of famous ventriloquist Señor Wences; Jose and Amparo Iturbi, concert pianists of worldwide fame; Emilio Osta, child musical prodigy and concert pianist; Victor Granados (son of Enrique); actors John McIntyre, Warner Anderson, and many others who were part of that period of Hollywood. Geo-politically, Juan was born a Catalan and Spaniard, was made a temporary French citizen by the Great War, and became a U.S. citizen by serving in the U.S. Armed Forces at the end of World War I and the beginning of World War II. Juan used his talents as writer and poet in Spain in 1937—in support of the Republican cause, at constant risk of his life. He was a multi-talented artist who was not twisted or conflicted, but a decent human being and an old-fashioned Gentleman.