Books published by Sunstone Press

The murals fronting the entrance of Skip Maisel’s Indian Jewelry and Crafts store at 510 Central Avenue SW in Albuquerque, New Mexico are a treasure of Native American painting and are of national importance. They represent some of the earliest and finest paintings by a seminal group of Southwestern native artists. Commissioned in 1939 by the store’s founder, Maurice Maisel, the grandfather of the current owner, the murals are an extraordinary expression of fine arts, rarely seen on a commercial building. Despite their prominence on the building’s façade, a fixture in downtown Albuquerque, they are essentially hidden in plain sight. The murals’ subject matter demonstrates a unifying thematic context. Through the use of paired opposites, cultural themes and subjects can be compared and contrasted. In addition, the stylistic differences between artists, while showing the strong influence of training at “The Studio” art program at the Santa Fe Indian School established by Dorothy Dunn, they also demonstrate considerable differences in execution. The Maisel’s building was designed by legendary New Mexico architect John Gaw Meem, popularizer of the Santa Fe Style. Meem hired well known Santa Fe artist Olive Rush for a total of $1,500 to paint the murals. She then hired eleven Native Americans to undertake the project and saw to it that they were paid a fair wage. Maisel’s was to be Rush’s last Native American project and she clearly wished the project to be a culmination statement of the mural work she had been engaged in with The Studio for nearly a decade. To that end, she included artists of varying ages, from forty-four year old Awa Tsireh of the first generation of Pueblo painters, to sixteen year old Popovi Da, a beginning Studio painter and the son of famous potters Maria and Julian Martinez, as well as including representatives of three principal Native American cultures in the Southwest: Pueblo, Navajo and Apache.

Brother Bobcat loves to herd his big fluffy sheep and cows. He also loves to eat junk food. One day Brother Bobcat got very sick and had to go to the hospital. Suddenly his life has turned upside down. Can he learn to eat the right foods to get healthy? Will he ever be able to herd his sheep and cows again? This tale includes his struggles with diabetes and having to start dialysis and his determination to return to health.

The information in this manual is primarily intended for Olympic-type lifters and coaches so they can improve performance in this sport. But since the hip and leg action of most other sports is similar to that of Olympic Lifting, other sports participants and coaches will also find this manual useful.

For a long time Ann Stalcup has been fascinated by the role that the over 300 Navajo Code Talkers played in the Pacific during World War ll. Although all the facts are true, this story is a fictionalized account of the Code Talkers—America’s Secret Weapon. There is increased urgency in telling their story in a way that young people, as well as adults, can understand and appreciate. The author interviewed four of the original “talkers” in Arizona and New Mexico before writing this book and was impressed with their courage, graciousness, and desire to share their story. For twenty-three years following the war, their unbroken code had remained a secret. Not even their families were permitted to know the part they had played in fighting the war. This inspiring story focuses for the most part on one man, but it is the experience of every code talker’s dangers and triumphs. Recognition of their contribution was a long time coming.

Many people love the American Southwest without truly understanding it. Ross Randall Calvin did and we are the richer for it. Calvin began his search as a pilgrim health-seeker, believing he had left the "known world" behind when he fled the East for New Mexico. There he soon found to our benefit that he could use his observational skills and intellect to fashion a picture that helped him and us comprehend those unique factors that make New Mexico what it is-its history, people, culture, climate, and so much more. Those lessons learned he shared with us. His books and essays can open our eyes to New Mexico if we but heed them. Calvin's story as discoverer and interpreter unfolds in rich detail in this essential work. * * * * * Ron Hamm has written widely and extensively on New Mexico as a journalist, then later as author and biographer over some five decades. His previous books have been "The Bursums of New Mexico: Four Generations of Leadership and Service" and "New Mexico Territorial Era Caricatures" (Sunstone Press 2014). Ross Calvin gave him a fresh insight into New Mexico through "Sky Determines" and "River of the Sun." "Ross Calvin, Interpreter of the Southwest" is Hamm's most satisfying work.

Katherine Augustine is an extraordinary person. This book tells Katherine’s story in her own words. It is drawn entirely from a selection of her writings in various publications, complete copies of which are available in archives in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico. The book is in two parts. The first, “My Life From Laguna Pueblo to Albuquerque” is Katherine’s autobiography from her childhood to the start of her nursing career. The second, “Tales My Grandmother Told Me and Being Laguna,” is a collection of Laguna Pueblo stories she learned as a child and personal observations of feast days and public ceremonies. For over thirty years she wrote stories about her life and observations of growing up at Laguna Pueblo, along with articles on current events, for several publications; these included the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center newsletter Pueblo Horizons, a column for the now defunct evening newspaper the Albuquerque Tribune, articles for the Albuquerque Laguna Colony Newsletter, and Round the Roundhouse, the New Mexico State Employees newsletter. Photographs in the first section are from Katherine’s family album, while images illustrating stories from Laguna Pueblo are derived from photographs of prehistoric art in the collection of Paul R. Secord.

In this first volume in The Serpent Trilogy, Penny Anderson, a high school junior, escapes an untenable home situation and flees across the country to join her Uncle and Aunt in Serpiente, New Mexico. The Navajo Hidalgo, a detective, tries to warn Penny of the dangers of Serpiente but she persists and in the end wins the confidence and hearts of a unique family. Together they uncover the mysterious creatures that have, throughout history, enjoyed vexing and manipulating humans to evolve into warring creatures for their own evil reasons. Using the tools of science and Indian folklore, the detectives discover the secret to making peace with the serpents. Unfortunately, antiquity thieves discover and attack the serpents, sparking a war. The family conducts historical research that reveals the ultimate goals and truth about the serpents. Includes Readers Guide.

Sadakichi Hartmann was born in Japan in 1867, the second son of Prussian businessman Carl Hartmann and a young prostitute, Osada. Upon her death shortly after Sadakichi’s birth, both boys were sent to Hamburg, Germany to live and be educated, as promised by Hartmann Senior to their mother on her deathbed. With this act of kindness, their father completely washed his hands of any further obligation to the boys. He ignored them completely as he continued his profession traveling the world over as a business rep for various corporations. Their father’s rare appearances, and gelid distance toward them when he was present, affected Sadakichi depressingly, he having a satiating need of a father’s acceptance and affection. Although Sadakichi found the Hartmanns in general were a cold lot, it was in particular his father’s endearment he sought. Possibly too, he may have felt a streak of guilt over his mother’s death. As his father’s Teutonic demeanor grew, Sadakichi’s growing rebelliousness became intolerable, and at fourteen he was disowned and shipped to a Hartmann brother in Philadelphia. From here on, the youth drivingly self-educated himself thoroughly, in time becoming widely and respectfully known in the world of art, literature and entertainment. His retentive memory was an amazing asset which fascinated many of his colleagues. And of course his aim at intentionally driving himself to succeed at anything he touched was to win his father’s respect and acceptance. But it was a draining, thankless, heart-crushing journey.

After the Mexican Congress ratified the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the Rio Grande (Rio Bravo) was the legal boundary between Texas and Mexico. Under the treaty, the United States was obligated to prevent raids by "hostile tribes" in Mexico whose northern frontier had been ravaged by the raids. This obligation was accepted despite the absence of a wagon road between San Antonio and El Paso or any U.S. Army forts with soldiers stationed along the border. In fact, no Americans, including Texans who claimed the lands, knew where the border or tribal crossings were located. This is the story of the 1848 Hays Expedition, the first U.S. effort to search for a wagon road route along the new border to Chihuahua and El Paso. The original intent was to establish a trade route to Chihuahua but the Expedition''s efforts to explore the new lands proved to be far more difficult. Besides crossing the most rugged terrain in Texas with almost no water sources and starving from lack of food, the Expedition survived the first American exploration of the Texas-Mexico border and provided critical information that led to the settlement of far West Texas and a new route from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean.

Historical introduction, Spanish transcriptions, and translations into English of early and mid-eighteenth century New Mexican Spanish Colonial documents regarding the lives of the female colonists.

The story of Our Lady of Guadalupe envisioned by a peasant in 16th century Mexico has been told over and over throughout the ensuring centuries, as has that of the Santuario de Guadalupe built in 18th century Santa Fe, New Mexico, by Franciscan friars who accompanied the Spanish Colonial colonists on the Camino Real (Road of the Royals) from Mexico to Santa Fe, bringing with them their Roman Catholic faith and devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. While the Santuario was not the first shrine to Our Lady in what became the United States, it is the oldest, still-used such structure in this nation. Yet, by the middle of the 20th century, the Santuario was in such disrepair that the parish considered demolishing it and paving over the site for a parking lot. Some said only a miracle could save it. This book goes behind the scenes and tells-for the first time-how a small, dedicated group of volunteers formed a secular, non-profit foundation in 1975 and proceeded to save the Santuario for generations to come. Over the next 30 years, these people, and hundreds more, gave their time, money and efforts to accomplish this miracle.